Tiffany

October 2, 2013May 10, 2019

Shop a Swag – Online Luxury Consignment

Online luxury consignment is an interesting business. Sellers are able to make a profit from their used or depreciating assets and buyers are able to purchase desired items at a discount to the original retail price (And they can call it vintage…as Mugatu from Zoolander would say, “Vintage is so hot right now”). The idea of buying someone else’s previously owned and worn shoes may not appear appealing and can even be considered insulting to high-fashion as it is the exact opposite of haute couture, or custom-made and fitted, high fashion women’s clothes. Despite this notion, the demand for secondhand goods is growing and a number of online luxury resellers have emerged to provide a marketplace for pre-owned merchandise. Studies have attributed the increasing demand and growth to the economic recession, in which individuals turned to secondhand luxury goods instead of full-priced, new luxury goods. According to First Research, the pre-owned merchandise store industry in the U.S. includes about 18,000 stores with combined annual revenue of approximately $13 billion, and of that about 25% of sales are from clothing, 13% from antiques and 10% from furniture and collectibles. According to America’s Research Group, 12% – 15% of Americans will shop at a consignment/resale shop during a given year. While there are few statistics available for online luxury resellers, one can infer that they are achieving impressive user acquisition and top-line growth.

Although luxury consignment is an attractive concept, there are many challenges facing this business. First, given the business model is fee based, in which a small fee is received for every transaction, large scale is needed to be financially sustainable. The low barriers of entry in this market have resulted in a highly competitive space that can make it difficult to achieve the scale needed to be profitable. Additionally, online luxury resellers will be challenged to differentiate themselves from the many other consignment sites. And how are they able to differentiate themselves so that they aren’t steamrolled by Amazon or ebay? ebay also offers a lower transaction fee than many of these newcomers. Ebay’s transaction fee is between 8% – 12% compared to the 20% fees charged by most of the online luxury resellers. Many also boast their ability to provide a quick, easy and liability-free shopping experience as their point of differentiation, but that is already the norm and has been adopted by the majority of e-commerce sites as well. The other major challenge is online luxury resellers’ sensitivity to concerns around quality and authenticity of the products as well as vendor trust. Any reason to doubt the credibility of the products or sellers would result in a loss of members. As a platform or peer-to-peer marketplace, it is impossible to verify the authenticity of a product without incurring additional costs to facilitate the products for sale and requiring a fashion expert to confirm that a piece is an original and not from a Chinese street market (e.g. Xiushui Silk Street…but definitely visit here in Beijing because it’s very popular among tourists!).

There are a few things setting apart some of the existing online consignment sites from the others. The most obvious is visual design. An effective visual design is simple and helps the user easily navigate the site. The ease of browsing, filtering options and presentation of products on a page are essential to the user’s experience (Check out Vestiaire’s).

vestiaire2

And if you’ve read my previous posts, you already know what I’m about to say next…Yes, the need for sharing features that provide an engaging, real-time social experience for the users (I also discuss this in Like Prada, Repin Prada then Shop Prada). For example, Threadflip allows its users to share its products on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest as well as comment or “love” the product. Users are also able to follow sellers. These features transform the marketplace into a community.

Poshmark’s Posh Parties take an innovative approach to providing its users an engaging, real-time social experience while shopping. Posh Parties are virtual buying and selling parties. To give you a better idea, it is similar to Gilt in that it features products under a specific category or brand for users to shop. Digital curation makes it easy for users to shop online because it provides for an easy way to navigate through items that the individual likes or doesn’t like. The “parties” are organized by Poshmark users or hosts and are posted in real-time.

These Posh parties create a sense of curiosity and urgency with its users, bringing them back to check on upcoming parties (every party is different and are created every day) and possible brands or categories that they like. Posh parties also increase user activity for sellers as sellers look to collaborate with other sellers to sell more of their items and create new categories to attract buyers. Moreover, parties increase visibility of products compared to a single product that will most likely be lost in the feed.

Finally, there must be an app for the site. Individuals need to be able to access the site from their phones and tablets so that they are able to check for their favorite products and brands and compare prices at any time. So much of the buying on these sites are driven by impulsive behavior (I can confirm this); therefore, it only makes sense to find a trigger for that behavior…

Check out a few of the leaders in this market who have successfully met the challenges discussed above.

