Introduction

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. The conference will bring together almost 3,000 established retailers, brands, technology companies, investors, Wall Street analyst firms and more under one roof. Shoptalk 2022 will feature 250+ speakers, 150+ CEOs, 80+ sessions and over 600+ sponsors. The conference presents an opportunity to gain insights into emerging trends and recent innovations. The Coresight Research team will take the stage for several sessions, discussing livestreaming opportunities, the latest customer loyalty strategies and tomorrow’s retail experience (see the appendix of this report for more details). On March 27, 2022, Coresight Research will host the “Shark Reef” startup pitch competition, which will see 15 early-stage US retail-technology innovators compete to win the Sharks’ Choice and Audience Choice awards. In this report, we present a preview of the pitch competition, covering its format and the judging panel as well as an introduction to each participating innovator.

Shoptalk 2022—“Shark Reef” Startup Pitch Competition: A Preview

Event Format and Judging Panel The Shoptalk 2022 “Shark Reef” startup pitch competition will comprise three sessions through the day, across which the 15 retail-technology innovators will each give a three-minute presentation to a panel of expert judges and the audience on how their solutions are solving key challenges in retail. The judges will lead a short Q&A following each presentation. In the final session, the judging panel will reveal the Sharks’ Choice winner and the audience will have the opportunity to cast their votes for the Audience Choice winner. Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, will moderate the pitch competition. She will be joined by three expert judges:

• Matt Nicholas, General Partner at Commerce Ventures
• Neeta Rastogi Singh, Chief Operating Officer at Activant Capital
• Diana Melencio, Partner at XRC Labs

Innovative Solutions Across Four Areas of Disruption in Retail Coresight Research categorizes the 15 startups into four areas of disruption in retail: Coresight Research categorizes the 15 startups into four areas of disruption in retail: 1. 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. Startups: Humankind, Ownit, Endear, Returnmates 2. Forward-Looking Physical Experiences Brands and retailers across multiple sectors are looking to reimagine the brick-and-mortar retail experience to remain competitive in an increasingly digital world. Forward-looking concepts cover order delivery and pickup enhancements, retail space optimization and store traffic analytics. Technology innovators focusing on forward-looking physical experiences can assist retailers in creating a more engaging and convenient store-based shopping journey for their customers. Startups: Re/tell, Glimpse, Via.Delivery 3. Groundbreaking 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 groundbreaking digital commerce can assist retailers in marketing automation, social media campaigns, business analytics, order management and more. Startups: Mason, Nautical Commerce, NiftMint, Mavi, Sayollo 4. Reducing Waste and Increasing Sustainability Customers, employees and governments are increasingly demanding sustainability efforts from businesses, seeking transparency in sourcing, progress in environmental initiatives and the reporting of goals. Technology companies can assist retailers in achieving their sustainability goals, across carbon emissions reduction, waste management and more.

• Coresight Research believes that sustainability will remain one of the foremost multiyear trends to watch in retail. Read more Coresight Research coverage of sustainability in retail.

Startups: EcoCart, ReUpp, Max Retail The Competing Innovators We profile each of the 15 innovators below—including the speaker who will present on the company’s solution at the pitch competition—in alphabetical order. Calico

• Speaker: Kathleen Chan, Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: Reducing waste and increasing sustainability

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Calico provides a smart production management platform that helps DTC (direct-to-consumer) brands simplify and streamline the supply chain process to get their products to market quickly. The company offers an operating system that enables brands to oversee and manage the entire production process, including creating, paying and managing all their factory purchase orders from one central dashboard. Calico enables DTC brands to leverage their vast network of global factories by providing quick communication and tracking features that allow for transparency during the supply chain process. The company also vets all the factories to ensure that they are meeting or exceeding ethical and environmental standards to promote sustainable commerce.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Calico.

EcoCart

• Speaker: Dane Baker, Co-Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: Reducing waste and increasing sustainability

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, EcoCart is a sustainability-focused e-commerce enablement company that helps retailers and consumers offset carbon emissions related to online retail. The company deploys algorithms that calculate the carbon emissions of every order, based on factors such as shipping distance, package weight and product type to help consumers and retailers understand their ecological footprint. The company offers an e-commerce plugin that merchants can use to offer a carbon-neutral order option for their customers at checkout. For consumers, EcoCart’s Google Chrome extension calculates the carbon footprint of orders, giving consumers the option to make their order carbon neutral when shopping at over 10,000 stores. EcoCart also offers an analytics dashboard also provides retailers with the opportunity to understand the environmental impacts of specific parts of their product lifecycles.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for EcoCart.

Endear

• Speaker: Leigh Sevin, Co-Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: Consumer experience and client relationship management

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in New York, New York, Endear provides a customer relationship management (CRM), data analytics and messaging platform aimed specifically at retail servicing. Endear’s platform allows associates to contact customers from anywhere and communicate with them via multiple methods. Messages can be personalized to include specific branding content or product recommendations based on a customer’s order history and interests. The company claims to facilitate the transformation of traditional store associates into digital marketers with access to a full suite of clienteling tools that enable them to enrich an omnichannel CRM platform. Endear also allows retailers to track in-store and online sales via sales reports and data insights into a team’s effectiveness in executing the sales process.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Endear.

