Page 126 – Coresight Research

Reasons to Read

Using data from the Office for National Statistics, we analyze UK retail sales in February 2023, in total and by sector.

Data in this report are:

Year-over-year changes in UK total retail sales (excluding automotive fuel) for the past 13 months
Year-over-year changes in retail sales by sector, December 2022–February 2023
Year-over-year changes in online retail sales for the past 13 months

Other relevant research:

Our monthly reports keep you up to date on retail sales (in total and by sector) and key consumer indicators, focusing on China, the UK and the US.

You are currently viewing a preview of this report.

Please select an access option to view the full report. Hide Options - Show Options +

Get unlimited access to all our research with one of our subscription plans.

View Subscription Plans

This document was generated for

Reasons to Read

Coresight Research is a research partner of Shoptalk 2023, which is taking place during March 26–29 in Las Vegas, US. Shoptalk is an annual retail conference focusing on the trends, business models and technologies that are shaping the future of retail.

We present key insights from day one of Shoptalk 2023.

Other relevant research:

A Must-Read Guide to Shoptalk 2023: How To Maximize Your Time and Create Opportunities Across Five Retail Themes
Shoptalk 2023 “Shark Reef” Startup Pitch Competition: Recap—12 Innovators, Two Winners
Read all Coresight Research coverage of Shoptalk 2023
Request a meeting with Coresight Research at Shoptalk 2023

Executive Summary

Coresight Research Insights

Key sessions during Shoptalk 2023 cover five major themes, as identified by Shoptalk: shopper engagement, emerging channels, store experience, technology and organizational changes.
AI (artificial intelligence) is here to stay, and companies need to utilize it to see growth, analyze data, save time and better engage with consumers.
Responding to consumers’ needs, wants and concerns is key to formulating long-term investments and objectives for brands and retailers.

Introduction

Coresight Research is a research partner of Shoptalk 2023, which is taking place during March 26–29 in Las Vegas, US. The annual retail conference focuses on the trends, business models and technologies that are shaping the future of retail.

We present key insights from the first day of Shoptalk 2023.

Shoptalk 2023 Day One: Coresight Research Insights

Shopper Engagement: Making Shopping Engaging and Joyful

Today, more companies are fighting for consumers’ attention than ever, meaning that brands and retailers must provide their customers with engaging shopping experiences that capture both their attention and their wallets. At the “Rediscovering the Joy of Shopping” session, panel members discussed how it is more important than ever to keep customers engaged through every point of the shopping journey. While, for e-commerce, the past decade has been about seamless buying, the next 20 years will be about using channels and technology that make online shopping as “joyful” and engaging as in-person shopping.

To better engage with consumers, e-commerce platform Verishop built a premium retail media network (RMN), as Imran Khan, the Co-Founder and CEO of Verishop, discussed in the “Powering Brand Discovery through Transformative Shopping Experiences” session. RMNs provide brands with highly personalized targeting capabilities and an effective way to measure their advertising return on investment (ROI) and SKU (stock keeping unit) level. The desire to monetize shopper data and increase profit margins has driven many retailers to build their own RMNs or enter strategic partnerships with technology providers to set up RMNs, and we expect more to follow suit in 2023 and beyond.

The next 20 years will also be about responding to consumers’ rapidly changing needs, which can only be done through engagement and listening. At the “The C-Suite on Thriving in Today’s Retail Environment” session, Michael Fiddelke, CFO at Target, stated that responding to consumers’ needs and concerns is critical to formulating long-term investments and objectives for brands and retailers. Even if the economics of an initiative is not economically favorable—Fiddelke explained that Drive Up returns at Target initially did not seem economically feasible—it will be worth it in the long run if that initiative favors a particular consumer behavior and causes them to spend more at the store.

Fiddelke (left) discussing shopper engagement with Krystina Gustafson, SVP of Content at Shoptalk  (right)
Source: Coresight Research

Emerging Channels: Data Analysis Is Key

In the current uncertain macroeconomic environment, retailers can turn to new and emerging channels to drive alternative revenue streams and engage with new audiences.

