Global retail tech start-ups accelerating innovation AT A GLANCE
ack in November, Retail Week bounty of incredible start-ups with solutions announced a brand new launch – that can support the sector – both in the here Discovery 50. A report to emphasise and now, and in the future. the value of collaboration between With analysis of the influential role start- METHODOLOGY Bstart-ups and retailers while supporting ups can play, alongside the challenges they The tech start-ups featured in Discovery 50 better connections across the sector. face in getting cut-through in the retail started trading on, or after, January 1, 2013 We sought to find or ‘discover’ the top sector, Discovery 50 highlights how start-ups and have all worked with a retailer or retailers retail tech start-ups from across the globe that can help retailers seize new opportunities are working with retailers to offer disruptive and overcome existing challenges. to help them transform their business. Start- solutions to transform their businesses. The report also serves as a directory of ups submitted entries from November 2019 It would be an understatement to say the the best start-ups to work with. Corporate to February 2020 with the chance of being retail landscape has changed drastically start-up engagement company Co:Cubed profiled and entries were then shortlisted by since November when we opened for entries. chief executive Jeremy Basset says: “There’s our judging panel. Information about each The Covid-19 pandemic is occupying all no shortage of start-ups out there. But with start-up was correct at the time of entry. aspects of public life and continues to new companies going to market every week, completely dominate the retail agenda and access to this innovation jungle without media headlines. expertise can be chaos. Many retailers are battling for survival and “If [retailers are] serious about getting leaders are having to embrace digital ways this right, it’s vital you’re working with the of operating while simultaneously working best start-ups in the world – not just the ones doubly hard to protect staff and customers. that appear in your inbox.” At this unprecedented time, we could have It’s worth noting that several start-ups postponed the Discovery 50 report launch. among the Discovery 50 specialise in in-store However, we believe it is exactly at a time like solutions, many of which will be redundant this that retailers need to open themselves up for retailers right now as the government to new and different ways of thinking. keeps the UK high street on lockdown. It’s a time when the retail industry needs These start-ups do, however, have the to be lifted, to celebrate, to showcase how the potential to help store-based retailers Davids and Goliaths can work together, and bounce back when the crisis lifts and to inspire through the stories of retailers that when experience-based physical retail will have partnered with start-ups to maximise arguably be more important than ever. business performance. So, which tech start-ups can drive We’re very aware that for many retailers retail forward both in the short and long investing in a start-up partnership may be term, and what are the game-changing the last thing on the agenda, but that doesn’t solutions retailers need to know about? mean the industry shouldn’t be taking a Read on to meet the Discovery 50 moment to reflect and look forward. The and learn how start-ups can help retail crisis will eventually pass and there is a at a time when it’s needed most.
RWRC: DISCOVERY 50
Commercial Content Editor Contributors Megan Dunsby 020 3033 3866 Emily Kearns, Judy Kenny, Ben Silitoe [email protected]
Production Editor Stephen Eddie 020 7715 6015 [email protected]
2 | April 2020 MEET THE JUDGES With backgrounds in retail, technology, the start-up industry and more, meet the business leaders and journalists who judged the Discovery 50
JOHN NOTHER LISA BYFIELD-GREEN NATALIE BERG Chief digital officer at National Institute for Health Head of insight at Retail Week Retail analyst, author and founder of Research; former senior director of digital technology at retail consultancy NBK Retail Asda; former chief information officer at Card Factory
JEREMY BASSET ANNA BARSBY IAN SHEPHERD Chief executive of Co:Cubed; Founder of Tessiant; former chief Retail consultant; former head of Unilever Foundry technology officer at Morrisons author of Reinventing Retail
MEGAN DUNSBY KAREN BENDELL LEANNE CARR Commercial content editor at Retail Week; Co-founder of Retail Collective; former interim Former Retail Week reporter former projects editor at Startups.co.uk chief executive of New & Lingwood
April 2020 | 3
IN NUMBERS
of which are global (see map) Employing a total of 1,520 staff
tech start-ups All launched since Jan 1, 2013
4 | April 2020 INTRODUCTION
rom consumer electronics etailer AO.com and global luxury brand LVMH to legacy retailers such as Marks & Spencer and John FLewis Partnership, retailers of all shapes, sizes and sectors are embracing start-up culture, whether via direct partnerships or accelerator programmes. Yet there is still a long way to go and many retailers haven’t yet realised the potential of joining forces with start-ups. In light of the changes the industry is experiencing in a coronavirus-impacted world, retailers require fresh thinking and innovative approaches. As you’ll see from the Discovery 50, there is a breadth of start-ups that can help retailers better leverage their online presence, support the development of brand tribes and communities, and take costs out of a business – all areas that are front of mind as the sector By working with start-ups retailers enters uncharted Covid-19-influenced waters. can getter a better view of where the next While tech start-ups can help retailers in disruptions will come from. the short term to battle against the financial So, which are the top tech start-ups from strain caused by the pandemic, there are across the globe that can help retailers longer-term growth opportunities too. open doors to new and untapped business Crucially, fostering start-up partnerships opportunities? And which start-ups will enables retailers to better compete with the be there to help retailers with a bricks-and- growing number of disruptors and direct- mortar presence get back on their feet once to-consumer brands entering the market. the pandemic crisis is over? Where these brands are using innovation Emphasising the value of collaboration and tech infrastructure to grow fast and between start-ups and retailers, and connect with consumers, retailers can incorporating real-life case studies, this match this by adopting game-changing report showcases what happens when retail solutions offered by start-ups. and new thinking meet.
It’s vital you’re working with the best start-ups in the world – not just the ones that appear in your inbox Jeremy Basset, Co:Cubed
April 2020 | 5 CHAPTER START-UPS CAN OFFER RETAILERS A LIFELINE
he economics of retailing in 2020 were and a relationship with them throughout already tough, buffeted by rising costs, this crisis. But for big businesses, change changing consumer expectations doesn’t always come fast enough. and shopping behaviours, alongside On the face of it, the tech start-up Tthe pressure of keeping up with the pace of community represents a potential lifeline technological change. Coronavirus has made for retailers. the landscape even tougher and, for non- Start-ups present new ways of connecting essential retailers who rely on store footfall, with customers, the next level of operational impossible. efficiency, clever use of AI and machine- The retail industry is quickly adapting. learning technologies, and data to personalise The focus has shifted to thinking digitally, messaging and brand awareness. embracing new channels, technologies and Speaking to Retail Week in 2019, Microsoft’s ways of driving efficiency and effectiveness retail, consumer goods, travel and transport through organisations and their workforces. director Diana Parker highlighted the “power Fundamentally, retailers need to be there of the tech partnership”. for consumers and maintain communication She said: “Where technology was histori- cally used by retailers to ‘keep the lights on’, it is no longer a utility, but essential to the strategic transformation of retail offerings and operations in an increasingly challeng- ing environment.” How start-ups can reinvent retail For retailers focused on a turnaround programme – which now accounts for most businesses dealing with the impact of coronavirus – it makes sense to build strong relationships with start-ups.
6 | April 2020 By doing so, retailers put themselves in a position to get first sight of solutions and new ideas, to pick and choose which innovators they work with and to focus on delivering a new version of a key business process that could help to future-proof amid turbulent economic conditions. Deliveroo is a great example of a start-up supporting retailers in achieving the latter. As a ‘unicorn’ company with a valuation of more than $1bn, it is not listed in our Discovery 50, but its impressive series of recent retail tie- ups shows how the dial is moving. For instance, in March 2020, Marks & Spencer teamed up with Deliveroo for its first delivery range, offering 120 of its food essentials to “help people get the food they want and need during this worrying [crisis] period”. from new activities and investments. However, while the likes of M&S may have However, this same 6% reported the adopted a start-up partnership mentality, strongest financial performance of all 1,440 this isn’t true of the wider industry. companies Accenture surveyed. Retailers can often be hesitant to work Clearly then, retailers have a way to go with start-ups despite the challenges in overcoming obstacles. Indeed, retail involved in staying fresh and innovative. consultant Ian Shepherd says the start-ups A 2018 report from professional services he talks to “report a wide range of objections, company Accenture found only 6% of barriers and general layers of bureaucracy corporate businesses were generating a that make it harder for them to work with significant proportion of their income retailers and prevent those same retailers
Where technology was historically used by retailers to ‘keep the lights on’, it is no longer a utility, but essential to the strategic transformation of retail offerings and operations in an increasingly challenging environment Diana Parker, Microsoft
April 2020 | 7 Only 6% of corporate is the one that’s most common; that the businesses are making process of a large retailer partnering with a new investments, but start-up can take a painfully long time. this 6% have achieved He notes: “I worked with one global giant stronger financial (ironically in the tech space), where the most performance honest advice we could give to start-ups that (Source: Accenture) approached us was to go elsewhere. “Our two- or three-year process of negotiating a memorandum of understanding and gearing up a trial would last far beyond the point where their funding and patience had run out.” However, this doesn’t have to be the case. If retailers can streamline and fast-track from getting much of the benefit that new their contractual processes there are major ideas can bring”. rewards to be reaped. He points to several scenarios experienced Many start-ups in the Discovery 50 have by start-ups that have sought to work implemented pilot schemes within weeks with retailers (see below). of starting conversations with a retailer, On top of these scenarios, Shepherd says, while others have been able to integrate full- scale solutions in a matter of months that have delivered major return on investment.