Glimpse 

• Speaker: Akash Raju, Co-Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: Forward-looking physical experiences

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in New York, New York, Glimpse assists brands and retailers in creating immersive product trial experiences through collaborations with short-term rentals. The company enables brands to place their products in rental properties to promote brand awareness and increase conversion by allowing their products to be discovered and tried in the settings in which they are intended to be used. Glimpse coordinates logistics surrounding the shipment and setup of the product through direct integrations to the brand’s fulfilment systems. The company also helps brands convert trial experiences to sales through unique QR codes and single-use discount codes that facilitate easy purchasing.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Glimpse.

Humankind

• Speaker: David Weissman, Co-Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: Consumer experience and client relationship management

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Santa Moncia, California, Humankind is a conversational commerce, SaaS (software-as-a-service) platform that enables brands and retailers to provide one-to-one, personalized, human-led selling experiences with their customers via SMS, manage hundreds of conversations and 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 automated marketing to strategically target audiences, segment customer groups, and perform customer analytics based on shopping patterns. 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.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Humankind.

Mavi.io

• Speaker: Cynthia Hollen, Co-Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: Groundbreaking digital commerce

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Miami, Florida, Mavi.io provides software that allows consumers to locate retailers with wanted goods or services, pre-pay and coordinate order pickup—all from the dashboard of their car. 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 specially selected to execute services reliably and deliver top products to consumers requiring quick or instant service. 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. Read the full Innovator Profile for Mavi.io Max Retail

• Speaker: Melodie van der Baan, Co-Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: Reducing waste and increasing sustainability

Max Retail (formerly known as Swap Retail) is headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The company bridges the gap between retail supply and consumer demand to help retailers optimize their inventory levels. The company connects retailers that sell similar products and brands to create a marketplace that facilitates the fluid buying, selling and swapping of inventory. Retailers can use Max Retail’s platform to quickly restock on brands when they are selling quickly to meet consumer demand, or sell off any unsold or unwanted inventory through business-to-business (B2B) channels. The company also helps retailers quickly liquidate their inventory through their relationships with off-price partners. By doing so, the company assists retailers in their journey to sustainable inventory optimization while simultaneously creating a strategic network of retailers that can build on each other’s inventories, brands and ideas.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Max Retail.

Nautical Commerce

• Speaker: Ryan Lee, Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: Groundbreaking digital commerce

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in New York, New York, Nautical Commerce offers a multi-vendor SaaS platform that uses a headless-commerce structure and enables both business-to-consumer (B2C) and B2B brands and retailers to rapidly launch and scale online marketplaces. Headless commerce refers to an e-commerce platform structure that separates the front and back ends to enable the editing and updating of either end independently. Users can create a marketplace with multiple vendors and import their existing catalogues by using API (application programming interface) access and integrations with e-commerce websites such as Shopify. The platform’s headless-storefront structure enables vendors to quickly adjust the front end of their digital store to adapt to the latest consumer trends, implement new marketing ideas or utilize the latest e-commerce software without extra overhead costs.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Nautical Commerce.

Niftmint

• Speaker: Jonathan Blanco, Founder and CEO
• Area of Disruption: Groundbreaking digital commerce

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Niftmint is operating at the intersection of commerce and blockchain technology through NFTs (non-fungible tokens). NFTs are non-exchangeable units of data stored on an indelible record of transactions (the blockchain). The company helps brands and retailers to mint and sell NFT versions of their offerings directly on their websites when customers make an online purchase—enabling retailers to build brand awareness, and drive revenue. Customers can use their payment method of choice and do not need to use cryptocurrency to acquire these NFTs. This enables consumers to participate in the NFT market without intense knowledge of blockchain technology or cryptocurrency. The company also manages NFTs purchased by a brand’s or retailer’s customers and displays the digital product in their account for accessibility.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Niftmint.

Ownit

• Speaker: Payman Nejati, Co-Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: Consumer experience and client relationship management

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Ownit provides one-click checkout technology that retailers and DTC brands can integrate with their e-commerce platforms to offer shoppers a frictionless checkout experience. Ownit aims to make online shopping a seamless experience by eliminating inconveniences arising from the lack of integration between digital platforms, such as social media product links and payment processors. Ownit’s Connected Checkout Link technology integrates with e-commerce platforms (such as Amazon and Shopify), payment gateways (such as Apple Pay and PayPal) and social media platforms (such as Facebook and YouTube) at the point of discovery, so consumers can make a purchase in one tap.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Ownit.