Poshmark

Poshmark received $12M Series B last year led by new investor Menlo Ventures, bringing the total amount invested in Poshmark to $15.5 million since 2011. Poshmark has been focused on expanding its mobile fashion marketplace beyond iOS. On iOS devices alone in the United States, it has ~250,000 women with active personal “boutiques” to sell items of their own closets and more than 1 million items have been sold on Poshmark since the start of this year.

Vaunte

vaunte2

Vaunte is a luxury consignment platform with a fashion editorial element. The site features celebrities, designers and socialities and allows its users to shop various products from those individuals’ closets. Vaunte takes a 30% commission for photographing and shipping seller’s items.

Vaunte has also expanded to provide new items and is looking to grow its consignment platform to include “non-starlet” users.

I also talked a little more about Vaunte in my previous post Like Prada, Repin Prada then Shop Prada.

Vestiaire

Vestiaire Collective was launched in 2009 as a place for consumers to buy and sell pre-owned, authentic luxury goods. Currently, the site has a network of approximately 1.5 million members worldwide and has a number of product categories such as women, men, kids and life and living.

Condé Nast announced at the beginning of this month a $20 million investment in Vestiaire Collective.

Threadflip

Threadflip boasts that its sellers make between $400 to $2,200 a month. Threadflip takes a 20% cut on all transactions and 40% on its White Glove transactions. The White Glove service involves Threadflip helping assess, professionally photography and post the seller’s product on the site. The service also handles shipping and customer service. The average White Glove seller makes approximately $500 per shipment.

Threadflip has raised $8.1 million in seed funding from First Round Capital, Baseline Ventures, with participation from Dave Morin, Forerunner Ventures, Greylock Discovery Fund, and Andreessen Horowitz Seed Fund.

The RealReal

As of the first quarter of 2013, The RealReal was growing by 1.5 million visitors a month and had about 750,000 members. The company also shipped more than 20,000 luxury items to customers and was growing by 20 percent month over month. The average consigner at the RealReal, meanwhile, is raking in about $6,000 a year.

In April, the online shop raised $14 million in a Series B round of funding.

Most importantly, check out Tom Haverford’s (from tv show Parks and Recreation) Rent-A-Swag! If you haven’t seen the episode (Season 5, Episode 6) or the show already and are dying for a good laugh, check it out. Here’s an awesome clip from the episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBcgtEW3KCk

Share with me your thoughts on online luxury consignment @tiffanydstone or comment below!

Sources: http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/15/google-ventures-backed-copious-launches-a-social-marketplace-for-the-facebook-era/, http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/04/poshmark-nabs-12m-series-b-led-by-menlo-ventures-to-expand-its-mobile-fashion-marketplace-beyond-ios/, http://venturebeat.com/2013/08/01/threadflip-gets-more-social-to-sell-the-billions-of-dollars-hiding-in-womens-closets/, http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/22/poshmark-growth-downloads-sales/, http://www.betakit.com/27perry-launches-consignment-marketplace-to-bring-local-merchandise-online/, http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/08/threadflip-online-consigners-chase.html?page=all, http://www.luxurydaily.com/conde-nast-invests-20m-in-online-luxury-resale-site/, First Research, NART

September 20, 2013

Turn the Page to Etsy Pages

A few blog posts later… we have Etsy Pages! In my “Like Prada, Repin Prada then Shop Prada” post I had discussed the need to allow users to be able to follow, collect, share, compare and shop all in one eCommerce platform. It’s exciting to see a personalized eCommerce website fully integrate these functionalities. Etsy Pages, having only launched this week, is already a step forward from Pinterest Product Pins and Amazon Collections. See below for a glimpse of Etsy Pages:

Home Page

News Feed

Food Pages

Cake Related Products For Sale by Etsy Users

An Overview of Etsy

Etsy, launched in June 2005, is an e-commerce website that allows its users to buy handmade or vintage goods as well as establish their own online shops to sell their handmade products. The company charges users a flat listing fee (of 20 cents per items), and takes a commission of 3.5% off all items sold.

As of this August, Etsy had a 44.2% increase in items sold and a 43.2% increase in dollars of goods sold compared to last year.

The stats:

$109.1 million of goods (after refunds and cancellations) were sold by our community in August, 8.13% higher than July
That represents 5,483,399 items sold for the month, 9.44% higher than July
2,804,300 new items were listed in the month, 3.46% higher than July
1,065,767 new members joined the Etsy community, 6.13% higher than July
1.8 billion page views were recorded on the site in August (including web and apps)

[For the full August report see here]

In 2012, Etsy reported a 70% increase in sales compared to 2011, totaling $895.1 million in gross merchandise, and a 83% growth in the business to include buyers from 200 countries. Etsy currently lists 18 million items for sale and sees 60 million unique visitors each month.