One emerging channel discussed at multiple sessions on the first day of Shoptalk 2023 is livestreaming. Livestreaming e-commerce offers a significant opportunity for retailers to drive consumer engagement and conversion. Coresight Research expects the US livestreaming market to triple in size from 2021 to 2023, totaling $31.7 billion. This pales in comparison to China’s livestreaming market, which was valued at $512.0 billion in 2022, revealing the significant growth opportunity in the US market. Key trends we believe will drive future growth in the livestreaming market include multichannel streaming, incentives and special offers during streams, expansion into new retail verticals and the creation of online communities via livestreaming.

At Shoptalk, Khan talked with Joe Laszlo, VP of Content at Shoptalk, about the impact of livestreaming: livestreaming and shoppable video improve conversion rates by 42%, because they resonate well with shoppers, per the “Powering Brand Discovery through Transformative Shopping Experiences” panel.

Another emerging channel that many retailers are interested in is the US secondhand market. During the “Resale, Upcycled Products and the Circular Economy” session, Anthony Marino, President of ThredUP, an online consignment and thrift store, stated that 50%–60% of “younger consumers want to buy secondhand when shopping.” Additionally, Marino stated, “Increasingly, brands are asking: ‘Can you help us define a resale strategy?’”

We are seeing signs of growing consumer demand for resale, especially fashion resale offerings. Coresight Research believes that the fashion resale trend will continue to grow alongside consumers’ increasing awareness of sustainability and demand for pre-owned luxury. We expect the fashion resale market to continue its current momentum through 2023 and 2024, with year-over-year growth of 14.6% and 13.0%, respectively, in each year, for a $36.4 billion market by the end of 2024.

Marino (left) talking about the circular economy with Jeannette Neumann, Reporter at Bloomberg News (right)
Source: Coresight Research

When embracing emerging channels, data analysis is the key to removing customer friction, regardless of the sales channel. For instance, at the “Building an Omnichannel Organization” session, Seemantini Godbole, EVP, Chief Digital and Information Officer at Lowe’s, discussed how AI (artificial intelligence)-powered data analysis enabled the company to improve sales trends, make strategic changes to increase sales and reduce friction for customers, across all channels. Without detailed data and trend analysis—something AI is allowing more companies to do—brands and retailers will remain in the dark about which emerging channels they should enter and if their strategies to do so are working.

Godbole (left) and Sarah Engel, the President of January Digital (right)
Source: Coresight Research

Store Experience: Innovation Leads the Way

After experiencing the convenience and benefits of online shopping over the past couple of years, consumers’ expectations around the in-store shopping experience are more demanding.

During the “Using Customer Data to Surprise and Delight” session, panel participants discussed the role of data in creating an enjoyable in-store experience. Manju Thomas, SVP of Engineering at Data Science at Stitch Fix, discussed the importance of creating moments that connect and resonate with customers. At Stitch Fix, the company has an 80-data-point style quiz that provides the company with its customers’ unique wants and needs, helping it match the client with the best product for them. Today, over 1 million people take the test monthly, according to Thomas. The test also enables Stitch Fix to determine what styles are trending and pick up on any “nuances in style,” allowing it to create a store experience that fits its customers’ desires.

In the same session, Caleb Pearson, VP of Media and Digital for US Marketing at McDonald’s, discussed the importance of always innovating the store experience. McDonald’s strives to retain and respect its “cultural icon” status. To do so, it remains true to the principle it was founded on: people first and innovation second. According to Pearson, rich customer data are the key to innovation and creating a unique store experience—a theme we heard throughout the first day of Shoptalk 2023.

From left to right: Charles Gorra, Founder and CEO of Rebag; Pearson; Thomas; Kelly Pedersen, Partner, US Retail Leader, PwC
Source: Coresight Research

Technology: AI Is Here To Stay

In the face of brisk headwinds, strong technology investment plans will be crucial in reducing inefficiencies and driving growth. Additionally, these investment plans must include allocations for developing or using AI-backed tools. In the Shoptalk 2023 “Shark Reef” startup pitch competition—moderated by Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research—many of the participating innovators focused on how AI could help companies and consumers in various ways, including enabling more personalized offerings and better customer communication.

Read our companion report for more on the Shoptalk 2023 “Shark Reef” startup pitch competition.