COMMON BARRIERS IMPACTING RETAIL START-UP PARTNERSHIPS • A retailer’s IT team is concerned about the fragility of core systems, so it won’t let another business plug into them. • Retailers are concerned about flouting GDPR policies by integrating with a start-up and sharing customer data. • A retailer’s finance team won’t allocate capital for a small test project because it is too small and doesn’t move the needle, with the result that only big projects receive funding. • A retailer’s legal team won’t sign a contract with a start-up that has no credit history report, regardless of its financing. • Someone in the approval process for a new project points out that if the test works then the start-up will be hugely successful and says the retailer is just funding its growth. • Someone else in the process demands that the start-up work with the retailer exclusively and not with any competitors, despite the fact the retailer has only approved a small trial.
8 | April 2020 CREATING START-UP SYNERGIES Now is the time for retailers and brands to think about how they could work differently with the start-up community. Retailers should take a moment to consider the following approaches:
• Creating a fast-track, light-touch process for forming contractual relationships with start-ups.
• Collaborating with legal and finance departments to overcome some of the concerns around working with start-ups and speeding up the due diligence process.
• Exploring if any risks can be taken with regards to intellectual property.
• Pre-allocating some funding that can be used for trials, without layers of additional governance.
• Being ready to celebrate failed experiments for the learning points that they are, and to grab hold of successes.
• Treating start-up partners as friends and advisers, and in turn being a friend and adviser to them.
April 2020 | 9 CHAPTER MEET THE DISCOVERY 50: JUDGES’ TOP PICKS
From Google to Facebook and Instagram, many of the world’s biggest tech companies came from humble beginnings as start-ups. While the following tech start-ups don’t yet match their ranks, our judges believe these 10 businesses have the greatest potential to transform retail
meepl Based: Zurich, Switzerland Founded by: Ferdinand Metzler Starting trading: May 2015 Website: meepl.com Email: [email protected] Employees: 30
etailers are wising up to the fact that brand, partnered with meepl in January personalisation makes customers 2017. Key for AlphaTauri was the need to feel special and can have a big offer photo-realistic 3D clothing models to impact on the bottom line. However, provide its customers with a new and more Rdelivering a personalised shopping personalised way of shopping. experience online can be tricky. Since rolling out the service, tests have With its instant 3D body-reconstruction shown AlphaTauri’s virtual dressing room platform, meepl wants to help fashion has led to higher consumer engagement, ecommerce retailers offer an interactive and increases in upselling and cross-selling, and personalised online shopping experience. has driven up consumer loyalty. Using meepl’s AI-based technology, any Bridging the gap between personalisation customer with a smartphone can submit two and shopping experiences, meepl has big body scans to create a 3D avatar and a list of ambitions for its technology. The start-up’s more than 50 measurements within seconds; vision is to make fashion more sustainable data that retailers can then use to offer made- by reducing by 30% the clothes that get to-measure size recommendations and a 3D returned or end up in landfill. virtual dressing-room service. By making recommendations customised WHAT THE JUDGES SAID: “Returns is a £60bn problem for UK retail. Helps fashion to the shopper, retailers benefit from reduced Through its innovative technology, meepl is enabling retailers to benefit retailers return rates and therefore achieve greater from visual feedback on size and fit so that they make significant inroads efficiencies in their supply chains. in reducing return rates. With customers shifting to online shopping, we AlphaTauri, Red Bull’s Austrian clothing envision demand growing for a service like this.”
10 | April 2020 NearSt Based: London, UK Founded by: Nick Brackenbury and Max Kreijn Starting trading: July 2015 Website: near.st Email: [email protected] Employees: 14
hile bricks-and-mortar retailers Backed by Google since 2018, NearSt’s close their doors to tackle the search technology typically sends 5,000 impact of coronavirus, the extra customers a month into UK high street crisis is likely to have a long- stores. Having recently secured £2m seed Wterm impact on consumer shopping habits. funding, it plans to grow this to more than Once the country recovers and shops reopen, 100,000 a month by December 2020. retailers – particularly smaller stores – are NearSt says retailers are reaping the going to need all the help they can get to rewards of its tech, generating up to 400 new attract customers back to the high street. customer interactions a month. Founded in 2015, NearSt helps high Kibworth Books in Leicestershire, for street shops drive footfall by improving instance, paid NearSt £2 a day to appear in the likelihood that they’ll show up in local local Google searches for book titles for two Google search results. weeks around World Book Day. As a result, Shoppers are searching online more owner Debbie James says: “Looking at the than ever but NearSt says almost all search statistics it was worth it, you can safely say phrases such as “where can I find … near footfall increased.” me” often return no relevant results. This means local stores with thousands of matching products do not appear in the WHAT THE JUDGES SAID: “NearSt is making it as millions of searches shoppers are making. easy to shop locally as it is online and enabling Having created a piece of software that smaller retailers, lacking the scope and budgets integrates with any stock management of larger brands, to compete. Once the UK system, NearSt’s solution addresses this lockdown is lifted, high street retailers are going problem and shows shoppers that the to need to work hard to reach consumers and things they’re searching for online are often this solution offers a helping hand.” stocked in stores nearby.
Improves retailers’ SEO
April 2020 | 11 Stuffstr Based: London, UK Chief executive: Dustin Buttner Started trading: October 2019 Website: stuffstr.com Email: [email protected] Employees: 15
ith fashion sustainability vital for retail competitiveness, Stuffstr has designed a solution to help make recommerce easy. WThe start-up partners with fashion brands to buy back used clothing so textiles can stay out of landfill. It is committed to reselling, Promoting the service to consumers in its repairing or recycling every garment returned December 2019 advert, adidas said: “Instead to it using real-time pricing algorithms. of throwing it away, pass it on and get This process means retailers can rewarded for it. Trade it in and we’ll collect maximise the lifetime value of their items it. You get rewarded in vouchers and we’ll and, through Stuffstr’s data collection, can make sure it’s sorted, cleaned, repaired and access unique data on their customers’ reused by someone new or we’ll turn it into behaviour and the condition of their something new. products. “If we keep it in play, together we’ll keep In 2019 Stuffstr partnered with adidas to it out of waste.” launch its Infinite Play service. This service enabled members of adidas’ Creators Club WHAT THE JUDGES SAID: “Stuffstr is leading to instantly sell back any item purchased the way in fashion sustainability by committing from adidas in the past five years and to gain to resell, repair or recycle every single item rewards in the form of vouchers to spend of clothing it is sent. We’ll see more with the brand. brands looking to get involved with this as fast fashion and waste is something that cannot be ignored, and it gives retailers a way to make money from it too.”
Makes recommerce easy
12 | April 2020 StorIQ Manages Based: London, UK store Founded by: Peter Wake operations Started trading: August 2014 Website: storiq.net Email: [email protected] Employees: 13
K high streets have been hit hard Dobbies Garden Centres. Its partnership with by coronavirus and retailers can’t Crew Clothing, for instance, has helped the assume that shopping levels and fashion brand manage day-to-day operations footfall will return to normal levels across its 80 stores. Uonce the crisis has passed. Indeed, bricks- Crew Clothing’s commercial director says: and-mortar brands will have a task on their “Until we started using StorIQ, photos of store hands, and improving store efficiencies windows and interiors were circulating and employee engagement to support their round the business as email attachments, in bottom line will be high up on the agenda. PowerPoint presentations or as printouts. It This is where StorIQ comes in. A task was hard to measure the degree of compliance management and retail operations platform, and was highly inefficient. StorIQ merges store communications, “Our database of visuals means that we task management, visual merchandising can view any store area, such as tills or compliance and store visits together in one app. fitting rooms, and make them consistent By combining compliance reporting, with the campaign strategy.” organised photos and a store visit app, the start-up says its solution increases productivity in stores while providing a WHAT THE JUDGES SAID: “StorIQ now works “transformational level of visibility” for across 55 countries and in 22 languages retail operations staff and area managers. across all retail sectors, helping not just Since its launch in 2014, StorIQ has worked top-level managers but in-store staff too. with retailers including Crew Clothing and It provides the whole package and, in turn, enables store and area managers to see the bigger picture when visiting stores.”
April 2020 | 13 parcelLab Based: London, UK Founded by: Tobias Buxhoidt, Anton Eder and Julian Krenge Started trading: July 2015 Website: parcellab.com Email: [email protected] Employees: 50
he coronavirus is putting incredible shipments and communicate with customers strain on the world’s economy and in multiple ways post product purchase. it’s likely that many store-based Key retail clients of parcelLab include companies will struggle to survive. supermarket chain Lidl, as well as the THowever, according to data and analytics European consumer electronics retailer company GlobalData, Covid-19 will have a MediaMarktSaturn. long-term positive effect on the ecommerce Through the parcelLab tie-up, Lidl’s sector, with even sceptical consumers forced online customers receive personalised emails to turn to online shopping in response to informing them of their order status. The start- restrictions on movement. up also built Lidl an integrated and white- Ecommerce retailers can use this time to labelled Facebook Messenger Chatbot, which increase customer loyalty and to promote provides customers visiting the retailer’s messaging and marketing more productively, Facebook page with a chance to receive not just via their websites and checkout instant notifications about their delivery. pages but in purchase confirmation emails A key target for retailers using parcelLab’s and delivery updates. technology is to get customers to return to Enter parcelLab. The shipping tech start- their websites. The vendor reports that 85% up provides various tools for retailers to of Lidl’s online customers return to the manage the customer experience after the grocer’s website during the delivery process online checkout, rather than giving that – the majority from the direct tracking link responsibility to third-party carriers. included in shipping emails. The tech enables users to monitor WHAT THE JUDGES SAID: “ParcelLab turns boring shipping information into real communication, offering customers the tools to monitor shipments. Clearly a win for Innovating customers and retailers, and it demonstrates ecommerce how a retailer can control a tricky touchpoint, delivery turning it to their advantage.”
