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 fuelling innovation across the retail value chain. We present Mavi.io, a technology provider that brings a retail marketplace for curated shopping to car dashboards. Coresight Research collaborated with Mavi.io to offer insights into its service capabilities and offerings. Why It Matters Coresight Research categorizes the participating innovators into four areas of disruption in retail. Mavi.io falls under “ground-breaking digital commerce.” As advances in innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, transform automated capabilities within retail, digital commerce is set to grow rapidly in functionality and popularity. Technology innovators focusing on ground-breaking digital commerce can assist retailers in marketing automation, social media campaigns, business analytics, order management and more.

Mavi.io: In Detail

    Headquarters Miami, Florida, US Funding Stage Pre-seed stage Total funding amount: $1.8 million Company Description Founded in 2021, Mavi.io’s in-car software enables consumers to order, reserve and pay for goods and services from their car dashboard. Shoppers can locate the most convenient retailers that are able accommodate their needs. Goods and services can include basic items such as snacks and chargers to reservations for hotels, restaurants, events and more. The company collaborates with retail partners and operators that are selected to execute services reliably and deliver top products to consumers requiring quick or instant service. Mavio.io integrates the car’s interface and data to retailers’ and service providers’ e-commerce platforms through the Harman Ignite Store, a connected vehicle platform for original equipment manufacturers to develop and operate a personalized in-vehicle app store. Mavi.io aims to introduce “OnMyWay Commerce,” a term coined for efficiently doing in-car shopping ahead of arriving at a storefront using a BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store) model, to make efficient car shopping safer and more convenient for consumers. [caption id="attachment_143851" align="aligncenter" width="520"] Source: Mavi.io [/caption]   What Problem Is the Company Solving? As omnichannel retail becomes more popular, new methods of online order fulfilment (such as BOPIS) are gaining traction due to the efficiency and convenience they provide shoppers. Although consumers often know what goods or services they may require ahead of time, a retailer’s lack of digital infrastructure to assist consumers in communicating their needs often makes pre-ordering inefficient and tedious. For consumers, this can lead to wasted time when picking up their goods, and for retailers, it can cause lost revenue due to frustrated customers. Mavi.io curates a retail marketplace that takes into account retailer inventory and driver location to orchestrate a seamless pickup or reservation process that matches the consumer’s needs. For retailers, the company facilitates a smooth pickup process that brings consumers to their storefronts, leads to new customer acquisitions and drives sales. Market Opportunity  Even as the US recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, some changed consumer behaviors are likely to stick, including the use of BOPIS as a convenient alternative fulfilment method. According to Shopify, 59% of consumers say they are interested in BOPIS-type shopping options, and among BOPIS shoppers, 64% are opting for in-store pickup more often than before the pandemic. A February 2022 Coresight Research survey found that 27% of US consumers had used curbside pickup to receive an online order. This highlights omnichannel opportunity for retailers as consumers use both the online and offline channels to increase convenience and efficiency in the shopping process. As part of demand for improvements in the last mile, quick commerce is becoming increasingly popular among consumers—and retailers will continue to innovate in fulfillment to find creative ways of delivering their offerings to consumers quicker, including through BOPIS, as they compete to increase convenience and efficiency for their customers. We estimate that US quick-commerce sales totaled $20–25 billion in 2021.

What We Think

We believe that consumers will continue to experiment with new methods of omnichannel retail, including ordering ahead of time to conveniently pick up orders at curbside or in-store. Retailers should leverage advances in retail technology and digital infrastructure to create a more convenient ordering and pickup system that caters to consumers’ quick-commerce needs.