However, companies need to be engaged with adopting AI technology. In the “Rediscovering the Joy of Shopping” panel, Bill Ready, CEO of Pinterest, commented that AI needs high-quality signals and inputs to work correctly, which typically requires a large data set. Pinterest’s 450 million users are constantly making associations between products on their “boards,” meaning its AI is fed very “powerful and accurate” signals. As a result, Pinterest has boosted relevancy scores (the rate at which a user marks a recommendation as relevant) to over 95%.

One thing was clear during the first day of Shoptalk 2023: AI is here to stay. Moving forward, brands and retailers must begin utilizing AI-backed technology to see growth, analyze data faster, save time and better engage with consumers.

Ready discusses the importance of high-quality signals for effective AI in personalization.
Source: Coresight Research

Organizational Changes: Hybrid and Remote Work Modes Bring Changes

Making structural and organizational changes is crucial for retailers to remain competitive in an uncertain and challenging macroeconomic environment. Today, companies are learning that how they bring teams together truly matters and that leaders need to listen—especially as many teams are now spread across the world and various work modes.

In the “Creating and Maintaining a Culture of Excellence” session, Sarah Engel, President of January Digital, asked the panel how their companies now approach hiring:

Samir Desai, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Abercrombie & Fitch Co., stated that the company is focused on bringing on people with different skill sets than it had previously, helping it build agility without partnering with other companies.
Lisa Collier, Chief Product Officer of Under Armour, commented that the company had eased back on its educational guidelines, helping it attract both more creative voices and generalists who can play a variety of roles.

All agreed that retailer leads must begin hiring team members from diverse backgrounds and invest in upskilling and reskilling programs.

In the same session, the panel also discussed how retailers should change their organizational approaches in response to the rise of hybrid and remote work modes. Desai explained that, while annual—or more frequent—meetups are important for remote workers, the meetups must have a reason for existing. They must be unique meetups with a specific intent, he explained. Parth Raval, Chief Growth Officer at PepsiCo Foods North America, agreed, stating that meetups need a clear purpose, whether that is collaboration, communication, education or celebration.

From left to right: Desai, Collier, Raval and Engel
Source: Coresight Research

This document was generated for

Reasons to Read

On March 26, 2023, Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, moderated and featured on the judging panel of Shoptalk 2023’s “Shark Reef” startup pitch competition, which saw 12 technology innovators across four areas of retail disruption compete to win the Judges’ Choice and Audience Choice awards. We present highlights from each startup’s presentation and reveal the winners of the competition.

Coresight Research is a research partner of Shoptalk 2023.

Other relevant research:

Shoptalk 2023 “Shark Reef” Startup Pitch Competition: Preview—12 Innovators, Four Areas of Retail Disruption
A Must-Read Guide to Shoptalk 2023: How To Maximize Your Time and Create Opportunities Across Five Retail Themes
Our full coverage of Shoptalk 2023
All Coresight Research reports on emerging technology
2023 Retail and Technology Outlook: Facing into the Headwinds

Executive Summary

Coresight Research Insights

The “Shark Reef” startup pitch competition at Shoptalk 2023, moderated by Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, saw 12 early-stage startups present on how their innovative technologies are solving important retail challenges.
Coresight Research categorizes the 12 participating startups into four areas of retail disruption: new ways to engage consumers; innovative video applications; ensuring product quality and sustainability; and next-generation business needs.
The participating innovators were Drop, Frate, Gander, GoCharlie, Hark, IN BOLD PRINT, Nibble, Reflekt Me, Syrup, Toki, Tolstoy and Wink.
An expert panel of judges selected Drop as the Judges’ Choice winner, while the audience voted for Syrup as the Audience Choice winner.

Introduction

Coresight Research is a research partner of Shoptalk 2023, which is taking place March 26–29 in Las Vegas, US. Shoptalk is an annual retail conference focusing on the trends, business models and technologies that are shaping the future of retail.

On March 26, 2023, Coresight Research hosted the “Shark Reef” startup pitch competition at the convention Center’s Beacon Theater, which saw 12 early-stage US retail-technology innovators compete to win the Judges’ Choice and Audience Choice awards. We provide a recap of the pitch competition, with key insights from the startup presentations.