14 | April 2020 ONVU Retail Based: London, UK President: Nigel Ashman Started trading: July 2018 Website: onvuretail.com Email: [email protected] Employees: 8
nowing the customer at surface Next group market research manager level is no longer enough for today’s Rebecca Weightman says: “The customer retailers and the focus now for many behaviour service that ONVU Retail provides in the industry is getting a deeper Next is one of our most valuable resources Kunderstanding of consumer behaviour – in terms of understanding how to optimise particularly in store where data is harder to the operation and profitability of our stores, track than online. and the 360 video makes the results so much ONVU Retail – in conjunction with sister more understandable and impactive.” company Oncam’s 360-degree cameras – offers analytics software that can be used to better understand customer behaviour WHAT THE JUDGES SAID: “ONVU Retail delivers at the shelf edge, improve security or unique insights into store penetration, service, generally tweak store operations based on shopping time and the effectiveness of filmed evidence. displays. For Next, the information ONVU The cameras and analytics combine to has provided is invaluable, in terms of give users a granular view of which type of understanding how to optimise the operation shopper is/isn’t buying products, for example. and profitability of their stores.” Since partnering with Next in 2019, ONVU Retail’s tech has been installed in more than 130 of the retailer’s stores helping reduce shrinkage, but also aiding visual merchandising, marketing, operational, legal and health and safety endeavours. Retailers working with ONVU Retail can use the technology for specific projects, Offers with Next recently deploying it to monitor the behaviour of customers collecting online valuable orders in store. Next has adapted store customer layout, queue management and staff training based on the findings. insights
April 2020 | 15 Ometria Based: London, UK Founded by: Ivan Mazour, Alastair James, James Dunford Wood and Djalal Lougouev Delivers Started trading: February 2013 personalised Website: ometria.com marketing Email: [email protected] Employees: 110
ersonalised online communication newsletter creation and help individually with customers has been a key design them for each consumer. focus area in retail for several years. Ometria’s tech crunches the data and With retailers competing for share populates the newsletters around a series Pof wallet with more companies than ever of personal insights, including browsing before, marketing relevancy is crucial. and purchasing behaviour and the activities London start-up Ometria collects of similar shoppers. and aggregates data from all customer Compared with Feelunique’s previous touchpoints, profiles the information using newsletters that relied on rule-based artificial intelligence (AI) processes and segmentation, Ometria says the AI- allows retailers to send the most effective segmented email campaign helped achieve marketing messages based on individual a 95% uplift in revenue per email, a 33% shopper habits. increase in click-to-open rate and a 12% The platform was built specifically hike in average order value. for retailers and online beauty retailer Alongside these results, Feelunique’s Feelunique is a high-profile user. The retailer marketing team saved hours of manual embedded the tech to automate email work in segmenting the audience. The extra revenue generated by using Ometria’s AI predictive segmentation was complemented by the time won back for the team, who were able to focus on even further innovations while the AI did the hard work.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID: “Using Ometria’s platform, Feelunique’s team saved hours of work in segmenting the audience, which wouldn’t have been possible without machine learning. Harnessing AI to review data at speed leaving teams to work on creative content has to be the future.”
16 | April 2020 TokyWoky Based: London, UK Founded by: Quentin Lebeau, Timothée Deschamps and Raphaël Prat Started trading: January 2015 Website: tokywoky.com Email: [email protected] Employees: 17
t an unprecedented time like this, it The ultimate goal for Superdrug was to will be the retailers with true brand morph into a “beauty destination” where advocates that will cut through the enthusiasts could share reviews and tips. noise. To create these advocates, The retailer says TokyWoky’s supported Acustomer communication needs to focus on platform has helped it to generate authentic community-building efforts and addressing customer reviews and in-depth shopper consumers’ changing needs and concerns. insights, while also keeping shoppers on its Tapping into this new retail landscape, site for longer. TokyWoky builds customised online com- munities for retailers, using a combination of live chat or “coaching” platforms that enable WHAT THE JUDGES SAID: “TokyWoky is balancing customers to talk to each other about prod- retailers’ needs to engage with customers while ucts and services while on their websites. enabling them to increase site conversations TokyWoky helps more than 130 global and keep their brand front of mind. As retailers brands in this way, often using gamification work to refresh their online presence in the as a method of engagement to prolong time current circumstances, this solution is needed spent by consumers on these platforms. now more than ever.” Superdrug started working with TokyWoky in 2019 to launch an online community platform featuring live chat and make-up advice channels as well as thematic discussion groups. It has been updated to include a product test and review channel, and Superdrug plans to develop the service as its 6,000+ community evolves and grows. Builds retail communities
April 2020 | 17 Sook Based: Cambridge, UK Founded by: John Hoyle, Simon Gallagher and Daniel Burnham Started trading: March 2019 Website: sook.space Email: [email protected] Employees: 6
here was already a backdrop of and the start-up has identified 40 potential pressures for high street retailers sites across the UK. – from managing store tenancy Since it started trading in 2019, Sook has agreements and business rates to catered for more than 60 different occupiers, Tcompeting online – and the pandemic has including e-bike manufacturer Flit and intensified these and then some. packaging-free grocery refills delivery Once the UK lockdown is lifted, bricks- business unpckd. and-mortar retailers will have to work Flit used Sook for a crowdfunding launch collaboratively with landlords and think event, and then again to host test rides with carefully about the shop space they occupy. customers and to create a shop. Cambridge-based start-up Sook presents The bike retailer took advantage of Sook’s retailers and brands with physical selling digital fit-out offering and in-store digital space only when they need it. screens to support the design, and on the Sook turns otherwise unwanted occasion of the test ride estimated revenue commercial sites into usable brand spaces, was 10 times the cost of renting the space. aided by its proprietary technology that allows interested parties to design their stores online and preview in 3D model WHAT THE JUDGES SAID: “Vacancies on the format or in virtual reality prior to fit-out. high street are going to become a big issue for Sook partners can rent space by the hour landlords, local councils and residents alike this year. Sook might just be the right start-up at the right time. We hope to see much more of this innovation in empty shops around the country.”
Adapts vacant retail spaces
18 | April 2020 Offers data- LoyaltyLion driven loyalty Based: London, UK programmes Founded by: Charlie Casey and Dave Clark Started trading: July 2013 Website: loyaltylion.com Email: [email protected] Employees: 35
ig changes have been made to has been a great partner in helping develop retail loyalty programmes of late, a highly customised programme, which with paper-based stamp collecting has created an amazing experience for schemes evolving into card and app- our customers and has driven consistent Bbased initiatives for the digital age. and measurable improvement in all of our London start-up LoyaltyLion is a data- performance metrics.” driven loyalty marketing platform that can be used to power retailers’ growth online. The company offers merchants a fully WHAT THE JUDGES SAID: “With more choices customisable loyalty programme embedded available to everyone, shopper loyalty is harder on their websites to encourage repeat visits to win and maintain. What we liked about and reward consumers. LoyaltyLion’s approach to this problem is that LoyaltyLion has helped companies it is working with clients to deliver a frictionless such as health and wellness online retailer solution, incentivising shoppers by visualising Ancient Nutrition to build its own tailored the value of their loyalty, and making offers and customer loyalty programme. rewards instantly accessible.” Its Ancient Nutrition loyalty scheme was built with ‘in-cart rewards’, enabling shoppers to redeem points for products and have them automatically added to their shopping basket, avoiding use of voucher codes. Other features include the integration of a subscriber tier, giving loyal customers access to exclusive rewards, and a tool showing changes to points values as items are added to carts, thus encouraging larger basket sizes. After partnering with Ancient Nutrition in 2017, in the space of a year the etailer achieved marked results including 60% higher average order value, 47% higher customer spend and 80% higher conversion rates across certain product lines. The retailer’s vice-president of brand marketing Kate Johnson says: “LoyaltyLion
April 2020 | 19 CHAPTER MEET THE DISCOVERY 50
ffering solutions to help retailers and medium-sized businesses, the start-up achieve everything from advanced helps users find sustainable suppliers and personalisation and customer create sustainable product ranges. engagement to supply chain It has provided intelligence tools and Oefficiencies and productivity, here are the training on sustainability best practice to teams 40 start-ups that also made our judges’ from Stella McCartney, Farfetch and Kering. shortlist – and for good reason. Find out It has also been working with fashion more about their stories and how retailers brands such as Vivienne Westwood through can partner with them to achieve success: partnerships. It offers workshops and content developed with retailers to enable their teams to implement sustainability measures – such as creating ethical sourcing strategies and reducing energy use – across departments. As purpose becomes even more influential Common Objective in shaping consumers’ shopping decisions, Common Objective says fashion is “just Based: London, UK the beginning” and it wants to help more Founded by: Tamsin Lejeune businesses “turn sustainability from a cost, Started trading: May 2018 to an opportunity”. Website: commonobjective.co Email: [email protected] Employees: 7 Consumers are increasingly switching to Sparkbox shopping with purpose-driven fashion Based: Southampton,UK retailers that understand their sensitivities. Retail Week research conducted in 2018 Founded by: Lindsay Fisher found that 30% of UK consumers were and Kevin Blackmore shopping with new retailers because of Started trading: October 2018 environmental concerns. One start-up stepping up to help fashion Website: sparkbox.co retailers meet this need is Common Objective. Email: [email protected] A global business-to-business sourcing and Employees: 7 information platform, Common Objective offers more than 300 resources and tools Controlling inventory levels is crucial for to help retailers make sustainable choices retail. Faced with the frontline impact with confidence. of coronavirus, retailers are carefully With a network of 26,000 fashion managing the risks to their supply chain. members including brands such as Nike, Sparkbox wants to support retailers LVMH and Inditex, and thousands of small- in making the most of the inventory they
20 | April 2020 already own. Its AI-based price optimisation products based on data, such as customer technology helps retailers make sense of demand, sell-out rates and decreasing data to inform their pricing strategy and leftover items, instead of making inventory meet inventory targets. decisions based on “intuition”. It has been working with retailers to help The start-up counts fashion retailers them forecast the outcome of their pricing including Versace, Pepe Jeans, Hackett and decisions to avoid over-discounting top- River Island as customers. selling products and under-discounting Its partnership with River Island began in overstocked items. 2019 and sought to help the fashion retailer With pricing decisions incredibly important better manage its stock online and in store, to retail’s bottom line – Sparkbox says a 1% avoiding end-of-season excess inventory discount, on average, reduces profitability while minimising out-of-stocks. by 10% – the start-up has been training its Using Nextail’s forecasting and machine-learning algorithms to support optimisation engine, River Island has gained retailers’ existing trading and product data. a unified view of inventory across channels In a recent trial, the start-up’s price and can then allocate stock based on the recommendations were implemented and, selling probability. over a seven-week period, the retailer more River Island senior allocator Charlotte than doubled cash margin on its high- Inge says: “Nextail has made my job easier performing lines and improved volume sales by automatically replenishing link lines so by 42% on its most problematic stock. I don’t have to allocate manually. This has Sparkbox is currently working with saved me so much time. Pimkie, a European fast-fashion retailer, “I can quickly see my bestsellers and having completed a successful trial period review out-of-stocks. It allows me to find last year. areas in need of improvement quickly”.