Etsy Pages

Just like Pinterest, Etsy buyers are able to create their own collections (Pinterest calls them boards), but Etsy also allows its users to shop the items in their collections. Now this, I LIKE! Just as startup online fashion sites allow their users to instantly shop clothing and accessories featured in their online fashion editorials, Etsy provides a one-stop shopping experience for its users through its pages. There’s clearly a trend here…

Etsy Pages allows its users to favorite a product and follow a seller’s shop or a brand, in which they can receive tailored product recommendations. Etsy has collaborated with brands such as Apartment Therapy, Lucky, West Elm, Martha Stewart Weddings, Swiss Miss, Food52, and Babble to add pages to a designated section of the marketplace that displays recommended products from these brands. Etsy has also recently partnered with Nordstroms to feature a wedding collection from emerging artists and designers. Additionally, individuals can subscribe to receive editors’ top picked items. Yes, Etsy has picked a fight with Pinterest!

Some may question how Etsy will be able to steal the 70 million pinners from Pinterest. Pinterest may have more than two times Etsy’s users, but what most people don’t know is that Google and Etsy are two of the most popular sites pinned and that DIY & Crafts (the primary focus of Etsy) is the second leading pinned category after Food & Drinks. So is Etsy really stealing pinners or are they bringing home users and shoppers?

Pages will allow sellers to easily gain more visibility as people browse their Etsy feeds, re-post products and share their collections. An interesting statistic from Pinterest that speaks to the optimistic future of Etsy Pages is that over 80% of pins on Pinterest are actually re-pins rather than brand new content. This type of user activity will be key to brands as they choose their preferred selling platform.

And as previously mentioned, Etsy Pages creates an incentive for buyers to relocate their presence from Pinterest to Etsy as users are able to shop instantly the products displayed and buyers are able to easily expand their presence through re-posts and followers. Etsy’s most valuable proposition may be that it allows its users to shop every product in their collection. It will be difficult and might I even say impossible for Pinterest to achieve this as many of its pins are pictures from blogs or unshoppable sites. And although Amazon Collections also allows its users to shop every product displayed, it lacks the social and personalized experience that Etsy provides (Also discussed in my “Like Prada, Repin Prada then Shop Prada” post). Amazon Collections appears more as an online warehouse, while Etsy Pages’ News Feed, like Pinterests’, is engaging and is updated in real-time with new recommended products from brands, Etsy’s sellers & buyers and friends.

I envision that in the next few months, Etsy will expand its categories to include areas that are currently covered by Pinterest but not on Etsy Pages (current Page categories include weddings, fashion, kids, design and lifestyle) and will partner with more retailers and well-known designers to add to its collection of brand pages. I don’t see Etsy digressing away from its focus on handmade goods, rather I see it building upon its original concept and introducing more brands and relevant products to its users. I believe Etsy will continue to create an online discovery experience for its users, introducing not only emerging artists and designers but also more popular brands and individuals. We can also expect an increase in the number of sellers or new personal shops on Etsy as the Pages’ user base grows. Etsy Pages will enable Etsy to quickly increase its user reach and grow its sales.

“To launch Pages, we’ve hand-selected brands and bloggers who celebrate Etsy’s items and makers, and boast strong editorial chops when it comes to curating for their audiences. With a mix of perspectives — from home decor, kids, weddings and more — and a global spread, we’re excited to kick off Pages with such a talented group! As they grow their following on Etsy, the partners will also help spread awareness of our unique marketplace by using Pages’ tools to post their curation to their own communities. And we’re excited to continue to add new Pages in the coming months.” —Etsy Blog

Share with me your thoughts on Etsy Pages and eCommerce Platforms @tiffanydstone or comment below!

Sources: http://www.etsy.com/, http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/17/etsy-debuts-pinterest-like-curation-platform-for-brands-pages/, http://gigaom.com/2013/09/17/etsy-takes-a-cue-from-pinterest-with-new-curation-feature-for-brands-and-bloggers/, http://upstart.bizjournals.com/companies/rebel-brands/2013/09/17/etsy-launches-curation-platform.html, http://www.babble.com/mom/10-pinteresting-pinterest-stats/popular-pins/

September 11, 2013May 10, 2019

Oh the Places Food Trucks Will Go!