Shoptalk 2023—“Shark Reef” Startup Pitch Competition: Coresight Research Insights

Event Format and Judging Panel

The Shoptalk 2023 “Shark Reef” startup pitch competition was comprised of two rounds:

Round 1—All competitors presented for three minutes on their innovative technologies.
Round 2—Six finalists participated in a more in-depth, four-minute Q&A session.

Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, moderated the competition and participated as a member of the judging panel. Three expert judges joined Weinswig:

Anna Barber, Partner at M13
Brooke Kiley, Partner at VMG Partners
Matt Nichols, General Partner at Commerce Ventures

The judging panel: (left to right): Weinswig, Kiley, Nichols and Barber
Source: Coresight Research

Innovative Solutions Across Four Areas of Retail Disruption

Coresight Research categorizes the 12 startups into four areas of disruption in retail, as defined below.

1. New Ways To Engage Consumers

Retailers are increasing their degree of engagement with consumers via messages on social media platforms, providing inclusive imagery, enabling price negotiation and using clienteling to cater to key customers.

Companies: Drop, GoCharlie, Nibble, Reflekt Me

2. Innovative Video Applications

Video is becoming a primary communication channel, particularly with certain demographics. Innovators are helping retailers and brands improve the quality of video and storytelling and offer customer service via video.

Companies: Gander, Hark, Tolstoy

3. Next-Generation Business Needs

Retailers and brands have a major stake in ensuring customers receive products that ensure their loyalty and meet their sustainability standards.

Companies: IN BOLD PRINT, Toki

4. Optimizing Operations: Payments and Supply Chains

Demand planning is a critical step that drives inventory, sales and returns, which, in turn, enables efficient logistics. Offering various payment methods, including biometrics, reduces friction and increases conversion.

Companies: Frate, Syrup, Wink

The Winners

The six finalists that made it to the second round were Drop, Gander, Hark, ReflektMe, Syrup and Wink. Of these six, the expert panel of judges selected the Judges’ Choice winner as Drop, which won a $100,000 investment from Commerce Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm. Meanwhile, the audience voted for the Audience Choice winner, Syrup.

Left to right: Kiley, Weinswig, James Theuerkauf (from Syrup), Benjamin Benichou (from Drop), Nichols and Barber
Source: Coresight Research

The Competing Innovators: Pitch Highlights

Below, we detail highlights from each of the innovators’ presentations, in alphabetical order.

The 12 speakers and four judges that participated in the Shark Reef pitch competition at Shoptalk 2023
Source: Coresight Research

Drop

Speaker: Benjamin Benichou, Co-Founder and CEO
Area of disruption: New Ways To Engage Consumers
Read the full Innovator Profile for Drop

Founded in 2020, Drop is a social commerce platform that enables enterprise brands and retailers to engage with and sell products to their Meta and Instagram followers directly, at scale, providing opportunities to increase revenue from organic and paid social initiatives.

As Benichou stated at the beginning of his presentation: “we now live in a social world.” More than 80% of the world’s web traffic is through social media channels, as opposed to the 17% that occurs through web browsers. At the same time, the cost of driving traffic and acquiring customers through a branded website has reached an all-time high, while e-commerce conversion is low, Benichou said. Brands need to rethink how to attract their social media followers to their website.

How the Drop platform works
Source: Drop

Benichou explained that Drop leverages AI (artificial intelligence) to enable brands to personalize their tone of conversation, creating conversations that resonate with the brand’s unique identity. Using AI also means that brands can easily and quickly adjust their tone, providing flexibility to experiment and adapt and maximizing the effectiveness of their engagements. Currently, Drop’s clients include Asics, Decathlon, Dentsu, Havas Media and Hot Topic.

Benichou presents on the future of Drop
Source: Coresight Research

Frate

Speaker: Bailey Newton, Founder and CEO
Area of disruption: Optimizing Operations: Payments and Supply Chains
Read the full Innovator Profile for Frate

Founded in 2022, Frate provides returns management software for “peer-to-peer returns.” Frate’s solution incentivizes consumers to hold onto items they wish to return while the retailer re-lists them at a discounted price. If the item is re-sold within a certain period, consumers “return” the item directly to the next buyer—what the company calls an “EcoDrop.” Additionally, the platform tries to find a local buyer versus shipping to a warehouse or across the country.

