Groceryshop 2018

The Coresight Research team will be attending and participating in the Groceryshop 2018 conference, which runs October 28–31 in Las Vegas. The team behind the Shoptalk retail and e-commerce conference founded this new event, which will cover the disruption of the grocery, CPG and related industries. Coresight Research has previously partnered with Shoptalk to host that conference’s annual startup pitch competition. Groceryshop is expected to bring together 1,000 attendees and more than 150 speakers. Discussion topics will include the transformation of the retail industry, including convenience stores, supermarkets and e-commerce, and changes in the production and distribution of CPGs across multiple retail verticals. Additionally, the event will cover the rapid shifts in how consumers discover, shop and buy—from the use of new technologies and business models to the latest trends in consumer behaviors, preferences and expectations. According to Zia Daniell Wigder, Cofounder of Groceryshop and Chief Content Officer of Shoptalk, Groceryshop was created to meet the needs of a sector on the verge of a massive shift. The percentage of grocery sales made online in the US is only 2%–3%, significantly lower than for other categories such as apparel and electronics, where e-commerce accounts for about 20% of sales, Wigder said. Over the next few years, new omnichannel grocery offerings will likely go mainstream, providing consumers with new experiences as well as more convenient delivery and pickup options. Digital platforms that offer the best mix of price, selection and convenience will see increased transaction volume, while physical stores will experience change and likely play a key role in online order fulfillment.

Startup Pitch Competition

On October 28, Coresight Research CEO and Founder Deborah Weinswig will emcee a startup pitch competition featuring 12 innovative, early-stage technology companies that provide solutions to solve major problems in e-commerce, grocery retail, and/or the food or CPG sector. Each company will present its business to a panel of judges from the investment community and to the audience. Two winners will be announced, one chosen by the panel of judges and one by audience vote, and each winner will be awarded $10,000. Groceryshop curated the participating startups based on their solutions to some of the most pressing challenges that grocery, e-commerce, food and CPG companies are facing. All of the participating startups have less than $3 million in funding, provide business-to-business (B2B) solutions and were founded in 2014 or later. We categorized the 12 companies into four buckets of retail disruption:

• Sourcing, Merchandising and Cataloging: Shoppers are demanding more grocery choices than ever before, and grocery retailers face challenges in keeping their assortments up to date and in sync with consumer demand.
• Enabling Grocery E-Commerce: Providing engaging and personalized online experiences while meeting consumer expectations regarding fulfillment and delivery is crucial for retailers.
• Improved Shopping Experiences: Shoppers are demanding intuitive and more seamless grocery experiences both online and in stores.
• Tracking, Measurement and Insights: Digital technology is creating new metrics and capabilities for gleaning insights for grocery retailers and CPG manufacturers.

Below, we profile Touchize, one of the companies participating in the startup pitch competition at Groceryshop. We categorize Touchize as being in the Improved Shopping Experiences group.

Touchize

Company Description

Swedish company Touchize offers a progressive web application that optimizes the mobile shopping user interface in order to provide a more seamless, browser-based mobile shopping experience. The company has developed a unique, swipe-based mobile interface for adding and removing items from an online shopping cart. The solution is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows mobile devices. The app’s “DragtoBuy” feature improves the mobile shopping experience by shortening the time between inspiration and purchase. According to Touchize, shortening the mobile purchasing journey can increase loyalty, basket size and conversion.

Source: Touchize.com

Market Overview

Mobile commerce refers to the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices. It enables users to access the Internet without needing to find a place to plug in. In countries such as China, South Korea and India, mobile commerce’s share of total e-commerce sales already exceeds 50%, according to Research And Markets, and it continues to grow. According to Research And Markets, these countries also have the largest share of digital users who complete purchases through apps, a trend that is gaining traction worldwide: digital users in Asia, North America and Europe also prefer to purchase via apps over mobile browsers. According to research from Motor Intelligence, the global mobile commerce market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 24.41% between 2018 and 2023.

What Problem Is the Company Solving?

According to market intelligence firm SimilarWeb, mobile devices’ share of total online traffic in the US grew from 57% in 2016 to 63% in 2017, and mobile is becoming consumers’ preferred channel for shopping and discovering products.However, according to comScore, mobile accounted for only about24% of total online spending in the US as of the fourth quarter of 2017, meaning that desktops still account for the majority of online spending. When comparing conversion rates, mobile devices’ rate is typically only one-third that of desktops, according to Touchize. The company believes that this “mobile gap” is largely a result of bad user experiences. Providing a user experience that is optimized for the mobile touch interface can make mobile shopping faster and simpler and, ultimately, result in increased basket size, conversion and customer retention.

Headquarters

Malmö, Sweden

Funding Stage

Not disclosed

Business Model

Touchize’s business model is based on two main parts: a subscription model that depends on the sales going through the solution and a licensing model for enterprise customers using the Touchize product as a framework for e-commerce on touch-based devices.

Management Team

CEO Jesper Deleuran has spent 25 years in leadership roles in operations, innovation and technology. Founder and CTO Tom Gajdos has 20 years of experience in mobile development and holds a number of patents in mobile technology and interactive solutions. Founder and Product Manager Stefan Mumm has 25 years of experience in business development, communications and user-interface development at IBM and other Internet companies.

Company Outlook

The company seeks to help close the mobile gap with its solution, so mobile traffic converts into sales at the same rate that desktop traffic does.