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 Ecommerce 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 undergo 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 blockchain 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 Teckst, one of the companies participating in the startup pitch competition at Shoptalk 2018.

Teckst

Company Description

Teckst is an e-commerce customer experience and personalization solution that provides end-to-end mobile messaging engagement, helping brands communicate with individual customers at scale.Through Teckst, consumers are able to directly message marketing and customer service teams. These teams can respond directly to individuals or send relevant responses to many consumers at once by using the Teckst tagging and tracking system, allowing for efficient customer service responses. Additionally, the solution provides multimedia messaging, including emojis, video and images. Teckst’s solution integrates into customer relationship management systems and provides reporting and analytics.

Market Overview

Messaging is becoming the go-to channel for consumers seeking answers to their questions. Over the second half of 2017, this trend advanced with the launch of Facebook Messenger Customer Chat. Technology consulting firm Activate predicted that at least 3.6 billion people will have at least one messaging app on their smartphone in 2018.

What Problem Is the Company Solving?

Teckst is helping brands and retailers communicate with consumers via smartphone. Consumers are more mobile friendly than ever, but customer service has traditionally been offered by phone, email and web chat. According to Teckst, more than 6 billion smartphone owners can use traditional texting and mobile messaging, but brands have not previously had access to a solution that uses those channels.

Headquarters

New York, New York

Funding Stage

Seed round

Business Model

Teckst’s clients are charged a monthly fee per log-in.

Competitive Landscape

The company’s competitors include Quiq,a business messaging application, and Avochato, a text messaging software platform. Companies that provide customer service through live representatives also represent competition for Teckst.

Management Team

Founder Matt Tumbles on previously served as Seamless/GrubHub’s first creative and marketing director. He has also worked to create better mobile experiences for customers at Adidas, LVMH, Red Bull, Disney, CVS and Visa. CEO Josh Rochlin was previously the CEO of Xtify, a mobile alerts company purchased by IBM in 2013.VP of Engineering Alson Kemp built a tech team at Vium in San Francisco that raised more than $200 million to solve complex medical research questions. He has also worked on technologies for Angie’s List, Stitch Fix and Visa.

Company Outlook

Teckstplans to expand into voice command experiences and to continue to build out its artificial intelligence solutions for more automated experiences for customers and agents.