Re/tell

• Speaker: Joy Fan, Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: Forward-looking physical experiences

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in New York, New York, Re/tell deploys AI and open-chat technology to help online brands and retailers find excess wall, floor or shelf space in high-traffic physical destinations—extending their marketing footprint to brick-and-mortar retail and providing a new channel for product discovery. Partnerships between physical and digital retailers can boost foot traffic and conversion, as well as enabling them to access each other’s existing customer base and benefit from the popularity/status of the other company. Re/tell’s solution also offers individuals or businesses with extra space an opportunity to share their operating costs and diversify their revenue to help solve the issue of high costs associated with renting commercial real estate.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Re/tell.

Returnmates

• Speaker: Eric Wimer, Co-Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: Consumer experience and client relationship management

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Venice, California, Returnmates simplifies the shipping and returns process for consumers and retailers. The solution involves drivers collecting items from consumers’ doorsteps and transporting them to Returnmates’ warehouses, where the items are packaged and shipped on. The solution simplifies the online returns journey for consumers by offering scheduled collection times and flexibility around the collection method. Returnmates also enables real-time updates on tracked packages as soon as they are shipped. The company offers consumers instant refunds and insures each item for up to $1,000. Returnmates aims to fully digitalize online returns by enabling returns accessibility through a few clicks on a consumer’s phone.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Returnmates.

ReUpp

• Speaker: Lauryn Vaughn, Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: Reducing waste and increasing sustainability

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, ReUpp works with brands and retailers to assign a buy-back value for gently used items at the time of first purchase on e-commerce platforms, generates a store credit and provides free return-shipping labels through an e-commerce API integration or browser extension. ReUpp’s solution gives consumers an easy entryway into participating in the recommerce ecosystem at the point of purchase by using machine learning and proprietary technology to take care of the logistics of reselling and providing customers transparency around the resale value of their purchases. It also provides brands and retailers an avenue for increasing consumer loyalty and recurring revenue streams by providing consumers buy-back assurance at time of purchase and assigning store credit.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for ReUpp.

Sayollo

• Speaker: Jonathan Attias, Co-Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: Groundbreaking digital commerce

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Israel, Sayollo enables brands and retailers to tap into the rapidly growing digital video-gaming world by integrating advertisements into internal objects within the gaming environment—such as billboards, posters and signs. The company’s platform allows video gamers to view advertisements and buy physical products directly inside mobile games. The company displays advertisements in a discrete manner that does not disrupt or slow down the gameplay, one of the biggest issues gamers have with in-game advertisements. As these advertisements are more subtly integrated relative to traditional isolated advertisements, they can often be considerably cheaper as well.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Sayollo.

Via.Delivery

• Speaker: Mitchell Nikitin, Co-Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: Forward-looking physical experiences

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, Via.Delivery utilizes digital logistics, physical warehouses and a cloud-based delivery platform to create a sustainable delivery network for DTC brands and online retailers. The company integrates e-commerce parcels into existing brick-and-mortar supply chain infrastructure through partnerships with local grocery stores, pharmacies, copy centers and more, to provide over 97,000 pickup locations. By using pre-existing logistics infrastructure and partnering with local brick-and-mortar locations, last-mile delivery becomes cheaper for retailers, with more efficient delivery routes that also make deliveries more sustainable by reducing carbon emissions.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Delivery.

Appendix: Coresight Research at Shoptalk 2022—Panel Discussions

The Coresight Research team will participate in three panel discussions during the conference, addressing a range of key themes and developments in retail technology. The Latest Customer Loyalty Strategies: 9.15 a.m.–9.55 a.m. on Monday, March 28, 2022 Instilling loyalty presents challenges in an age of unparalleled consumer choice. In this session, industry leaders will discuss the tactics and technologies that have helped their companies keep consumers coming back.

• John Mandell, SVP of Global Membership and Commerce at WW
• Andrea Moore, SVP Digital E-Commerce and Consumer Insights at NEST New York
• Neil Callahan, President of Greats
• Ken Fenyo, President of Research & Advisory at Coresight Research (Interviewer)

Seizing the Livestreaming and Shoppable-Video Opportunity: 2.20 p.m.–3.00 p.m. on Monday, March 28, 2022 As companies seek to market their products online with the same richness and immediacy they do in the real world, livestreaming and shoppable video stand out as huge opportunities. This session will help companies understand how to develop a livestream and shoppable-video strategy, from selecting the right platforms to engaging viewers and driving conversion.

• Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research
• Bridget Dolan, Global Managing Director of Shopping Partnerships, YouTube
• Steve Vranes, CEO of Hot Topic

Key Takeaways from Shoptalk 2022: 10.55 a.m.–11.55 a.m. on Wednesday March 30, 2022 This session will summarize the most critical insights from speakers throughout Shoptalk 2022 and provide takeaways that attendees can take back to their organizations.

• Marie Driscoll, Managing Director at Coresight Research
• Steph Wissink, Managing Director at Jefferies
• Lockie Andrews, CEO of RICH Hair Care
• Joe Laszlo, VP Content at Shoptalk (Interviewer)