Newton discusses Frate’s returns management software
Source: Coresight Research

During his presentation, Newton emphasized the negative impacts of retail returns on both profitability and the environment, including that, in 2022, $816 billion in goods were returned, 16 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) were emitted from return shipping trips and six billion pounds of returned goods ended up in landfills. Newton explained that these impacts are driven by the inefficient, status-quo returns process.

Frate’s solution tackles these impacts: peer-to-peer returns enable retailers to save on shipping labels, warehousing costs, liquidation and more, while also decreasing CO2 emissions from shipping trips and reducing packaging and landfill waste. According to the company, retailers that leverage the Frate platform see a 23% increase in profit retention and a 34% decrease in shipping emissions per return, on average (see image below).

The impacts of the Frate platform
Source: Frate

Gander

Speaker: Kimiloluwa Fafowora, Founder and CEO
Area of disruption: Innovative Video Applications
Read the full Innovator Profile for Gander

Gander helps give shoppers what they need to reach a purchase decision. Founded in 2021, the company has developed an end-to-end solution that enables brands to easily create and embed quality video user-generated content (UGC) on their websites, driving sales, engagement and conversion. Gander can handle the entire UGC production process, including sourcing content creators, developing content narratives, video editing and production, and licensing. The company also uses high-quality content delivery networks (CDNs) to improve network speed.

Fafowora explained that when online shoppers browse product pages on retail websites, they often turn to social media platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok and YouTube to discover more about the products and see them in use. However, after navigating away from a retailer’s site, these shoppers often do not return to make a purchase. Therefore, there is a gap between where consumers find the content they need versus where they make their final purchase. Gander aims to bridge this gap by putting brands’ content in the right context, according to Fafowora.

How Gander helps consumers
Source: Gander

In the fourth quarter of 2022, Gander achieved a 23% conversion-rate lift and influenced $10.4 million in sales, according to the company. Gander’s clients include beauty and skincare brands Black Opal (BLK/OPL), Eadem, Huron and Tower 28.

Fafowora discusses Gander’s end-to-end solution
Source: Coresight Research

GoCharlie

Speaker: Brennan Woodruff, Co-Founder and COO
Area of disruption: New Ways to Engage Consumers

Founded in 2021, GoCharlie is a multimodal, generative AI company that uses a proprietary AI-powered engine to help brands and retailers create engaging marketing content. Its “Campaign in a Click” product allows content creators to use various inputs—including websites, audio and video files, or text content—to generate a campaign’s worth of content tailored to individual platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Woodruff explores the role of AI in marketing and GoCharlie
Source: Coresight Research

Per Woodruff, “we live in a generative AI world.” AI enables brands to thrive and grow, while providing personalized customer interactions and rapid ideation, among other benefits. With GoCharlie, marketing teams can turn ideas into marketing campaigns that both match a brand’s voice and drive consumer engagement. GoCharlie can also help companies repurpose previously created content, saving companies’ time and “revitalizing existing content libraries.”

Hark

Speaker: Fran Brzyski, Founder and CEO
Area of disruption: Innovative Video Applications
Read the full Innovator Profile for Hark

Founded in 2022, Hark is a customer experience (CX) platform that offers a unique post-purchase interaction experience for customers and service teams. The platform leverages video and audio prompts to allow customers to showcase and explain their issues to companies before interacting with a live agent. With its AI technology, Hark packages relevant details into a “perfect ticket” delivered to service teams via Help Desk integration.

Hark’s CX process
Source: Hark

During his presentation, Brzyski shared success metrics that Hark has achieved with its customers, including a 43% decrease in cost per ticket, a 21% decrease in ticket-reopen rate, a 25% increase in customer satisfaction rating and a 26% increase in one-touch resolution. He also highlighted that Hark offers a “feedback loop with context,” providing advanced reporting and analytics to its clients’ product, marketing and executive teams.