Scurri Nextail Based: Wexford, Ireland Based: Madrid, Spain Founded by: Rory O’Connor Founded by: Joaquin Villalba Started trading: January 2014 Started trading: October 2014 Website: scurri.com Website: nextail.co Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Employees: 34 Employees: 95 With the UK’s departure from the EU and the Retailers are beginning to take the mounting impact of coronavirus, retailers transformative power of AI seriously and are likely to be investing more in their online realise its potential. One start-up determined businesses to meet consumer demand. Next to prove its ROI is Nextail. boss Lord Wolfson recently ruminated that A platform designed for merchandisers, the “pandemic may accelerate the transition Nextail enables retailers to sell more with to online shopping”. less stock through hyper-local demand A renewed focus on online means forecasting and automation. Its AI analytics retailers will also need to invest more time allow retailers to allocate and distribute and money in their delivery processes. Software start-up Scurri is designed to
April 2020 | 21 connect and optimise retailers’ ecommerce reduce time and money spent recruiting ordering, shipping and delivery, and provide short-term staff while helping them capture a cost-effective, time-saving solution. additional sales at peak periods. Scurri says it adds value at multiple stages Cafe chain Planet Organic has worked along the ecommerce journey, from helping with Catapult to reduce the time it spends to get purchases over the line to selecting on recruitment and to retain existing staff, the most effective delivery option for each many of whom have lengths of service of package, creating accurate labels, tracking over four years. packages and running analytics. Utilising Catapult’s staff to cover peaks, Recipe box business Gousto partnered Planet Organic says it saved money on with Scurri to create a tailored shipping recruitment and freed up time by reducing API that would improve its delivery the number of roles it needed to hire for. performance. Gousto had been spending Moreover, its Tottenham Court Road store 90 minutes a day preparing shipments saw a nearly 50% reduction in staff turnover but, using Scurri’s automated system, six months after implementation. it has now been able to prep shipments 85% faster. Gousto head of logistics Bobby Amirah- madi says Scurri played a “fundamental part in helping us to grow our logistical operation. We were able to move to a much slicker automated process.” Mercaux Based: London, UK Founded by: Olga Kotsur Started trading: February 2015 Website: mercaux.com Email: [email protected] Catapult Employees: 48 Based: London, UK Ecommerce enables customers to search Founded by: Oli Johnson, Ben Dixon for items by product category, access style and Steffen Wulff Peterson recommendations, build up their profile Started trading: July 2015 using purchase data and so much more. But what if stores could offer these same benefits? Website: catapult.com Mercaux offers a solution that equips Email: [email protected] stores with digital tools to serve and sell Employees: 55 smarter across the customer journey. Operated by associates using a tablet- The world of work is changing. We’ve seen based app or self-served by customers the rise of the gig economy, the growth of using touchscreen kiosks, the solution part-time roles, flexible working and the enables staff and customers to instantly demographic make-up of the workforce shift. check stock availability, access styling Catapult was launched in 2015 with a recommendations, reserve products and mission to reshape the future of work. show how an outfit has been worn by others Its platform enables retailers in the UK on social platforms such as Instagram. and Germany to source flexible workers on Mercaux says it increases in-store sales demand using its 10,000-strong candidate by an average of 8% while the data pulled network. Retailers can also use it to share from its in-store tech enables retailers to colleagues across their sites and to work build a customer profile and access purchase with alumni staff. history such as the consumer’s last store In turn, candidates can pick the shifts visit and average spend. that suit them at retail and hospitality The business has helped retailers brands including Topshop, Planet Organic, including Nike, French Connection and New Look, Marston’s Pubs and more. Benetton adopt its digital tools in their stores. The start-up’s offering helps retailers Since partnering with Mercaux in
22 | April 2020 October 2017, French Connection says it has benefited from a 5%-7% sales uplift in store sales, while also saving staff more than 550 working hours. Spoon Guru Based: London, UK Founded by: Markus Stripf, Tim Allen LiSA and Simon O’Regan Based: Düsseldorf, Germany Started trading: April 2015 Founded by: Sophie and Philippe Frères Website: spoon.guru Started trading: May 2018 Email: [email protected] Website: hello-lisa.com Employees: 36 Email: [email protected] With restaurants, fast-food chains and cafes Employees: 4 shut due to the pandemic, consumers are cooking at home or using prepared meals As retailers compete for consumer attention more than ever before. online, cutting through the noise and As consumers become more au fait reaching shoppers in the digital spaces with home cooking, they’re likely to seek where they spend time is paramount. out high-quality ingredients and products LiSA (Live Shopping Assistant) has built that cater to their dietary requirements – an innovative shopping format that enables presenting a growth opportunity. online retailers to benefit from live-stream Winner of the 2018 Retail Week Award shopping to create a “see now, buy now” for Customer Innovation, Spoon Guru’s AI experience. platform enables retailers to offer customers To access a retailer’s live stream, consumers search functionality for ingredients or join via a link from any platform or source, recipes based on their unique, dietary, such as Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram, health and wellness needs. and retailers run the stream on their own The platform processes billions of data domain. The service also combines a live points daily and analyses every ingredient, group chat so consumers can ask questions as well as its nutritional value, to allocate about products in real time. the appropriate dietary tags such as ‘vegan’, The German start-up says its live streams ‘low cholesterol’ and ‘gluten free’ to each generate up to 600% more engagement than product or recipe. recorded videos, which leads to higher sales Retailers using the technology benefit conversion. from offering a greater choice for consumers, In December 2019, LiSA partnered with better conversion to sale, larger basket size shopping channel QVC to offer its online and increased brand loyalty. live-stream format to the German market. Since trading began in 2018, the start- QVC’s first live show ran on February 3, 2020 up has partnered with retailers around the with a 30-minute live stream to present a world from Tesco in the UK, Albert Heijn range of its exclusive products. in the Netherlands, and Woolworths in QVC is now planning to run further live Australia and New Zealand. shopping shows in Germany with LiSA and Tesco, for example, integrated Spoon intends to expand the pilot to other countries. Guru’s API back in 2018. The supermarket’s category head says it “has had a really positive, demonstrable impact on our online grocery business since launch”.
