Introducing Built by b8ta
by Vibhu Norby, CEO and cofounder of b8ta.
We started b8ta to create physical spaces where people could try the best technology products out of the box. We coined the term “retail-as-a-service” to describe our unique model, allowing brands to deploy and control physical retail experiences from our cloud software.
Since we launched our first location in Palo Alto thirty months ago, our store footprint has grown tremendously from 1 to 79 including shop-in-shops. We have the process of opening stores down to a science, from financing to real estate to construction and staffing and beyond.
Our retail environments are designed to tell complex stories around products and brands. Over the last year or so, we started to experiment with brands that didn’t make tech-enabled products including health and beauty products, apparel, and furniture. The results were extremely positive for both shoppers and brands. So we started thinking of better ways to support our tech and other category partners. We started dreaming of combining multiple pieces together to bring a complete environment to life.
Walking down the street or in a mall, every store looks unique and interesting. If you have experience opening stores, you know that 90% of the infrastructure and operations of every store is identical — HVAC, bathrooms and inventory rooms, flooring and drywall, POS and inventory management software, hiring processes. The brand identity of a store is the last 10%; things like visual merchandising, signage, and of course the actual products.
We wondered: what if we opened up our core store building and operations infrastructure to product makers to help them build and operate the store of their dreams? What if we provided the repeatable 90% of the store and software solutions so that brands could express themselves with their own identity?
Today, I am very proud to announce Built by b8ta.
Our newest product is what we call store-as-a-service: the world’s first software-powered solution for brands to deploy entire stores and shop-in-shops without having to know anything about how to open a store. With minimal effort, using our technology, modular design system, and staffing, brands can build their own flagship without having to sign a complicated long-term lease or hire construction firms. We’ll do all the heavy lifting for a simple flat fee. Like with our b8ta stores, you keep 100% of sales and can manage operations and view analytics using our software.
Built by is by far the best way for brands in any category to launch their own branded physical storefront. You can read more details here on the product and why we think it’s important for the future of retail.
A big shout out to the b8ta team — they have been working for the past year to build and execute on this incredible product. It’s the first product that makes the real world totally accessible through software. It brings together physical partnerships in real estate, design, and construction with our core technology engine.
It’s the next step in our mission to make offline commerce accessible through software. I can’t wait to see what people build with it!
Ready to build your flagship? Learn more at builtbyb8ta.com.