I’ve always been curious about the food truck business. Every day, a variety of food trucks line up along Park Avenue outside my office during lunch. Long lines form around the trucks with people eagerly waiting to buy a lobster roll, dessert pizza, chicken with rice or donut ice cream.

In 2012, there were approximately 3,000 food trucks and carts in New York alone, and food truck revenue was estimated to be approximately $650 million. The average customer spends approximately $10 on lunch and $15 on dinner at a food truck. A previous study showed that the largest consumers for mobile vendors are individuals between the ages 25 to 34, spending an average of $44 a month. In the past 5 years, the food truck industry has experienced tremendous growth with revenue jumping 6.1 percent in 2008 to $1.1 billion and 9.5 percent in 2009 to $1.2 billion.

Breaking In

Although the food truck business is a simple concept and has a lower overhead than restaurants, there exists many challenges in entering the business and becoming a sustainable market leader. The initial costs to start a food truck include the truck, a permit to operate, parking, supplies and insurance. The average cost of a food truck ranges anywhere from $30,000 for a used food truck (e.g. Vending Trucks offers food trucks with a very basic mobile kitchen in an older step van for $40,000) to $300,000 or more (newly customized gourmet food truck). A retrofitted truck would cost around $60,000+.

Even more important than the truck is the permit required to operate a food truck in a state. In New York, food truck owners are required to have a Mobile Food Vendor Personal License and a Mobile Food Vending Unit Permit. The permit in New York expires in 2 years and the fee is $200 for a processing food unit and $75 for a non-processing food unit–the sale or distribution of only pre-packaged foods or foods that do not require cooking or any other treatment that exposes the food to contamination. In comparison, a permit costs $500 in Boston, $1000 in Chicago for a processing food unit and $700 for a non-processing food unit, $340 in Philadelphia, and about $730 in San Francisco. The limited number of permits available in each city (e.g. approximately only 3,000 in New York) has resulted in illegal rental permits and a black market where permits can be sold up to $20,000.

Usage of a commissary is another large upfront cost and is also a monthly cost. The New York City Department of Health mandates that all mobile food vendors must visit a state licensed commissary each day, where food is store and prepared and cleaning services are performed. These commissaries also sell and rent carts and sell vendors supplies such as food and propane. When a food truck is not operating or selling to its customers, it is required to park at the commissaries; food trucks are not allowed in metered spots or on private property. The average cost for commissaries ranges from $500 to $1200 per month. In addition to the food truck, permit and commissary costs, business liability insurance and vehicle insurance are also necessary startup costs. Insurance costs include auto liability ($2,000-$3,000 per year or $2,500 estimate per year), general liability ($3,500 per year), and workers’ compensation insurance ($7,000 per year for 3 employees).

Other variable costs that need to be incurred to operate a food truck include gas, vehicle modifications, food, marketing materials, and staff.

Beyond costs, also think about: Location, Location, Location…

The demographics of the customers and location of competing businesses are both significant sales-affecting factors. Lunchtime in a business district is an ideal location for a food truck, but permits may be difficult to obtain in those areas. The idea is to position your truck in a walking distance location or where foot traffic is heavy. Knowing who your competitors are in the area and what they’re selling is necessary to avoid selling similar menu items and differentiating your truck. Avoid selling pizza next to another pizza food truck…I find the trucks around my building have been very strategic with their location as there is a Bank of America building with numerous ATM machines across the street and we are located in the midtown financial district.

View of food trucks along Park Avenue near my building:

The number of food trucks already in New York makes it difficult for new entrants to succeed, as many of the most popular corners have already been occupied. Additionally, with increased city regulations, it becomes more difficult to sell in various locations. For example, New York City Council recently proposed a bill that would create up to 450 specially designated “food truck zones”, and require food to be legally served only in the parking spots. This would restrict food trucks to specific locations, stripping them of their mobility and advantage over restaurants as well as limit the number of food trucks allowed in the city.

The Challenges…

Contrary to popular belief, there are high barriers to entry into the business these days when considering startup costs, permit availability, and limited commissaries and unoccupied desirable locations. The increasing startup costs require expensive business loans that are not easily attainable as default risk is high in the food truck business and there is a lack of visibility into the financial condition of the food trucks. In general, small businesses are more vulnerable to business cycles and therefore viewed riskier. As a result, it is more expensive to lend to these smaller businesses.