April 2020 | 23 VeeLoop Omnia Retail Based: Essex, UK Based: Amsterdam, the Netherlands Founded by: Randa Bennett and Founded by: Sander Roose Patricia Salume Started trading: January 2015 Started trading: October 2018 Website: omniaretail.com Website: veeloop.com Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Employees: 30 Employees: 5 The UK has long-had a productivity problem. Today’s teenagers grew up learning to swipe In fact, February 2020 government figures show before they could talk. In 2018, market that productivity levels are now at their lowest research company Mintel found 95% of UK in 250 years, with these figures likely to be teenagers owned a smartphone while 70% compounded further by the crisis. of parents reported their teenagers having Studies show businesses with higher spent money online. productivity levels are more likely to benefit This group have major spending power from improved financial performance and but it’s not that easy for retailers to harness, have better employee engagement. particularly online. Mintel also found that Omnia Retail wants to help retailers make only 21% of teenagers had made online their processes more efficient by automating purchases using their own bank account tasks. The start-up’s technology automates meaning that the majority needed to ask pricing for retail assortments by scanning a parent to pay for them, leading to and analysing more than 500 million abandoned baskets. price points to make over 7 million price VeeLoop’s solution gives teenagers the adjustments daily. independence to shop online safely while Working with more than 100 retailers and parents and guardians retain full visibility brands, including Decathlon, Bol.com and and control. The service enables any Philips, Omnia says it enables businesses to teenager shopping with a VeeLoop retailer build more profitable pricing and marketing to send their basket to a designated parent strategies. or guardian to approve and pay. In 2018, Omnia partnered with German To date, VeeLoop has partnered with baby and children’s retailer Windeln to help retailers including Feelunique, Prima its team – who were spending two to three Makeup and HYPE. Its partnership with hours a day manually checking and adjusting streetwear brand HYPE began in July item prices – save time and resources. 2019 and one month after implementation Within five weeks, Windeln was VeeLoop received 4,000 baskets from young automating its entire pricing process, from shoppers using HYPE’s website. These collecting competitor prices to updating its baskets converted into more than 1,500 own prices in response. orders with an average order value of £29. Within three months Windeln had grown HYPE creative director Liam Green net revenue by 10% and increased its says of the tie-up: “We expected a positive gross margins by 2%-3%. It said employees return when implementing VeeLoop, but we were also noticeably happier without the received so much more.” manual tasks.
24 | April 2020 Flux Thyngs Based: London, UK Based: Norwich, UK Founded by: Matty Cusden-Ross, Founded by: Dr Neil Garner Veronique Merriam Barbosa and Tom Reay Started trading: April 2016 Started training: April 2017 Website: thyngs.net Website: tryflux.com Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Employees: 10 Employees: 34 ‘Phygital’ – the merging of physical and All retailers want to engage their customers digital retail – has become something of meaningfully but, with many UK shoppers a buzzword to describe the changing face believing it no longer pays to be brand loyal of the industry and it’s only likely to gain (47% according to a 2019 Ello Media report), momentum this year. achieving true customer engagement is no Once the pandemic ends, retailers will mean feat. need to double down on reinventing their With its digital receipts and rewards stores and ensuring they work more in platform, Flux aims to enable retailers to tandem with their omnichannel strategies. increase their customer retention. Thyngs is a phygital platform that enables Flux provides users with an itemised retailers to turn any physical marketing receipt delivered straight into their Barclays, object, such as a product, signage or even Starling or Monzo banking app whenever a member of staff, into an interactive they shop at a Flux-supported retailer or transactional point-of-sale (POS) terminal. brand. Once activated via the customer’s Using near field communication (NFC) banking app, the technology is completely and Apple Pay, consumers shopping in store seamless, requiring no additional apps or can scan a Thyngs POS terminal to make QR codes. a purchase, cashless donation, register for Retailers benefit from the service in a reward programme, enter a competition three key ways; reducing their carbon and more. footprint by putting an end to paper receipts, In 2019, Thyngs’ technology was used capturing customer data such as a shopper’s by food brand Wasabi to enable on-pack store location and time of purchase, and promotions for a competition giving customers using Flux to connect customers with their the chance to win a trip to Japan. The own loyalty programmes. For instance, if promotions featured on its Home Bento range customers opt in retailers can engage them across 200 Sainsbury’s supermarkets, with a with personalised rewards sent straight to winner announced from 40,000 applicants. their banking app. Wasabi increased its customer engagement Since it commenced trading in 2017, and encouraged multiple purchases. Thyngs Flux has secured almost 250,000 users and, also said that its work with Wasabi realised as of January 2020, was attracting around a 10% uplift in conversion and drove a 700 new users per day. The retailers and 37% data opt-in rate from competition brands it works with include Schuh, KFC, entrants – 10% higher than Facebook Just Eat and Itsu. advertising statistics.
April 2020 | 25 Intelistyle Based: London, UK Donde Search Founded by: Kostas Koukoravas and Based: New York, USA Michael Michelis Founded by: Liat Zakay Started trading: February 2019 Started trading: January 2016 Website: intelistyle.com Website: dondesearch.com Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Employees: 8 Employees: 15 It’s no surprise that customer engagement is Data shows that 87% of consumers now a common thread among our Discovery 50. begin product searches online, reiterating A 2019 report from Forrester Consulting the need for frictionless ecommerce argued that customer obsession should drive shopping experiences. retailers’ strategies and said that to support While most retailers offer text search more meaningful engagement marketers need functionality on their websites, Donde to move beyond traditional personalisation to Search has sought to expand the boundaries deliver customised experiences. into visual search navigation. One start-up helping retailers to follow The New York-based start-up uses this trend is Intelistyle. computer vision and AI to automatically Using AI technology, Intelistyle allows tag online product catalogues, enabling fashion retailers to personalise their offering shoppers to discover products based on by making recommendations based on a visual cues rather than words. customer’s body type, hair colour, skin tone, Donde Search says this feature is personal style and the latest regional trends. needed as “words are limited in describing The start-up says its fashion-specific something visual” and shoppers do not personalisation enables retailers to increase always know how to “say” what they are revenue by up to 10% and to generate more looking for. repeat purchases. For instance, if a shopper was looking for In the past year, Intelistyle has worked an off-the-shoulder dress but didn’t know with retailers including Dubai department the exact fashion term of ‘Bardot’, Donde store chain Tryano and Hong Kong fashion Search allows the shopper to search via retailer Lane Crawford. an icon that matches an image of the dress The partnership with Tryano involved they’re looking for. integrating Intelistyle’s solutions across US fashion retailer Revolve is one of the retailer’s shopping channels so Donde Search’s partners. Its chief executive customers would receive specific styling and co-founder Michael Mente says the recommendations. It helped increase revenue platform generated significant results: by 10% and basket size by 42%. “We’ve seen an increase in conversions Tryano is working with Intelistyle to as high as 16% in key categories for our integrate the service with in-store virtual business. Visual discovery is critical to fitting room solution iMirror to enable providing an authentic online shopping customers to obtain access to personalised experience. We are taking the guesswork styling advice when trying on clothes. out of shopping for our customers.”
26 | April 2020 Engagement Agents Hurr Collective Based: Ontario, Canada Founded by: Sean Snyder Based: London, UK Started trading: May 2016 Founded by: Victoria Prew Website: engagementagents.com Started trading: March 2018 Email: [email protected] Website: hurrcollective.com Employees: 7 Email: [email protected] Employees: 7 Coronavirus is set to wipe £12.6bn from retail sales this year, GlobalData predicts, Consumers are reaching ‘peak stuff’. and shopping centres will be among the According to trend forecasting company hardest hit. WGSN Insight senior editor Laura Saunter: With most stores either closed or severely “Shoppers are turning away from excessive affected until May at least, retailers in consumption amid greater concern for the shopping centres are going to have to environment and growing product fatigue.” rethink their approach to maximise on their As shoppers purchase less and the investment. trend towards pre-loved or reusing things A software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, grows, it makes sense for retailers – Engagement Agents’ technology helps particularly those in fashion – to consider retailers drive more traffic and sales to their new business models. shopping centre stores while saving money, Hurr is a wardrobe rental platform that time and resources. allows members to share their clothes and It provides services such as content accessories, and make money from their distribution, real-time reporting, marketing items in return. automation and compliance so that retailers Describing itself as the “Airbnb of can best engage the shopping centre fashion”, the start-up wants to disrupt marketing channels they’ve already paid for fashion ownership and help support in their lease, such as digital signage, email sustainable retail. campaigns and app promotion. While the platform is currently peer- In April 2019, the start-up worked to-peer, Hurr is in the process of running with Spanish jewellery brand UNOde50 trials with retailers and brands. It recently to implement its tech across its 20 North worked with department store Selfridges American stores. The start-up identified at its Oxford Street branch for a six-month that UNOde50’s average engagement with pop-up to enable in-store shoppers to rent its shopping centre marketing channels over pieces from designers such as Gucci, Mara the previous 10 months to April had only Hoffman, Ganni and Rixo. been 18%. While the pop-up had to be put on hold Following its three-month pilot with after six weeks due to the pandemic, the Engagement Agents, UNOde50 saw its partnership was a first of its kind for Selfridges shopping centre marketing engagement and represents how this type of shopping increase to 96% and sales increase by 15%. option could become more permanent. After the trial, UNOde50 implemented the solution across its North American store portfolio and says it has become core to its shopping centre strategy.