Brzyski emphasized that “customer service is a revenue generator,” so it is a critical operational area for brands to improve profitability by leveraging technology.

Brzyski presents on the future of CX and the role Hark will play
Source: Coresight Research

IN BOLD PRINT.

Speaker: Cierra Valor, Co-Founder and CEO
Area of disruption: Ensuring Product Quality and Sustainability
Read the full Innovator Profile for IN BOLD PRINT.

IN BOLD PRINT. is a technology company that provides a cloud-based platform to help consumer brands work toward sustainability goals by measuring carbon emissions and improving environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) reporting from the platform’s central, interactive dashboard.

Valor discussed the challenges for retailers in knowing and sharing their climate impact—namely, that consultants are expensive, emissions data are complicated and employees are busy. IN BOLD PRINT. helps consumer brands understand, track and optimize their carbon footprint to become more environmentally sustainable. Valor described IN BOLD PRINT. as “the only data-focused carbon emissions platform built for the consumer good industry.” She also called it the “TurboTax of carbon accounting.”

Valor explains how IN BOLD PRINT. helps brands track their carbon footprint
Source: Coresight Research

The cloud-based platform aggregates Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emission data across a retailer’s operation—as well as its vendors’ operations—through an interactive dashboard. It also allows for data downloads and offers services such as data preparation to track goals and action plan creation.

Valor explained that IN BOLD PRINT. helps its clients answer their customers’ demand for transparency, which can drive sales and loyalty: she highlighted that 94% of consumers would be loyal to a brand that offers transparency (per Label Insight). Meanwhile, detailed ESG metrics also allow companies to determine how to earn the best return on investment, pleasing stakeholders, per the presentation.

The IN BOLD PRINT. dashboard increases transparency and clarity around carbon emissions
Source: IN BOLD PRINT.

Nibble

Speaker: Rosie Bailey, Co-Founder and CEO
Area of disruption: New Ways To Engage Consumers
Read the full Innovator Profile for Nibble

Founded in 2020, Nibble is an AI chatbot for e-commerce retailers that lets customers negotiate personalized prices on desired products or services. Through an automated and entertaining chat experience, Nibble aims to preserve margins and improve conversion rates and customer engagement.

Nibble’s position in the customer journey
Source: Nibble

According to Bailey, Nibble is the first chatbot that can negotiate on a company’s e-commerce site, allowing customers to negotiate for a lower price. Bailey explained that brands and retailers that use Nibble see a 50% increase in average order value (AOV) at modest discounts of below 10%. On the other hand, resellers that use Nibble see a £10.00 ($12.24) average profit increase on their items sold through the chatbot. The chatbot can also help companies clear excess inventory while doing so in a brand-appropriate manner, resulting in a 27% average margin increase for products sold through Nibble.

As AI and chatbots are here to stay, Bailey stated that companies should use them to see “sustainable, profitable growth and real consumer engagement.”

Bailey discusses how Nibble works
Source: Coresight Research

Reflekt Me

Speaker: Tope Mitchell, Co-Founder and CEO
Area of disruption: New Ways To Engage Consumers
Read the full Innovator Profile for Reflekt Me

Founded in 2018, Reflekt Me aims to help brands and retailers make the online shopping experience more inclusive. Its business-to-business (B2B), software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform enables retailers to provide personalized product images featuring “real people,” with different skin tones and body types, on a product’s landing page. These product images resonate with shoppers and enable them to better understand product size and fit, driving consumer confidence in their purchase decisions.

Mitchell covers how inclusive retailing impacts consumers and companies.
Source: Coresight Research

Mitchell stated that “online retail has an image problem,” where product marketing images do not reflect real people. For example, she cited that over 70% of women are size 14 or above, but just 2% of photos used across the e-commerce space feature images of offerings in size 14 or above. As Mitchell explained, brands and retailers can use the Reflekt Me platform to answer shoppers’ three most pressing questions: “What does a product look like… in my size, on my skin tone and with my hair type?”

Reflekt Me aims to help brands increase sales and engagement, reduce returns and build a community. Mitchell emphasized the importance of representation in driving revenue, highlighting the considerable market opportunity in solving the issue of size- or fit-based returns, which is a total addressable market of $816 billion.

