Forge Retail Pulse: A sneak peek into search-as-a-service, payment and customer engagement, content management platform, and workforce management
Greetings, Pulse subscribers!
We have a lot to cover, so here’s the agenda:
A startup that’s going toe-to-toe with Google on search
How virtual reality could change the training process
The biggest fintech story of 2021?
Reducing and optimizing the largest line item for most retailers -- labor
And as always, some valuable odds and ends along the way
Let’s dive in.
Startup Deals
Search-as-a-Service | When customers need something specific on a website or app, the best solution is to let them “search” for it. Algolia improves the results allowing retailers to integrate real-time search in their app or website using a developer-friendly API. With 70-plus+ data centers on six continents to ensure a consistent experience, it delivers blazing-fast results that load with each keystroke. In addition, with Algolia Recommend, the company aims to analyze a visitor’s intent to predict whether they’re likely to purchase something or not. Companies can then leverage that information to refresh content dynamically, send a push notification, provide real-time product recommendations, and more. With over 10,000 customers, including Uniqlo, Boots, and Lacoste, the company handles more than 1.5 trillion search queries per year. The San Francisco-based company, valued at $2.3 billion, raised $150 million in Series D funding. An easy-to-implement alternative to Google and other search engines, Algolia disclosed that its annual recurring revenue grew by 180% in the last year.
Payment and Customer Engagement | Turning customers into repeat customers is crucial for every retailer's success. Ontario-based Paystone helps retailers turn casual customers into regulars through loyalty programs, gift cards, and automated marketing backed by analytics. In addition, Paystone offers a way for businesses to reward customers for behavior rather than for spending. Refer a friend, get a reward. Write a review, get a reward. “Referrals and reviews are how businesses become more findable, and the more content that’s out there, the more it helps people consider the business trustworthy,” as founder and CEO Tarique Al-Ansari puts it. Paystone entered the US market this year and now has over 30,000 merchant locations on its platform across North America. With $23.8 million raised, Paystone is looking to continue growing its team and business, which already processes $6 billion in payments annually.
Content Management Platform | Creating and delivering engaging experiences across websites, mobile apps, digital displays, and other connected devices can be a logistical nightmare. Enter Contentful, a content management platform used by Shopify, Nike, Electronic Arts, Chanel, and 30% of Fortune 500 companies. With a platform purpose-built for omnichannel experiences, Contentful helps businesses unify content in a single hub. The platform also allows retailers to edit content for use on any digital channel and integrates with hundreds of leading-edge tools for translation, segmentation, ecommerce, and more. Boasting a 60% increase in ecommerce conversion, 3x increase in conversion from online store search, and 13% increase in average order value, Contentful helps make the digital experience come alive. Contentful raised $175 million in Series F funding, pushing its valuation over $3 billion.
Theme Exploration: Workforce Management
There’s no way around it. Businesses need a well-trained, engaged, and empowered workforce to drive sales and ensure customer satisfaction. With cutting-edge technology, these startups help improve and optimize workforce management, boost operational performance, and increase profitability for businesses across the retail spectrum.
Immersive Training | When employees learn by doing, they are more engaged, better prepared, and develop new skills faster. With immersive training, Strivr combines virtual reality with learning theory, data science, and spatial design so employees learn by doing -- virtually. When employees practice with virtual reality training software, they learn faster thanks to results that can be measured through unique data and insights unavailable in traditional training methods. In addition, Strivr helps employees learn and develop quickly without the stress, negative repercussions, or disruptions of on-the-job training. Thanks to broad use applications, Strivr is already working with Fortune 500 companies like Walmart and Verizon and with sports teams like the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Wizards.
Employee Marketplace | Today’s dynamic workforce values flexible job opportunities. As companies face increasingly complex staffing requirements based on seasonal surges, peak hours, and evolving needs, connecting skilled workers with open shifts can be complicated. Shiftsmart reinvents how businesses source, schedule, deploy, manage, pay, and review their workforce to create a mutually beneficial labor ecosystem for individuals and businesses alike. Companies are connected to the most qualified workers to quickly fill shifts, reduce turnover, improve quality, and reduce costs. Workers get greater shift availability, higher wages, professional growth opportunities, and a flexible schedule. Shiftsmart’s current client roster boasts Levi’s, Subway, The RealReal and Airbnb.
Digital Workplace | When a company’s workforce is on the same page, business runs smoother and profitability increases. Crew is a communications app that connects the entire workforce, from the frontline to corporate leadership by unifying communications, streamlining scheduling, and optimizing operations. With communication, scheduling, compliance controls, task execution, and more housed within a single platform, Crew connects companies from the boardroom to the breakroom, making operations hum. Crew currently enables over 1 million frontline team members with customers including Harps Foods, Wendy’s, Planet Fitness, and Taco Bell.
Essential Industry Reads
Fintech’s big story? Afterpay announces a definitive agreement to join Square. Over at Matrix Partners, Dana Stalder dives into the creation of Afterpay and how founders Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen created the now prevalent category of Buy Now Pay Later by recognizing an untapped market and capitalizing on it with a great product. Stalder also predicts how a partnership between Afterpay and Square could affect consumers and merchants.
As consumer demand bounces back, the supply chain is having a hard time catching up. Retail Dive, takes a look at the root of the current shipping crisis and the effects it may have on this holiday season for retailers, brands and consumers. Offering a broad view of how various businesses and trade groups are trying to navigate a path out of the currently untenable situation, it’s a must read for right now.
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