Can one box really get over 40 uses?
Can one box really get over 40 uses?
Greetings, Pulse Subscribers!
This week, we’ve got insightful and informative news from across the entire retail spectrum. Here’s the agenda:
Reducing food waste
Smartphones to replace scanners?
Getting 40+ uses out of one packing box
Partnerships that might change the status quo
Gen Z’s impact on the luxury market
Sound good? Let’s go!
Startup Deals
Retail Planning Platform | Over 1 billion tons of food is wasted globally every year. Of that staggering amount, 13% is generated by retailers. Besides harming the planet, it’s also bad for bottom lines. RELEX Solutions offers an AI-driven retail planning platform that not only automates and optimizes demand planning, merchandising, supply chain, and workforce planning but can also reduce waste by up to 40%. The solution centralizes supply chain, space, and workforce data in one platform to automatically optimize the flow of goods and use of capacity and resources across the supply chain. This allows businesses to reduce waste by ordering and allocating responsively using accurate shelf-life information, granular forecasts, and near-real-time data. With more accurate forecasting, RELEX touts up to a 30% reduction in inventory while shoppers see greater availability, more appealing store displays, and fresher food products. RELEX recently raised about $570 million at a $5.7 billion valuation. Current customers include Sprouts, Circle K, Flink, and Thrive Market.
Smart Data Capture | Retail comes with a lot of specialized equipment: barcode scanners, text readers, ID verifiers, shelf scanners … the list goes on. What if all of that equipment was unified into one pocket-sized tool? That’s what Scandit is offering with its computer vision-based data capture technology. Using AI and the camera on a smartphone (or tablet, drone, or any device that’s compatible with computer vision), Scandit’s tool can scan barcodes, text, ID cards, or physical objects to trigger automated responses like stock levels, delivery instructions, customer information, and more. Promising to make scanning up to 3 times faster, Scandit allows customers to break free from specialized equipment, whether in-store, in the warehouse, or at distribution centers. Scandit currently serves some 1,700 customers, including Decathlon, FedEx, Levi’s, and Coop.dk. Scandit recently raised $150 million in Series D funding for a valuation of more than $1 billion.
Reusable Packaging | Over 20 billion parcels are delivered every year in the US - that’s a lot of cardboard boxes. While recycling is certainly helpful in terms of environmental impact, reusable packaging offers even greater benefits. At least that’s what Returnity promises. Thanks to reusable bags, boxes, and more, each Returnity package eliminates the need for 40+ single-use packages over its lifetime. More than offering reusable packages, Returnity provides the circular system required to make reusables the right choice - operationally, economically, and environmentally. Its 3P Platform builds low-cost reaggregation systems, high-participation rate solutions, and customized packaging. This allows companies to get more use out of every package, helping cut costs and improve sustainability. With customers that include the Estée Lauder Companies, Walmart, New Balance, and Rent the Runway, Returnity boasts half a million shipments per month and recently raised $3.1 million from Brand Foundry Ventures.
Corporate + Startup Partnerships
Innovation happens fast when big companies team up with startups to improve upon “business as usual.” By reducing waste, eliminating the need to check out at a register, and offering zero-emission autonomous delivery, these partnerships could herald big changes in the way business is done.
Allbirds + Trove | Working toward the goal of cutting its carbon emissions in half by 2025, Allbirds has partnered with Trove to launch its secondhand platform, ReRun. With ReRun, customers can now visit one of three Allbirds locations (in LA, Chicago, or NYC) and trade their gently used sneakers for $20 in store credit. The shoes will then be authenticated and refurbished by Trove, the white-label recommerce service featured in Pulse #17 and our Sustainable Retail Revolution Showcase, which is powering the platform. After authentication and cleaning, the like-new shoes will be resold on ReRun at around two-thirds of their original price. Click below to read more about this partnership and Allbirds’s sustainability commitments.
Mapco + Grabango | Frictionless checkout lets customers walk out of stores with purchases without stopping at a checkout counter. Startup Grabango has partnered with Southeastern convenience store chain Mapco to install frictionless checkout in two stores in Tennessee by this fall. What sets Grabango apart is its use of computer vision instead of sensors as the technology behind the system. This allows Grabango to quickly retrofit existing stores for customers like Giant Eagle, BP, Circle K, and now, Mapco. Read more about this partnership and other entries into frictionless checkout below.
Save Mart + Starship Technologies | Grocery delivery spiked during the pandemic and introduced many to its convenience. To improve the way goods are delivered to customers, Save Mart has teamed up with Starship Technologies to deploy emission-free autonomous carts, aka delivery robots, from a Lucky California supermarket in Pleasanton, California. These carts can each carry up to 20 pounds of groceries, serving about 1,500 households in the vicinity of the store, with plans to expand in the months to come. Customers can track their delivery via an app and use their smartphone to unlock the delivery compartment when the robot arrives. Click below to read more about this partnership and the future of grocery delivery.
Essential Industry Reads
Although 2022 continues to present operational challenges to retailers, executive teams that remain focused on the bigger picture will also be presented with opportunities. Bain’s global retail practice leader sat down with sector CEOs to highlight the six imperatives emerging as strategic priorities for 2022.
As mentioned above, Gen Z is coming into its own in unexpected ways. For example, it turns out that Gen Z far outpaces Gen X and Baby Boomers when it comes to purchasing luxury goods. Klarna, the buy-now-pay-later company, has scoured its data to create “Unpacking Luxury in 2022,” an insightful overview of how consumers are shopping for luxury goods and what they care about. Drawing analysis from over 58 million Klarna orders and surveys of 1,000+ US shoppers, Klarna offers a data-backed look at the state of luxury today.
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See you in two weeks!