Pay Attention To Startups And D2C
By Erin Harris, Editor-In-Chief, Cell & Gene
Follow Me On Twitter @ErinHarris_1
Ever since I returned from ShopTalk, I’ve dedicated time to learning more about the startups that exhibited at the show, as well as others in incubation labs around the country. I had the opportunity to catch up with Ani Collum, CMO of Ellie Kai — a made-to-order women’s apparel startup and advisor of Queuehop, which offers next-gen self-checkout — about her thoughts on how startups are impacting the retail industry and why retailers should consider partnerships with early-stage tech companies. Here’s what Collum had to say.
“Retailers can no longer rest on their laurels. The landscape has changed significantly, even over the past two to three years, and new concepts are really giving legacy retailers a run for their money. Startups and smaller niche retailers have competitive advantage across so many fronts, one being that consumer preferences have shifted. There is a strong desire to interact with brands that don’t carry any “baggage.” Consumers are looking for new players, new stories, and new ways to buy — and the retail players of yesteryear need to catch-up FAST in order to maintain any relevance in today’s marketplace.
One of the dynamics that is adding to the pressure and urgency for retailers to catch-up is the fact that there is a new guard of retailers that are coming-in full force, particularly in the D2C (direct to consumer) space. These new D2C companies that started as pure play e-commerce retailers are typically progressive in the way they interact with consumers. They take a digital-first approach to engagement and as a result, have very connected relationships with their customers. Their businesses have been built from the ground up by using technology and taking risks, and now that many of them are branching into offline retail (pop-up and permanent), they are taking this digital-first mentality and applying it to the brick-and-mortar format, which has brought the dynamic and lack of innovation in traditional retail to the forefront.
Customers are craving new experiences. Many of these experiences are driven by technology, and the smaller startup tech companies that are often brushed aside need to be considered more seriously by today’s retailers. Working with startups can certainly be a gamble if a retailer doesn’t choose the right partner, but the benefits often outweigh the potential risk. Startups are nimble, aggressive, and tend to work 24/7 to deliver results. The founders are often times the implementers and care deeply about the outcome of the relationship. They are committed to a successful partnership and will go at great lengths to prove the value of their technology.
These startups are learning and iterating along the way, and for a retailer that gets in with a startup early on can have a hand in customizing the technology to work best for their business. Rebecca Minkoff is a retailer who has totally embraced the concept of working with startups to improve the in-store experience (interactive fitting rooms through Oak Labs, self-checkout technology through QueueHop) and as a result, has been able to stay ahead of the game, and garner a great deal consumer and industry traction along the way.”
Has your company had success partnering with startups to find the right mix of profit and customer engagement? Let us know by emailing me at erin.harris@jamesonpublshing.com.