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

Viveat

Company Description

Viveat provides a personalized shopping experience by assigning products a digital identity. The company works with consumer goods brands that aspire to connect consumers with their physical products. Viveat’s Product Passport platform enables brands to engage consumers via their mobile devices with storytelling, authentication and product registration. The company provides unique identities for physical products, turning them into an engagement and interaction channel. Viveat then uses products’ digital identities to help brands gather insights on user-product interactions in real time. The company can provide an analysis of product life cycles, supply chain trace ability and user profiles to provide brands with market and behavioral insights.

Market Overview

According to market research firm Research and Markets, the IoT market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 26.9% from 2017 to 2022, from $170.57 billion to $561.04 billion.

What Problem Is the Company Solving?

Viveat is addressing two problems. First, the company aims to increase in-store conversion rates by providing consumers with access to product-specific information such as origin, sustainability, product reviews and tutorials while they interact with a physical product in a store. This enables stores to better compete with the online shopping experience. Second, the company seeks to change the product registration process from a cost center to a profit center by helping brands systematically collect, understand and monetize user and behavioral data for each product. This creates opportunities for personalized interaction and up selling after each purchase.

Source: Viveat.com

Headquarters

Milan, Italy and New York, New York

Funding Stage

Seed round ($350,000)

Business Model

Clients pay a monthly subscription fee to access Viveat’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, plus a fee for each digital identity that is created. The subscription fees depend on which functionalities clients choose.

Competitive Landscape

The company’s competitors include ScanLife, Evrythng and Kezzler, which provide IoT smart platform solutions.

Management Team

CEO and Founder Marcello GamberalePaolettiis a serial entrepreneur who sold his first e-commerce company in 2014 at age 27 before founding Viveat. Marco Gaiani, Executive Chairman, is a former C-level sales and marketing executive who has worked for consumer goods companies such as Procter &Gamble, Ferrero and Levi’s. Strategist Marco Cioffrese was formerly a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, and Enrico Corradi, Business Development, US, is a SaaS entrepreneur with more than 15 years of international business development experience in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU.

Company Outlook

The company’s platform will be fully integrated with block chain technology to secure immutable product passports by the end of April 2018. Development of integration with block chain-based proof of production for Product Passports is also scheduled to be completed by April. Viveat will introduce new NFC features for brand protection by the end of March. The company has successfully addressed the European market and has begun to expand into the US market.