April 2020 | 27 Personify XP Based: London, UK Founded by: Ben Mercer and Josh Scotton Started trading: May 2018 PlanVault Website: personifyxp.com Based: London, UK Email: [email protected] Founded by: Joel Hopwood and Matt Lee Employees: 7 Started trading: January 2017 Adopting personalisation into online Website: plan-apps.com strategies is crucial for engagement, but Email: [email protected] how do retailers personalise the customer Employees: 15 experience when the shopper is anonymous? Data shows 95% of website visitors are What do consumers buy when they go unknown, leading to a ‘cold start’ problem shopping? How often do they shop? And where online shoppers can’t receive the how much do they spend? same personalised experience as if they These are key questions brand marketers were in a physical store. want to understand to best leverage Using machine learning and AI, campaigns with their retail stockists and Personify XP has created a platform that to know which media opportunities – from enables retailers to convert more anonymous billboards to digital screens – they should visitors into lifetime customers. Its platform invest in. learns why a buyer is purchasing and then PlanVault – created as part of the PlanApps uses this data to help retailers automatically group and launched by parent company recommend related products and services. Lobster in 2017 – has created a measurable The data can also be used by retailers to technology tool to provide the answers. personalise more than 40 digital experiences The tool gives brands an understanding via websites, mobile apps, chatbots and of the effectiveness of their shopper other emerging channels in real time. marketing campaigns with retailers across Since launch in 2018, Personify XP has the UK such as Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, the worked with names including Lovehoney, Co-op, Morrisons, Waitrose and Walgreens Hawes & Curtis, Figleaves and Pentland Boots Alliance. Brands, which it partnered with in Providing top-line and granular insights, September 2019. as well as retailer and media channel Its work with Pentland Brands, owner comparisons, the tool gives brands the of sportswear brand Ellesse, helped Ellesse opportunity to work collaboratively with achieve a 12% increase in revenue and an retailers to ultimately reach their shoppers. 9% increase in web conversion. Used by Unilever, PepsiCo, Mars, Coca- Moreover, Personify XP says it was Cola, Ferrero, Mondelez, Weetabix and more, able to provide the brand with “important PlanVault says that, in using its data, brands insights from which future merchandising can plan and implement shopper marketing and marketing decisions will be made in spend “with a level of detail that has not terms of content production and product been possible before”. attribution”. Mars customer activation manager Vikki Looking ahead, the start-up says its Emmitt says the solution has “increased goal is to automatically change content sales for the retailer and moved the ROI in a areas and templates in real time without positive direction”. marketer involvement.
28 | April 2020 Aura Vision Shopper Intelligence Based: London, UK Based: West Sussex, UK Founded by: Jonathon Blok and Chief executive: Roger Jackson Daniel Martinho-Corbishley Started trading: February 2018 Started trading: May 2017 Website: shopperintelligence.com Website: auravision.ai Email: roger.jackson@ Email: [email protected] shopperintelligence.com Employees: 10 Employees: 4 All bricks-and-mortar retailers have some Shopper research is an ever-evolving field form of security system, but what if these and one start-up that wants to take it a step systems could be leveraged for more than further is Shopper Intelligence. recording daily goings on? The business has created technology Aura Vision uses video from retailers’ called Store Impact that provides a new security cameras to anonymously capture source of metrics about shopper behaviour consumer journeys. It provides retailers to help retailers and manufacturers improve with rich information such as the type of their in-store marketing. people who come to their spaces and what The Store Impact tool can show retailers they do once inside. where shoppers looked and what they Retailers can use this information to noticed at each point of the shopping trip. Its measure and improve their marketing machine-learning-based software ‘watches’ campaigns and staff performance, while videos to analyse and measure customer uncovering what behaviours lead to higher behaviour by working with shoppers who conversion rates, as well as support in-store wear video glasses during their trips. product launches. Shopper Intelligence first piloted its In 2019, the start-up ran a trial with software in Australia working with chains Telefonica (O2). O2 was already using a such as Coles and Woolworths to ensure basic store footfall counter but wanted to their point-of-sale messaging was hitting access more detailed metrics such as venue home in stores. flow, behavioural and demographic visitor It ran a UK pilot with Tesco in November data, product engagement and dwell times. 2019, in partnership with General Mills, Aura Vision was able to provide O2 with Unilever and Pladis, to provide large-scale new insights that, when combined, offered measurement of Tesco customers’ shopping potential revenue gains of £47,000 per store behaviours. per year. For instance, the start-up found While the start-up has predominantly that if O2 staff spent shorter periods of time worked with supermarkets, it says its tech at service desks, conversion and average can work for any retail environment. It also transaction value with their primary says it has the upper hand on critics who product line increased. believe eye tracking already exists. On the back of the trial, a full partnership According to Shopper Intelligence’s chief with O2 is now being explored. executive Roger Jackson: “Eye tracking [at present] is about a handful of shoppers in a single aisle assessed manually at huge costs, not thousands [of shoppers] across the entire store automatically analysed at low costs.”
April 2020 | 29 WiseShelf Avasam Based: Tel Aviv, Israel Based: London, UK Founded by: Shalom Nakdimon Founded by: Tejas Dave Started trading: May 2016 Started trading: October 2019 Website: wiseshelf.com Website: avasam.com Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Employees: 6 Employees: 40 Innovations in tech have given retailers the As ecommerce has become a larger part of opportunity to transform their organisations retail and customer expectations over speed by serving customers differently and by of delivery have heightened, supply chains developing new channels. However, many have grown in complexity and bureaucracy. retailers just want to make their everyday Avasam aims to solve some of these operations more efficient. challenges with its software that connects WiseShelf positions itself in this space, online sellers and suppliers, specifically giving grocers and FMCG companies a more those involved in dropshipping goods. centralised and real-time view of on-shelf The tech promises to automate much stock availability – crucial data in current of the process and provide a centralised circumstances. It also gives retailers the platform for retailers and suppliers using chance to improve replenishment efficiency this method of fulfilment. and planogram accuracy. Avasam can be integrated into multiple Using light sensors at the shelf edge, third-party platforms, with more than connected to its software, WiseShelf 60 automated connections to marketplaces provides real-time alerts, actions and such as Amazon and ebay, shopping analysis of store inventory to retail head cart providers such as Magento and offices and suppliers. WooCommerce, and third-party shipping Since its launch in 2016, WiseShelf has services. worked with retailers around the world Wholesale footwear retailer Beta Shoes including Albert Heijn, Dansk, Iceland and implemented Avasam during the start-up’s Super-Pharm. beta testing stage and has reported improved The latter is viewed by the start-up sales, fewer returns and faster delivery to as its flagship client, with WiseShelf’s consumers since switching from its previous offering being rolled out across all Super- dropshipping provider. Pharm stores. Using the tech, the retailer Discount retailer Shop Monk has enjoyed has improved shelf availability for seven similar results. Since partnering with key categories and reduced time spent Avasam, Shop Monk has reported a 200% replenishing shelves. increase in growth with more than 100 For Iceland, WiseShelf’s tech is helping sellers listing its products across platforms identify, monitor and improve availability such as Amazon, ebay and Groupon. levels for soft drinks and packaged bread – Avasam started life focused on giving UK two areas of focus for the UK grocer. customers the opportunity to receive faster shipping times, but has now added European suppliers including B2B wholesaler BigBuy and expects to add more international partners as it grows.
30 | April 2020 DynamicAction Zoovu Based: Tunbridge Wells, UK Based: London, UK Founded by: John Squire and Started trading: August 2019 Michael Ross Website: zoovu.com Started trading: January 2016 Employees: 185 Website: dynamicaction.com The expert human touch offered by in- Email: [email protected] store retail staff is often lacking online, but retailers are deploying new technology to Employees: 55 bridge that gap. Common business parlance goes that if you One way of doing this is through the can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. use of digital assistants, which help online This has sparked a plethora of analytics shoppers find the products they otherwise companies entering the retail market to may have given up searching for. help locate and monitor data on customer Zoovu plays in this space, offering behaviour and business performance. retailers an AI-driven online chat platform DynamicAction is among those and is that aims to drive conversions and improve a prescriptive analytics solution provider the online product search process. The start- that gives retailers an immediate and up’s digital assistant technology can also comprehensive summary of their data. capture consumer behaviour data, enabling In the four years since it started trading, retailers to learn more about their audience. retailers across the globe including Cole Zoovu already works with brands Haan, Columbia Sportswear, Wehkamp, and retailers including Amazon, Coty, Otto Group and Farfetch have worked with Whirlpool, Canon and Trek. DynamicAction, but its major case study is Amazon partnered with Zoovu to Otto-owned German fashion retailer Heine. convert huge amounts of SKUs into easily DynamicAction’s tech has given Heine a understandable language in seconds. The single view of its data, putting all relevant ultimate aim being to help its shoppers product and customer business intelligence understand and find the products so it in one place from which key commercial could drive more purchases. Amazon is now decisions can be made. using Zoovu across 85 product categories For example, Heine uses the software and has live digital assistants in more than to identify in-demand products selling 20 countries. in stores that are not available online to For bike retailer Trek, Zoovu helped build understand its most profitable SKUs and to an interactive bike finder that would guide reduce the number of markdowns. consumers through a series of carefully Heine head of sales Alexander Vogues chosen questions before matching them with says: “We are now taking cross-functional the ideal product from myriad options. The connected actions on product and customer, brand found that overall site engagement which are driving better profit performance. increased and those using the tool were We have only scratched the surface of what twice as likely to convert. is possible with DynamicAction. There are many more use cases to explore.”