I believe the food truck market has also become very dense and this has made it difficult for new entrants to achieve the margins promised by the business. For example, in Boston, the number of food trucks has increased from 15 in 2011 to 59 today. Restaurants have also begun introducing their own food trucks to get their own slice of the cake (e.g. Taco Bell). And as previously mentioned, increased regulation in response to the rapid growth in the number of food trucks in each city further hinders food truck entrepreneurship.

We can expect to see more food truck lots or areas designated for a few trucks during select hours to sell food and drinks (e.g. DispatchNY) as well as increased food truck presence at food markets such as Williamsburg’s Smorgasbord and farmer’s markets (I love the coffee cart that comes to my farmer’s market every weekend). Corporate campuses like Facebook’s and LinkedIn’s have also welcomed food trucks and have become popular locations for food trucks.

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop Wheeling Forward

This is not to say that current food truck players will also be negatively impacted by these factors, rather food truck market leaders can benefit from their first mover advantage and security in the market. Existing food trucks will have less competition with their menus, location and brand as well as have a higher customer retention as a result of fewer new entrants. They will also have easier access to business loans to increase the number of their trucks or expand into another state as they grow their sales and market share in the market and support their potential with historical financial performance.

My favorite food truck and where you can find me on a Friday @ 47th and Park Ave!

Also check out Shark Tank episode on Food Trucks…Pretty hilarious!

Share with me your thoughts on Food Trucks/Mobile Vending @tiffanydstone or comment below!

Sources: http://www.sbdcnet.org/small-business-research-reports/sbdcnet-connections-issue-55-mobile-food-vendors, http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220060, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/magazine/the-food-truck-business-stinks.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0, http://www.forbes.com/sites/investopedia/2012/09/27/the-cost-of-starting-a-food-truck/, http://www.grubstreet.com/2009/08/users_guide_how_to_start_your.html, http://www.grubstreet.com/2012/07/food-trucks-turn-to-stores-for-convenience-reliability.html, http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2013/0824/Restaurants-reinvent-the-food-truck, http://mobile-cuisine.com/trends/food-truck-owners-need-to-keep-an-eye-on-dining-trends/?wt=10, http://mobile-cuisine.com/business/preventing-employee-theft-in-your-food-truck/?wt=10, http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/08/29/food-trucks-slowing, http://800buycart.com/Index.html, http://www.cloverfoodlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Food-Truck-101.pdf, http://www.amazon.com/Start-Your-Food-Truck-Business/dp/1599184141?SubscriptionId=AKIAJZ6KOIE3KFD4MRWA&tag=rotues-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1599184141, http://upended.net/post/25574021175/foodtruckstartupcosts, http://mobile-cuisine.com/business/breaking-into-the-food-truck-industry-%E2%80%93-part-1/, http://network.intuit.com/2012/12/05/food-trucks-motor-into-the-mainstream/#sthash.PVSSwoTW.dpuf, NY Health Department

September 4, 2013

Takeaways From Decoded Fashion Meetup: Hot Tech Connecting Shoppers Offline & Online

Last Thursday, I attended the Decoded Fashion Meetup: Hot Tech Connecting Shoppers Offline & Online event. This was a great event with a huge turnout, and I was excited to meet individuals with all types of backgrounds, from a developer interested in cosmetic startups to a VC at Greycroft Partners.

Startups featured at the event:

Nomi – Nomi is a real-time marketing optimization platform that lets retailers track and analyze customer data across multiple channels, including in-store, online and mobile. Nomi utilizes Wi-Fi signals on smartphones to track the duration and frequency of shoppers in a store as well as other metrics such as conversion rates, device type and revenue by location. Below is a snapshot of the Nomi dashboard:

Styloola – provides a mobile solution to help shoppers navigate the streets in search of the perfect item nearby. Its founder will be revealing a hardware-based solution launching in Q4.

Shopkick – is an app that lets users search for products and find discounts at retail locations. Shopkick allows its users to redeem “kicks” or points for walking into a store and then use those kicks to redeem different rewards. You can get restaurant vouchers, iTunes gift cards, Best Buy, Target, Macy’s, Sports Authority or American Eagle gift cards, movie tickets, or even a cruise around the world. You can also donate them to your favorite cause. The startup also launched in-app purchases, starting with 30 major stores, including Target, Macy’s, Best Buy, Old Navy and Anthropologie.