Reflekt Me’s clients include Levi’s, which has used the platform to cultivate “a truly inclusive experience [and give] the consumer a more accurate preview of the item,” according to Lara Lasisz, Levi’s Innovation Lead.

Syrup

Speaker: James Theuerkauf, Co-Founder and CEO
Area of disruption: Optimizing Operations: Payments and Supply Chains
Read the full Innovator Profile for Syrup

Founded in 2020, Syrup offers an AI-powered platform that helps omnichannel brands and retailers optimize inventory management. The platform uses machine learning (ML) algorithms to analyze historical sales data, market trends and other factors to provide accurate demand forecasts and inventory recommendations. It also offers tools for automating inventory allocation, managing purchase orders and optimizing inventory levels across multiple channels.

The impact of Syrup’s AI-powered software
Source: Syrup

According to Theuerkauf, the Syrup platform drives a 5%–10% gross margin increase, reduces excess inventory and waste by 10%–20% and achieves time savings of 60%–90% on manual workflows. Theuerkauf also stated that the platform drives “10X better inventory decisions.” For example, Syrup can correlate the impact of micro-influencers with point-of-sale (POS) data.

The company’s omnichannel retail clients include Desigual, Faherty, Reformation and Windsor.

Theuerkauf presents on how AI impacts inventory decisions
Source: Coresight Research

Toki

Speaker: Elise DeCamp, Co-Founder and CEO
Area of disruption: next-generation business needs

Toki offers an “easy-to-manage” loyalty program platform that creates growth and retention. On the platform, brands and retailers can create branded tokens, offer gamified experiences with non-fungible token (NFT) prizes and innovate into Web3. On the other side, consumers can use one simple login to enjoy fun experiences, earn rewards for sharing their data and shop “their own way.”

DeCamp speaks on how the Toki platform helps companies attract and retain customers
Source: Coresight Research

According to DeCamp, Toki was built to help companies earn 10X the engagement and 10X the revenue. To do so, Toki has turned loyalty into a “full funnel program,” along every part of the consumer journey: pre-conversion, at purchase and post-conversion. Retailers can use loyalty as an acquisition tool for better results and a better shopping experience, which Toki facilitates. DeCamp stated that Toki creates a unified experience by incentivizing customers to write a review or take a quiz and bringing a company’s entire tech stack together.

Toki enhances the customer journey
Source: Toki

Tolstoy

Speaker: Dov Kaufmann, Co-Founder and CEO
Area of disruption: Innovative Video Applications
Read the full Innovator Profile for Tolstoy

The platform allows for the creation, publishing and sharing of short-form interactive videos to increase visit duration times on the clients’ websites and drive conversion. Tolstoy also offers a video quiz feature that enables businesses to better understand their audience and personalize their offers and future experience.

Kaufmann dives into Tolstoy’s various features
Source: Coresight Research

Kaufmann started his presentation with a story about how Tolstoy helped Omsom, a company that makes Asian food flavor packets. According to Kaufmann, it was a story that could only be told via video, one particularly suited for TikTok, which is why consumers often did not convert on the websites. However, the personalization and engagement provided by interactive video changed that.

Tolstoy has a measurable impact on return on investment (ROI), with Kaufmann stating that companies BelliWelli, Deux and Korean Skincare have seen a 22X, 60X and 89X increase in ROI, respectively, since using the platform.

Some of the in-video interactions that Tolstoy provides
Source: Tolstoy

Wink

Speaker: Deepak Jain, Founder and CEO
Area of disruption: Optimizing Operations: Payments and Supply Chains
Read the full Innovator Profile for Wink

Wink is a US biometric identity and payments platform that enables companies to offer simpler and seamless payments experiences through AI and ML technology and facial and voice recognition-based, multi-factor authentication. Customers can checkout securely and quickly without using passwords, usernames, card numbers or SMS texts.

Jain explains the details of Wink’s platform
Source: Coresight Research

Jain explained that Wink converts all cameras into biometric authenticators and payment acceptance points—there are currently more than 44 million cameras in the world (see image below). He discussed the multiple applications in the payment space that the technology facilitates, including frictionless in-store payment, loss prevention for self-checkout, hands-free and in-vehicle payments, smart home cloud biometric payments and ATM fraud prevention. Users enjoy that Wink provides biometric authentication with one-way encryption and Web 3.0-compliant architecture.