April 2020 | 31 SignStix Based: Leeds, UK General manager: Iain Kilner Peak Started trading: June 2013 Based: London, UK Website: signstix.com Founded by: Richard Potter Email: [email protected] Started trading: November 2014 Employees: 10 Website: peak.ai Digital screens are now par for the course Email: [email protected] in retailers’ flagship stores and are also Employees: 103 increasingly being deployed in experimental pop-up spaces. Drowning in data, lacking in insight – this is By focusing on ‘retailtainment’ and a phrase often used to describe multichannel immersive experiences, retailers can provide retailers. customers with fun, unique experiences that Peak’s AI-fuelled platform has a solution elevate shopping to new heights. and wants to help retailers get more from The most forward-thinking retailers their data so they can use it effectively understand digital signage can do more than within their marketing and reduce the need just showcase adverts and repetitive brand to invest in their own data scientist teams. content – there’s an opportunity to add to the Its AI technology can be used by retailers customer experience and drive sales. across three core solutions: to streamline SignStix specialises in interactive digital supply chains, optimise consumer demand signage solutions, where on-screen content and support customer acquisition via can change depending on products being marketing tools. perused in a store. Peak has been working closely with SignStix worked with The Shopper footwear retailer Footasylum. It created an Agency in 2018 to help UK flooring retailer AI-powered algorithm that draws insights Karndean Designflooring build experimental based on the past transactional and retail space Karndean Inspire Studios. behavioural data of each customer, enabling Designed and developed using the SignStix the retailer to communicate with its platform, Karndean has built an interactive customers at an appropriate time and with Place ’n’ Learn table, which enables shoppers a suitable message – be it on social media to place a flooring sample – fitted with an RFID or via email. tag – on to it to access digital content specific The partnership has helped the retailer to their product selection. push relevant product recommendations The aim of the in-store technology, which and entice those who are less engaged to buy uses SignStix’s web-based content creation with special offers. Footasylum has recorded and animation tools, is to help consumers a 28% rise in email revenue using the AI- visualise how different flooring might look driven software and a 75% reduction in cost in their homes. per social click. The concept has been installed in Evidence of its success, Footasylum is Karndean’s own showroom and eight retail looking at new ways to use the technology stockists, with more planned. and expand the partnership. Karndean retail sales director Scott Cochrane says: “Staying ahead of the competition is vital for us and with Karndean Inspire Studios we are doing just that.”
32 | April 2020 Quorso Based: London, UK Hyper Group Founded by: Julian Mills and Dan Slowe Based: Leeds, UK Started trading: January 2016 Founded by: Peter Denby, Website: quorso.com Adam Barrowcliff, Damon Bryan Email: [email protected] and Thomas Hill Employees: 22 Started trading: April 2019 Website: hyper-group.co.uk Retail is detail. Sometimes it’s the small things that add up to make a big difference Email: [email protected] to a retailer’s performance. Employees: 5 Quorso is a performance-improvement The concept of ‘one-to-one’ marketing platform that, once in the hands of retail supported by relevant personalised operations teams, allows users to gain messaging to shoppers has received growing insights and take action on information, interest from retailers as they look to as well as measure the results of specific improve conversions and build long-lasting decisions. customer relationships. Through its link-up with point-of-sale Leeds-based start-up Hyper Group says its data, the software enables store managers technology enables retailers to analyse their to measure how their display and design- customers’ behaviour and then deliver them related decisions impact sales and can personalised experiences across websites, identify suggestions for improvement. apps, in-store digital displays or through Quorso has been working with retailers staff-assisted clienteling devices. in the US and UK including Marks & Its hyper-personalisation covers a Spencer, providing technology to drive the range of strategic areas, from assortment weekly store performance process. recommendations to tips on how to optimise The platform ingests point-of-sale data pricing based on demand. from all M&S stores for all product lines, Hyper Group says it is focused on the surfaces the highest priority opportunities data science behind personalisation, with for each store and then coaches store its technology able to help retailers achieve managers to implement the required fixes, up to a 17% increase in customer loyalty, (for example, improving on-shelf availability, double revenue growth and boost brand visual merchandising and shrinkage). advocacy by 60%. Quorso measures the impact and scales While it is not yet on the record with its success by building a company playbook. case studies, the start-up has shared several Feedback on the technology speaks for itself, examples where its technology has helped with an M&S store manager in Cambridge retailers. Clients include a big four grocer in saying: “Quorso helps me quickly focus on the UK, a European holiday operator and a priorities in a simple way, drives and tracks value-led home-shopping business. actions more easily and reduces management For the grocer, Hyper Group is delivering time. It’s a really exceptional tool.” a platform that combines several data sources, and will help the retailer and its suppliers to target consumers with relevant messaging via in-store digital screens.
April 2020 | 33 Duologi to mitigate the drop in high street custom. Increases in reductions across the board Based: Manchester, UK highlight how preserving cash flow is Started trading: March 2017 becoming a primary issue. Website: duologi.com As an aggregator for discounted products, LovetheSales.com can help retailers sell Email: [email protected] their stock at a faster rate and at better Employees: 54 margins than if they tried to do it alone. Giving consumers the option of buy now, It has developed its own AI-fuelled pay later has been one of the biggest recent system, matching its audience of millions trends in the industry as retailers seek to to branded goods from third-party partners. reduce missed conversions at the point The LovetheSales.com search engine of purchase by providing customers with links products to consumers whose search additional payment options. activity covers the same attributes. The Duologi is one of the players in this platform has recently launched its own market, offering a point-of-sale technology- checkout to effectively become an online based platform that integrates with retailers’ discount marketplace in its own right. existing systems and gives businesses the To date, the start-up has worked with chance to provide multiple alternative more than 1,000 retailers and brands, finance choices to their customers. including Harrods, Kurt Geiger and Ralph The start-up’s system offers finance Lauren, providing them with an alternative options on baskets from £150 up to £15,000. to holding unsold goods in warehouses, Options include interest-bearing or interest- selling to deep discounters or destroying free finance, as well as buy now, pay later. products altogether. Duologi’s system can produce instant In the past year it has helped Reiss reports on sales, revenue and approvals, sell more than £180,000 of excess stock which retailers can use as part of their wider and Argos sell £210,000. It also worked business intelligence analysis and stock- with Asos and Very.co.uk to help the online ordering decision-making. retailers sell more than £500,000 of excess Home and garden discount retailer JTF stock including VAT, meaning a faster has implemented the Duologi platform, recovery of losses from excess inventory offering alternative finance as a means of for those brands. payment for goods priced £500 or above. An initial one-store trial became a full- scale partnership after the retailer noticed its positive impact on sales and introduced the system in 12 of its stores across the UK.
ZigZag Global Based: London, UK LovetheSales.com Founded by: Al Gerrie Based: London, UK Started trading: July 2015 Founded by: Stuart McClure, Website: zigzag.global Mark Solomon and David Bishop Email: [email protected] Started trading: July 2015 Employees: 60 Website: lovethesales.com Returns have become a major part of Email: [email protected] 21st-century commerce, with consumers expecting to be able to easily send back Employees: 13 unwanted goods for an instant refund. Year-on-year price comparisons show UK However, returns rates at some UK retailers are discounting stock at unprece- retailers can be up to 30% of goods sold, dented levels since the Covid-19 crisis hit according to technology company Rebound.
34 | April 2020 Returns in the age of coronavirus has specific way, taking advantage of RevLifter’s only become trickier. Consumer spend has deals page, analytics or e-gift card tools. sharply moved online – and with a higher Customers include Marks & Spencer, number of ecommerce purchases comes a Harvey Nichols, HP and The Hut Group. higher number of ecommerce returns too. Since partnering with RevLifter in 2018, ZigZag Global helps retailers manage the technology has helped HP drive its US returns by getting stock back into the supply sales of higher-margin products such as chain faster and more efficiently. Its platform laptops and ensured messages pop up at connects retailers to warehouses, carriers, appropriate times to highlight the benefits and marketplaces around the world, and of buying more premium ink ranges. uses predictive analytics to assess the most The software has also enabled HP to treat cost-effective and energy-efficient routes for gamers and business customers differently, returned products. ensuring incentives are displayed to the The system enables goods to either go relevant audience. Overall, HP has reported back to the retailer via consolidation or be higher average order value and above- moved to the best local markets for it to be average conversion rates. resold, donated to charity or recycled. HP USA affiliate marketing manager Retail clients include fashion brands and Austin Ratner says: “RevLifter is the first department store chains. In 2019, a luxury partner to allow for true personalisation in department store group used the start-up’s the coupon space. This allows advertisers to technology to set up a portal allowing it be much more intelligent when it comes to to understand when and why a return is targeting a customer’s demands low in the coming back before it has even been posted. purchasing funnel.” The portal is retailer-branded and gives consumers a digital method of returning items and a place to find answers to queries.
Increasingly RevLifter Based: London, UK Based: London, UK Founded by: Sri Sharma and Founded by: Simon Bird and Ryan Kliszat Satish Jayakumar Started trading: June 2017 Started trading: December 2016 Website: revlifter.com Website: increasingly.com Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Employees: 23 Employees: 35 Three key metrics for any retailer’s digital Upselling, cross-selling and bundles are department are to increase rates of new core techniques retailers commonly use to customer acquisition, drive higher average boost sales. order value and increase conversion rates. Using innovative technology, Increasingly Software built by RevLifter addresses supports retailers with the latter. these areas by creating personalised deals The London-based start-up has developed that appear on retailers’ websites at an AI-fuelled software to help retailers drive optimum time in the consumer’s purchase greater basket revenue of up to 15%, by journey, or even off-site after a customer has automatically bundling collections online. left their cart. Inspired by Amazon’s bundling, the The platform uses AI to understand start-up has built on that idea to create real-time signals from users’ on-site technology that aids business’ cross-selling behaviour. Each retailer uses it in their own and upselling strategies in the process.
