Introduction

What’s the Story? The Coresight Research team will attend and participate in this year’s Shoptalk conference, which will be held on March 27–30, 2022, in Las Vegas, US. Shoptalk 2022 will address the sudden transformation in the retail environment since the outbreak of Covid-19, as the industry is looking to embrace technology and innovation to address new challenges. On March 27, 2022, Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, will emcee and feature on the judging panel of Shoptalk 2022’s “Shark Reef” startup pitch competition, which will see 15 early-stage US retail-technology innovators compete to win the Shark’s Choice and Audience Choice awards. In the lead-up to the event, we are profiling the participating innovators. This report forms part of our Innovator Profile series, which focuses on emerging technologies that are disrupting traditional retail and fueling innovation across the retail value chain. We present Humankind, a conversational commerce, SaaS (software-as-a-service) platform. Coresight Research collaborated with Humankind to offer insights into its service capabilities and offerings. Why It Matters Coresight Research categorizes the 15 participating innovators into four areas of disruption in retail. Humankind falls under “consumer experience and client relationship management.” As consumers interact with brands and retailers across more channels—both online and offline—in a post-pandemic world, they will gravitate toward those that provide a richer, more engaging shopping journey. Retail-technology companies are helping retailers by creating seamless channels of communication, integrating digital infrastructures and simplifying online shopping, with the aim of better managing their relationships with their clients and enhancing the overall consumer experience.

Humankind: In Detail

      Headquarters  Santa Monica, California, US Funding Stage  Pre-seed stage Company Description Founded in 2021, Humankind is a conversational commerce, SaaS platform that enables brands and retailers to provide one-to-one, personalized, human-led selling experiences with their customers via SMS. Humankind’s platform can gather insightful information about shoppers via customer surveys and media sharing between shoppers and experts. The platform leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to provide personalized recommendations and solutions to customers. Retailers can also use the platform to automate personalized marketing to strategically target audiences, segment customer groups and perform customer analytics based on shopping patterns. According to the company, Humankind aims to make online shopping more personalized and centered around the consumer experience by utilizing human feel and expertise alongside advances in innovative technologies such as AI and NLP to assist retailers in better catering to their customers. [caption id="attachment_143076" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Company website[/caption]   What Problem Is the Company Solving? Consumers are increasingly seeking engaging digital shopping experiences and continue to adapt new technologies for discovering and purchasing products. However, many shoppers still value the interactive, personal customer experience they receive while shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, often through speaking with a human expert (store associate) who can guide them through personalized recommendations. Humankind’s platform allows retailers to bring the human touch online by connecting shoppers with live experts who can offer real-time guidance and recommendations—from sommeliers to dieticians to curators, among many other professionals in different fields of expertise. As retailers implement strategies to increase engagement and broaden their digital footprint, it is important that they efficiently manage their client relationships. Humankind’s platform allows retailers to create better channels of communication with their customers and manage hundreds of conversations from one platform. Market Opportunity Coresight Research’s weekly survey findings in our US Consumer Tracker report series consistently show that more than half of consumers are avoiding public places because of the Covid-19 pandemic—sustaining the shift to e-commerce. However, according to Humankind, 86% of its users want to shop with a real human, making personalized digital engagement a key priority for brands and retailers with an online presence. Retailers will turn to CRM (customer relationship management) technology providers to help organize and facilitate client relationships and automate many facets of the marketing and sales process. The global CRM software market is forecast to have totaled $43.7 billion in 2020, and it is set to grow at a 0.4% CAGR during 2019–2024, based on data from Apps Run the World. Advances in innovative technologies such as AI, NLP, cloud computing and machine learning are likely to drive platform functionality and the fluidity of digital shopping channels in the future, leading to increased adoption by retailers and engagement by consumers. [caption id="attachment_143077" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Company website[/caption]  

What We Think

We expect consumer preferences to shop online to be at least partially retained through 2022 as the world recovers from impacts of the pandemic and as shoppers realize the benefits of e-commerce, such as convenience. Furthermore, new technologies will continue to make shopping online more engaging for consumers. We believe that retailers that place emphasis on catering to shifting consumer trends and enhancing the consumer experience to replicate personalized, in-store moments will gain a competitive edge in the market.