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 SHOP, one of the companies participating in the startup pitch competition at Shoptalk 2018.

SHOP

Company Description

SHOP is a block chain-based e-commerce operating system that connects brands and consumers and is designed to decentralize control of consumer data.The platform enables brands to reward consumers with discounts and personalized experiences for sharing their personal data. Consumers purchase the SHOP Token to transact on the platform, which lets them control who sees their data and how much of it is shared. The more users share, the greater the savings rewards. SHOP Tokens are stored in users’ SHOP Wallets,which manage payment and track users’ profiles and what permissions they have given for their data use in the broader ecosystem.The tokens are built and distributed via the Ethereum block chain platform. SHOP provides an open-source API to connect existing platforms (such as Shopify, Stripe and UPS) to the Ethereum blockchain. The company has provided a new framework for shopping and selling digitally by creating a tokenized value exchange across decentralized networks. SHOP seeks to enable a global shopping network that respects data ownership and rewards participants for providing companies with access to their personal data.

Market Overview

Block chain creates a secure ledger that records and stores every transaction that occurs in a decentralized network and enables the real-time exchange of information. In 2017, the global block chain technology market was estimated to reach $339.5 million and research firm Statista forecasts that it will grow to $2.3 billion by 2021.

What Problem Is the Company Solving?

Leading global retail marketplaces such as Amazon and Alibaba have built retail empires around hoarding consumer data and blocking its exchange within the brand-shopper relationship.When consumers join an online marketplace, they have to provide personal information to meet the requirements of the site. That information can be used to track what consumers do online, and it has commercial value that consumers are forced to give the company for free. SHOP competes with third-party marketplaces by giving shoppers control of their data, thereby reconnecting brands with their customers.The company seeks to create a fair, global system for commerce.

Headquarters

Seattle, Washington

Funding Stage

Seed ($3 million)

Business Model

The company maintains a treasury of SHOP Tokens and charges access fees to ecosystem participants.

Competitive Landscape

The company’s competitors include transactional marketplaces such as CommerceHub, PayPal and Amazon.

Management Team

John Wantz, Co founder and CEO, is an experienced entrepreneur who previously founded three startups and served on the retail innovation team at Target. Jeff Mataya, CTO, specializes in e-commerce and enterprise software-as-a-service solutions. He previously cofounded FoxCommerce. Cheryl Briere, Head of Strategy and Business Development, has industry experience at major retailers including Amazon, JCPenney, Pacific Worldwide and Target.

Company Outlook

The company is focusing on direct-to-consumer retail during its initial launch phase. The SHOP initial coin offering will take place on May 14, 2018. Product releases and launches in 2018 include the SHOP Wallet, SHOP Protocol, SHOP Token, KangaShop.com (relaunch) and FoxCommerce.com (relaunch).