Currently, the Wink payments platform supports major payment methods and can send biometric payments to more than 200 major gateways.

Wink data on the rise of cameras in the world
Source: Wink

This document was generated for

Reasons to Read

Each report in the Weinswig’s Weekly series reflects on a topical theme in retail. We also highlight our key research from the past week and upcoming reports to look out for, so you don’t miss out.

This week’s note, “From the Desk of Deborah Weinswig” (CEO and Founder of Coresight Research), discusses recent ventures in drones, including from Amazon, IKEA and Walmart.

Other relevant research:

The Last-Mile Race Intensifies: Target and Walmart Pave the Way in Delivery Innovation
Read last week’s Weinswig’s Weekly, which discusses the Coresight Research team’s activities at Shoptalk 2023.

Please Login to read the full report. Not a member? To access this content for free, register for a free account.

This document was generated for

Reasons to Read

Our Weekly US and UK Store Openings and Closures Tracker reports on store closures, openings and bankruptcies.

Data in this report include:

2023 week-by-week comparisons of announced store closures and openings in the US and the UK
2022 week-by-week comparisons of announced store closures and openings in the US and the UK
2023 major US store closures and openings
2023 major UK store closures and openings

Companies mentioned in this report include: Best Buy, Dollar General, Five Below, Foot Locker, Signet Jewelers and Williams-Sonoma.

Other relevant research:

Complementing our weekly report, the Coresight Research US Store Tracker Databank offers our premium subscribers access to openings and closures data from 2012 to 2023 year to date, filterable by sector and year.

You are currently viewing a preview of this report.

Please select an access option to view the full report. Hide Options - Show Options +

Get unlimited access to all our research with one of our subscription plans.

View Subscription Plans

This document was generated for

Reasons to Read

Shoptalk 2023 is nearly here! We offer a preview of the Shoptalk 2023 “Shark Reef” startup pitch competition, presenting the 12 participating technology innovators across four areas of retail disruption

Coresight Research is a research partner of Shoptalk 2023.

*This report has been updated since it was first published due to changes in the lineup of participating innovators.

Other relevant research:

In advance of the startup pitch competition at Shoptalk 2023, we profiled each of the participating innovators in detail. Click the links in this report to access those Innovator Profiles.
A Must-Read Guide to Shoptalk 2023: How To Maximize Your Time and Create Opportunities Across Five Retail Themes
Our full coverage of Shoptalk 2023
All Coresight Research reports on emerging technology
2023 Retail and Technology Outlook: Facing into the Headwinds

Executive Summary

Coresight Research Insights

The event, moderated by Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, will see 12 early-stage startups present on their innovative technologies that are solving important challenges in retail.
There will be two rounds. All competitors will present for three minutes in the first round, followed by a short Q&A, after which six companies will progress to the next round. In round two, the finalists will each participate in a more in-depth Q&A session.
An expert panel of judges will select the Judges’ Choice winner, and the audience will have the opportunity to cast their votes for the Audience Choice winner.
The participating innovators are Drop, Frate, Gander, GoCharlie, Hark, IN BOLD PRINT., Nibble, Reflekt Me, Syrup, Tolstoy, Toki and Wink.
Coresight Research categorizes the 12 participating innovators into four areas of innovation in retail: new ways to engage consumers; innovative video applications; ensuring product quality and sustainability; and optimizing operations (payments and supply chains).

Introduction

Coresight Research is a research partner of Shoptalk 2023, which will take place during March 26–29 in Las Vegas. Shoptalk is an annual retail conference focusing on retail innovation and the trends, business models and technologies that are shaping the future of retail.

The Coresight Research team will participate in two panels and a workshop during the conference—see our Must-Read Guide to Shoptalk 2023 for more details.

In addition, on March 26, 2023, Coresight Research will host the “Shark Reef” startup pitch competition at the Beacon Theater, which will see 12 early-stage US retail-technology innovators compete to win the Judges’ 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.