Shoptalk2018

Shoptalk is billed as the world’s largest conference devoted to retail and e-commerce innovation. Conference organizers expect more than 7,500 attendees at the event this year, which runs March 18–21 in Las Vegas. Coresight Research is again partnering with Shoptalk to host the conference’s annual startup pitch competition. On March 20, Coresight Research CEO and Founder Deborah Weinswig will also participate in a Shoptalk session entitled “Overview of Retail and E commerce Innovation in China.” Zia Daniell Wigder, Chief Global Content Officer of Shoptalk, will interview Weinswig and Hans Tung, Managing Partner of GGV Capital, on topics that include technology and business model advancements in areas such as checkout, payments, delivery, logistics, the IoT and robotics.

Startup Competition

On March 18, Weinswig will emcee a startup pitch competition between 15 early-stage companies. 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 $25,000. Shoptalk curated the participating startups based on their solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing retailers today. As we highlight in our 18 Retail Trends for ’18: Preparing for Another Year of Change report, the retail industry continues to under go transformation, characterized by five key factors that are either driven by or affecting consumers and retailers:

1. Consumers continue to switch from conventional retail formats to new, alternative formats and channels.
2. Shoppers value life-improving services from retailers and technology providers.
3. Brands, retailers and technology firms are offering new types of interactions, rewards and experiences.
4. Industry changes are compelling closer collaboration among retailers, technology giants (including Amazon), logistics technology vendors and social media influencers.
5. Retailers are leveraging technologies as diverse as block chain and 3D printing to make their supply chains smarter and fitter in an increasingly competitive market.

In response to these trends and opportunities, retailers in all channels are changing to accommodate shoppers’ shifting preferences. Below, we profile EverThread, one of the companies participating in the startup pitch competition at Shoptalk 2018.

EverThread

Company Description

EverThread is a product visualization solution for retailers and brands. The company uses patent-pending, proprietary 2D/3D image-rendering software to create high-resolution, customized views of its clients’ products. Once a product image is created, the retailer or brand can make thousands of finishes, colors and textures available for the image, allowing shoppers to personalize the product shown and enabling the retailer to cross-merchandise it with other products. Shoppers can purchase items directly from inventory or personalize and customize them. EverThread links to retailers’ supply chains so custom production-ready orders can be shared directly with vendors.

Source: EverThread.com

The company’s cloud-based content management platform streamlines the image production process for retailers and gives them the ability to mix and match product views. EverThread also provides customer behavior analytics to help retailers track trends and merchandising decisions. The company’s initial target market is the home décor and furnishings space.

Market Overview

Research firm Research and Markets estimated that the global visualization and 3D-rendering software market was worth $431 million in 2015, and the firm expectsthe market to grow at a CAGR of approximately 30%, to $1.6 billion, by 2020.

What Problem Is the Company Solving?

According to new research from artificial intelligence firm ViSenze, more than 75% of consumers are inspired to make purchases based on image and video content, and the statistic highlights the growing importance of high-quality images.Retailers often struggle to provide high-quality and customizable images via Photoshop, photo shoots and other time-consuming tools and techniques. In addition, product returns are a costly part of doing business, particularly for e-commerce operators, and managing the increasingly expensive reverse supply chain has become a priority for retailers. According to digital marketing and advertising firm Invesp, at least 30% of all products ordered online are returned. Moreover, 22% of retail returns are due to a product appearing different in person than it does in a picture, according to ReadyCloud, which makes customer relationship management software for e-commerce firms.Presenting shoppers with high-quality product images can not only boost sales, but also help retailers avoid returns from customers who are disappointed when they discover that a product looks different in real life than it does in an image on a website.

Headquarters

Dallas, Texas

Funding Stage

Seed ($920,000)

Business Model

EverThread clients pay to onboard to the EverThread platform and then pay approximately $120,000 per program (group of 50 products) per year for the company’s software-as-a-service(SaaS) subscription.

Competitive Landscape

EverThread defines its main competitors as Adobe, Scene7, LiquidPixels and Fluid.

Management Team

Nicole Mossman, CEO and Founder, has over 20 years of experience in home décor, apparel and beauty, and holds an MS in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the University of Texas at Dallas. Technology advisor Scott Levy previously founded ResultMaps.com, a design partner at venture capital firm Growth X (an EverThread investor), and serves as President of W3MG, a firm offering end-to-end product management and marketing for SaaS businesses.

Company Outlook

EverThread has a phased product enhancement and development plan.In its second phase, the company will add virtual reality for dynamic products and room building. In its third phase,it will add 3D for high-resolution and 360-degree views.In its fourth phase, it will add machine learning and product curation and inits fifth phase, it will add augmented reality to product viewing.