April 2020 | 35 Increasingly’s clients include HP, Pentland B Corporations, meaning it is a for-profit Brands – the parent company of Berghaus, company but certified by the non-profit B Boxfresh, Kickers and Lacoste footwear – Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and and Samsung. environmental performance, accountability Samsung ran six campaigns with and transparency. Increasingly from June 2017, which it said Working alongside Innocent Drinks, drove 46% of all cross-promotion sales on Neighbourly launched a product surplus the consumer electronics company’s site and redistribution programme to connect the helped increase conversion rates by 20%. brand’s Avonmouth depot with charities There was a focus on bundling in higher- and community groups. margin accessories into the offers presented to As part of the tie-up, these local consumers on the site to help boost revenue. organisations can pick up surplus Innocent Samsung e-store merchandising manager smoothies, drinks and juices, and use them Alex Jeffrey says customers “love” the tool: to support people in need. “Increasingly AI bundling and promotion Prior to this arrangement, Innocent features have been an absolute winner redistributed stock offline, with up to nine for us. When we have run promotional days between a charity receiving the goods, Sales, Increasingly has driven up to 46% of thus reducing shelf-life on receipt. those sales. It’s driven up basket value and Neighbourly allows for stock allocation attachment rate.” to the charities within one to four days, and allows users to track and report on donations via one central platform.
Neighbourly Based: Bristol, UK Smarter Click Technology Founded by: Steve Butterworth Based: London, UK and Zoe Colosimo Started trading: November 2013 Started trading: July 2014 Website: smarterclick.co.uk Website: neighbourly.com Employees: 27 Email: [email protected] All retailers want to turn website browsers Employees: 28 into buyers. Smarter Click Technology Purpose-led retail is becoming increasingly specialises in optimising conversion rates. important for consumers and retailers, with It has a range of tools in its portfolio to help companies being revamped or created with retailers achieve this goal, notably through a social mission in mind. creating branded prompts and messages Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is along the online shopping journey. now much more than a tick-box exercise. It also launched an analytics tool to monitor This is even more true in the current climate use of voucher codes on retailers’ websites. where retailers that put purpose before profit Working with retailers and brands are more likely to thrive. including Carphone Warehouse, Merlin Neighbourly is a public CSR platform Entertainments, Red Letter Days and Atterley, that allows businesses to invest in their Smarter Click has helped consumer-facing communities by donating volunteer time, businesses of various types implement online money and surplus products at scale. conversion triggers. Neighbourly was one of the UK’s first Smarter Click created overlays for the Red Letter Days website, co-branding its website ads with content partners, such as
36 | April 2020 the blogging community from where many Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner says: traffic referrals were arriving. “Our investment in Karakuri, potentially The prompts to purchase would appear at a game-changer in the preparation of food the point a consumer was about to leave the to go, gives us the opportunity to bring the website, offering exclusive discounts. best innovation to the benefit of our own Red Letter Days reported conversion rate customers as well as our partners.” hikes and better relationships with bloggers. The start-up’s Ocado relationship remains Online marketing manager Dan Williams non-exclusive and it continues to work with credited the business, saying: “Smarter Click other restaurants and retailers. has proven itself to be able to improve our conversion rates from various channels with continual innovative and strategic ideas for our campaigns. We have seen constant return from their campaigns and its client services support is second to none.” VoCoVo Based: Oxfordshire, UK Started trading: March 2016 Website: vocovo.com Email: [email protected] Employees: 42 Communication between retailers and their Karakuri staff has never been more pressing and there’s a big chasm between those businesses Based: London, UK that are communicating effectively and Founded by: Barney Wragg those that aren’t. Started trading: February 2020 Oxfordshire-based telecommunications start-up VoCoVo can help retailers improve Website: karakuri.com their in-store communication – particularly Email: [email protected] relevant to food retailers right now. Employees: 20 It provides connected headsets that link up a retailer’s staff, customers, software and One of the trends at the end of the last decade hardware. – and which has seemingly ramped up in Using the technology allows retailers the early part of the 2020s – is consumers’ to, for example, avoid generic loudspeaker shift to alternative diets. announcements and keep in-store communi- Karakuri is one company looking to take cation more specific between team members. advantage of this change and is focused on It is used behind the scenes by retailers what it describes as “hyper-personalised” but can also facilitate direct customer nutrition. It provides technology that allows communications. Tesco, the Co-op, Wickes, people to order food exactly the way they Dunelm and Halfords are among the want it – be it out of general preference, for retailers using the technology. better nutrition or to meet dietary needs. At Tesco, VoCoVo headsets power Its unique IP combines robotics, machine communications across operations teams learning, optics and sensors to automate in around 600 Metro stores, while trials are the assembly of ready-to-eat meals. It can under way with a view to expanding into help prepare meals in lower-order volume Tesco Extra. restaurants and in-store retail environments. In addition to reducing loudspeaker Grocery and technology company Ocado announcements, the technology has allowed is invested in the business, having led a £7m Tesco to undertake more discreet security investment round in 2019, and is exploring monitoring – and keep staff connected. usage of the technology within its rapid The Co-op uses the technology across its delivery division Ocado Zoom. stores and has reported particular benefits Ocado will be taking delivery of the first in terms of communication within shops of Karakuri’s DK-One machines this year. manned by just two staff at a time.
April 2020 | 37 ElizaSixtyFour Clearpay Based: Stoke-on-Trent, UK Based: Australia/UK Founded by: Greg Philips Founded by: Nick Molnar and Started trading: August 2018 Anthony Eisen Website: elizasixtyfour.com Started trading: 2014 in Australia Email: [email protected] (Afterpay), June 2019 in UK (Clearpay) Employees: 8 Website: clearpay.co.uk Email: [email protected] Achieving productivity is crucial for retailers at this time and automation plays Employees: 40 into this, helping to aid existing back-end Millennials are a core demographic for retail operations and enabling new experiences and a big challenge facing many retailers and customer operations. is leveraging their spending power – from ElizaSixtyFour applies machine-learning being present in the places they shop to methods to existing business processes, making payments as easy as possible. aiming to provide time and labour A 2019 YouGov study found that UK efficiencies to those using it – particularly millennials have become “credit-averse” and around managing store inventory. Using its are increasingly hungry for innovations that image-recognition software, retailers can offer greater convenience and avoid debt. uncover valuable data-driven insights. To cater to their evolving payment The start-up automates the photo- demands, Clearpay enables millennials (and checking process for its merchandising customers generally) to purchase items from agency client Dee Set, an organisation that fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands in four works with several retailers including major interest-free payments spread over six weeks grocers in the UK. while allowing the retailer to be paid upfront. As part of Dee Set’s work, it must use Launched as Afterpay in Australia in photographic evidence to prove it has 2014 and rolled out in the UK as Clearpay completed merchandising tasks at the shelf in June 2019, the fintech start-up’s UK retail edge. ElizaSixtyFour’s automated technology partners include Asos, Anthropologie, is used to validate a photo of a fixture against Urban Outfitters, JD Sports, Boohoo and The its specific planogram, supporting what is a Hut Group (THG). necessary compliance process. In October 2019, Clearpay began working The tool, called Recognise, has been used with THG to offer an alternative to traditional by Dee Set for its gift and greetings cards credit. At the time THG was also working merchandising work in Sainsbury’s and with competitor pay-later business Klarna, Wilko stores. but in February 2020 THG announced it For the latter, merchandisers who used would be replacing Klarna with Clearpay the tool to check their fixtures live in Wilko across its UK and US websites. stores were 11% quicker at merchandising THG founder and chief executive their assigned fixtures and achieved an 9% Matthew Moulding says: “Our strengthened increase in compliance. partnership with Clearpay reflects our Having started trading less than two commitment to collaborating with businesses years ago, ElizaSixtyFour has plans to work that share our ambition to offer best-in-class with more retailers this year. customer experiences.”
38 | April 2020 Gophr THE DISCOVERY 50 Based: London, UK ARE RETAIL’S FUTURE Started trading: September 2014 Website: uk.gophr.com – WHO WILL BE NEXT? Employees: 21 Online delivery has represented a major We know everyone in retail is challenged right now. battlefield in UK retail with consumers At Retail Week, we want to continue to celebrate getting used to convenience, transparency successes, help businesses foster innovation, collaborate and speed of product fulfilment – partly due and come together to think differently and explore to Amazon and other online players raising their game. new ways of working. With ecommerce spend and returns We’ve already seen from this Discovery 50 report that accelerating in the pandemic, retailers also the role start-ups play in supporting retail should not need to find innovative ways to deal with these surges. be underestimated and we can’t wait to champion the Gophr specialises in same-day delivery, new cohort of start-ups that will be stepping up to help supplementing retailers’ existing logistics retailers survive this unprecedented period. networks and providing a rapid fulfilment service for them to tap into in the London Entries for 2021’s Discovery 50 report will open in area. Customers can use its platform to book September 2020 to recognise inspiring global retail route-optimised couriers and then track tech start-ups launched on, or after, January 1, 2014. their progress in real time. Gophr already works with Net-a-Porter Retailers can nominate tech start-ups they’ve worked with and HelloFresh and plans to expand beyond on a pilot or full-scale solution, while retail tech start-ups can London and across the UK this year. self-nominate to be featured with an entry fee of just £500. The start-up provides ad-hoc drivers for Net-a-Porter’s dispatch team to help with same-day and urgent requirements within London and has successfully delivered more than 50,000 parcels for the luxury fashion etailer. Meanwhile, Gophr has already completed nearly 500,000 deliveries on behalf of food box delivery business HelloFresh, replacing part of the service’s in-house fleet after proving itself to be a valuable partner. HelloFresh logistics manager Robert Kindrade says: “Gophr has improved our offering to our customers, has given us low error rates and has built custom solutions bespoke to our needs.”
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