10 successful retail startups with singular focus
Ask anyone successful: There’s no substitute for singular vision.
The best and brightest in the convergence of tech and retail gather in Dallas this week for Retail’s Digital Summit from Shop.org. Numerous disruptive startup founders — my favorite kind of people — will be on hand.
Know what their startups have in common? Singular focus, an easily articulated value proposition and a wealth of insight, information and lessons to share.
Naturally, I’ve had my eye on startups for a while. Consider the previous winners of Shop.org’s Digital Commerce Startup of the Year competitions, Reflektion and Symphony Commerce. I’ve written about each of the finalists for this year’s event: imageSurge, Netra and RangeMe. The winner will be named at Retail’s Digital Summit.
In the meantime, here are 10 startups that have launched in recent years — and are still doing things right. Each one will take part in the Summit:
Stitch Fix:
Online personal styling. Stitch Fix has long been a leader in the try-it-on-at-home and pay-only-for-what-you-like e-commerce space. Yes, there’s a $20 “styling fee,” but it applies to anything kept from the order. Stitch Fix continues to build online shopping relationships; customers can request to stay with the same stylist each time.
True&Co:
Curated, properly fitting bras via algorithms and an online fit quiz. True&Co meets at an ideal crossroads: the number of women who have had embarrassing or uncomfortable experiences trying to get the right fit in a bra and the rising comfort and convenience of letting data help choose what will work best.
RocksBox, True&Co. and Stitch Fix will all be part of “Buy It to Try It: Where New Consumer Expectations Meet Retail-Redefining Innovation.”
Outdoor Voices:
The fitness brand for the fashion set. In the world of athleisure, this one is about celebrating activity rather than making it competitive, founder Tyler Haney told CNBC. That means no harder/faster/stronger slogans, no neon, just tech fabrics that support an active lifestyle, including tonal sets and kits.
The Bouqs Co.:
Online farm-to-table floral bouquets, cut the day of order. In addition, the company works only with sustainable, eco-friendly farms.
Boxed Wholesale:
Home delivery of groceries, health items and cleaning supplies in bulk. No membership fees and free delivery for orders over $50.
I talked with Boxed CEO Chieh Huang about how his company is bringing wholesale to mobile: Check out the interview.
Drizly:
Beer, wine and liquor online, with one-hour delivery. Enter your address to see what’s immediately available — with no markups.
Orchard Mile:
Luxury designers’ full collections online, all in one shopping bag. The site features items from the likes of Givenchy, Cynthia Rowley, Alice & Olivia, Salvatore Ferragamo and Elizabeth and James.
Curbside:
An app that helps consumers find, buy and quickly pick up products at nearby stores. It doesn’t just make things more convenient for those customers; on the retail side, it includes customer-arrival detection software, inventory management tools and other solutions. Retailers like CVS and Sephora are on board. Curbside boasts 2.6x increases in monthly visits, 30 percent new customers and 61 percent repeat purchases.
Marxent:
The Marxent VisualCommerce platform works across all augmented reality and virtual reality devices to power AR/VR apps for retail and manufacturing.
If you’re not sure about the coming impact of AR/VR on retail, don’t take my word for it: Mitch Joel will convince you.
There’s a lot of forward movement in the digital commerce startup space — and so much success to watch. Come watch with me at Retail’s Digital Summit.