Snapette – a mobile shopping tool to help shoppers find designer fashion currently in stores near them. Snapette has previously worked with Jimmy Choo to send push notifications to its users about a nearby sample sale. The company announced this month the acquisition by PriceGrabber.

Summary of Takeaways:

-Omni-channel

-In-store metrics

-Effective online to offline retail strategy

Omni-channel

Omni-channel retailing allows the user to utilize all shopping channels, including physical, online and mobile channels, simultaneously to shop anything, anywhere and anytime. The omni-channel approach evolved as a solution to showrooming, which involves consumers browsing products in a physical store and comparing product prices, inventory availability and reviews online via a mobile device/tablet/computer. Showrooming resulted in product purchases outside of the physical stores and from another retailer or online retailer with a lower price. Omni-channel aims to create consistency in selling across all channels and increase the interaction between stores and consumers.

Ideally, omni-channel will allow the retailer to communicate with the consumer at every point in the shopping experience, from the time of product research to the point of transaction and even after the transaction. For example, a customer would view the company’s lookbook online at home and receive a notification on their phone about the latest promotion offer and will walk into the store to redeem the offer at the time of purchase. This approach centralizes the customer as depicted in the below diagram.

The challenge with omni-channel retailing is the ability to integrate and analyze data collected at different points of interaction with the customer and use this data to communicate information and provide services relevant to the customer’s preferences. Additionally, new metrics focused on measuring customer behavior (i.e. visit duration, store zone popularity and bounce rate) will have to be adopted as the traditional Four-Wall Analysis cannot be used to understand individual consumer behaviors, and therefore will not be useful in helping retailers create a personalized shopping experience for their customers. Adoption of the omni-channel approach will also require retailers to achieve the convergence of the physical and digital worlds through consistency in pricing, policies and fees, promotional offers, inventory availability and customer experience. Channel-specific coupons and inconsistencies in product descriptions will encourage customers to prioritize where they will purchase goods, resulting in showrooming.

Effective Online to Offline Strategies

Today, we are seeing many online-originated businesses open up their own brick-and-mortar stores. The most popular example has been Warby Parker. Warby Parker is an online eyewear retailer that allows its customers to sign up and shop online for stylish frames, receive free home try-on kits and purchase the frames on the website. This past year, the company has opened showrooms and stores in various cities across the United States. The same frames are also offered in the Warby Parker stores, where Warby Parker representatives are on-site with iPads to help process your purchase instantly. Its stores are also distribution centers. The consistency in experience, pricing, branding and offerings has allowed Warby Parker to successfully execute its online to offline strategy.

Other Examples: Apple, Jo-Ann Fabric, Restoration Hardware, Walmart, Macy’s

By the Numbers

More than 60 percent of consumers who like to interact with brands do so through multiple channels
US online retail is expected to reach $262 billion in 2013 and grow to $370 billion by 2017
Three-quarters of U.S. Internet users research grocery and personal care products online
Over 80 percent of shoppers make their purchase decision before leaving their home
Over 50 percent of smartphone owners use the device while in stores to guide their purchases

Lookout For:

-In-store Wi-Fi

-Pop-Up shops: a temporary store ro event

-POS systems for omni-channel

Share with me your thoughts on omni-channel retailing/online-to-offline strategies @tiffanydstone or comment below!

Sources: http://www.forbes.com/sites/maribellopez/2012/10/22/can-omni-channel-retail-combat-showrooming/, http://maosuit.com/stores/omi-channel-retail-101/, Rising to the Omni-Channel Challenge-August 2013

August 29, 2013March 31, 2014

World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers 2014

Below are the 36 companies selected for the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers 2014.

Energy and Environment

Advantix Systems
Alphabet Energy Inc.
Bug Agentes Biológicos
EcoNation
Kebony AS
Nest Labs Inc.
Oasys Water Inc.
OMC Power
SunPartner
WiTricity Corporation

Information Technologies and New Media

Adtelligence GmbH
Airbnb
AppNexus Inc.
Codecademy
Coursera Inc.
Data4
Dnevnik.ru
GitHub
Jana
Kaggle Inc.
Koemei SA
Lenddo
LiveU Ltd.
Rethink Robotics
TruTag Technologies Inc.
Viki Inc

Life Sciences and Health

Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc.
BIND Therapeutics Inc.
bluebird bio
Cyberdyne Inc.
D-Rev: Design Revolution
Foundation Medicine Inc.
Natera
Second Sight Medical Products Inc.
Selecta Biosciences Inc.
SynTouch LLC

[The full report]