Page 78 – Coresight Research

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Coresight Research is an official research partner of Shoptalk 2024, which will take place during March 17–20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. On March 17, 2024, the “Shark Reef” Startup Pitch competition will see 12 early-stage innovators compete to win the Judges’ Choice and Audience Choice awards.

Our Innovator Profile series gives you a sneak peek at the participating companies. In this report, we present aiphrodite.ai!

Other relevant research:

See all our coverage of Shoptalk in 2024 and previous years
Visit the Coresight Research Retail Technology Hub to explore reports, data and competitive landscapes on technology.

This report is available for free and can be accessed by registering for a free account.

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Welcome to Analyst Corner! Every Sunday, a member of the Coresight Research team discusses upcoming or recent research and their thoughts on interesting topics in their area of expertise.

We also highlight our key research from the past week and reports to look out for in the coming week, so you don’t miss out.

This week, Anand Kumar, Associate Director of Research at Coresight Research, presents three keys to success in China retail, discussing the opportunities for brands and retailers to drive innovation and expand in the market.

Other relevant research:

Don’t miss our in-depth presentation on retail innovation in China at Shoptalk 2024! Coresight Research is an official research partner of Shoptalk 2024.
Retail 2024: 10 Trends in China Retail
More research on China retail
The Coresight Research China Retail Sales Databank brings together retail sales data to help you understand the trajectory of retail in China.
Stay tuned to the Retaili$tic podcast for weekly retail insights and inspiration.
Read previous Analyst Corner reports, including last week’s, which discussed the challenges that accompany the exciting potential of generative AI (GenAI) technology.

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Our Three Data Points We’re Watching This Week series spotlights key data points from this week’s research.

From the obesity economy to Dollar Tree store closures to China consumer survey insights, discover the key data points we are watching in week 11 of 2024.

Dive into the full research reports behind these data points:

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

Data in this research report include:

Week-by-week comparisons of announced store closures and openings in the US and the UK: 2024 vs. 2023
Major US and UK store closures and openings, 2024
Major US and UK retail bankruptcies: 2024 and 2023

Companies mentioned in this research report include: The Body Shop, Dollar Tree, Inc.

Other relevant research:

The full collection of Weekly US and UK Store Openings and Closures Tracker reports
Complementing our weekly reports, the Coresight Research US and UK Store Tracker Databank is the definitive resource for information on store openings and closures by sector in the US and UK retail industries. For the US, the Databank includes store openings and closures from 2012 to 2024 year to date (YTD); for the UK, data span 2017 to 2024 YTD.
The Retail Bankruptcies Databank details bankruptcies of US and UK retail companies, restaurants and gyms since March 2020.

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How can retailers supercharge the customer experience? In this presentation, discover the uses cases of AI (artificial intelligence)—from design innovation to virtual try-on to frictionless checkout to warehouse automation and more—across multiple US retail sectors.

In addition, delve into the macroeconomic environment—including five headwinds and five tailwinds impacting US retailers—and our 2024 US retail outlook.

Finally, explore five trends in retail that will be critical in the year ahead, spanning resale, healthcare, pharmacy deserts and more!

This presentation was delivered by Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, at the Vision Monday Leadership Summit 2024 on March 13, 2024.

Data in this presentation include:

2024 retail outlook—historical data and base forecast for real retail sales growth in the US
Size and growth trajectory of the US secondhand market
Proprietary survey findings—retailers’ use of AI-enabled content for personalization; US consumers’ engagement with livestreaming; popular retailers among US drugstore shoppers
Drugstore retail closures—2022, 2023 and 2024 (planned)

Other relevant research:

Five Forces and Five Trends Impacting US Retail in 2024
Read about the applications of AI in the apparel, beauty, drugstore, grocery and luxury retail sectors.
More reports on health and wellness, generative AI In retail, and drugstore retailing
Visit the Coresight Research Retail Technology Hub to explore reports, data and competitive landscapes on technology.

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Using data from the US Census Bureau, we analyze US retail sales in February 2024, in total and by sector.

Data in this research report are:

Year-over-year changes in US total retail sales (excluding gasoline and automobiles), February 2023–February 2024
Year-over-year changes in retail sales by sector, January and February 2024

Other relevant research:

Our monthly reports keep you up to date on retail sales (in total and by sector) and key consumer indicators in the US.
Complementing our monthly reports, the Coresight Research US Retail Sales Databank brings together retail sales data to help you understand the scale and trajectory of US retail.

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Continuing our regular series on retail shrink and organized retail crime (ORC), we focus this month on developments from the US and the UK. We discuss recent legislative changes and proposals, reported metrics on the prevalence of retail crime, and news about loss-prevention technologies.

Plus, discover US consumer attitudes to theft and prevention measures in retail, as well as recent retailer commentary on shrink.

Data in this research report include:

Proprietary survey findings—The level of concern among US consumers about theft-driven store closures, price rises and law enforcement, as well as how consumers would respond to stores putting items under lock and key

Companies mentioned in this report include: Ahold Delhaize, Axis Communications, DIGIOP, Everon, Kroger, Loblaw, Omnilert, Ross Stores, Sprouts Farmers Market, Target, The TJX Companies, Vidizmo

Other relevant research:

Read the previous report in the Retail Shrink and ORC series.
RetailTech: Leading-Edge Loss Prevention—Tackling Theft and Fraud Through RFID, Video Surveillance and More—a free report, sponsored by Sensormatic
Retail Challenges Drive Edge Technology Investment—a free report, sponsored by VMware
Retail-Tech Landscape: Loss Prevention
Watch our Insights Video for more insights from our analysts on loss prevention.
Visit the Coresight Research Retail Technology Hub to explore reports, data and competitive landscapes on technology.

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Worldwide, 1 billion people are now obese, according to a new study in medical journal The Lancet. We review the findings from that study and offer quantification of various aspects of the global “obesity economy.”

This report is part of our Data Dive series, in which each report offers an essential briefing on topical, need-to-know data.

Data in this research report include:

Selected findings from The Lancet study on changes in people being underweight and overweight between 1990 and 2022 in 200 countries/territories
Coresight Research estimates on the size and trajectory of the obesity economy—spending on obesity-related categories for 2023, 2024E, 2028E
Estimated worldwide excess calorie intake, 2023
Estimated worldwide wellness economy size and growth projections

Companies mentioned in this report include: Adidas, Amazon, Danone, General Mills, Glanbia, Kellanova, Novo Nordisk, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Marks & Spencer, Mondelez, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Shein, Target, Temu, The Coca-Cola Company, Walmart, WK Kellogg, WW International, Yum Brands

Other relevant research:

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Generative AI (artificial intelligence), also known as GenAI, rests on the shoulders of decades of AI research. Software developers and engineers have been busy developing applications to manage and control large language models (LLMs) so that more businesses and individuals can access the power and benefits of GenAI.

In this Retail-Tech Landscape, we discuss the need for GenAI applications and present selected technology providers globally, with innovative solutions spanning audio, code generation, productivity, video and more.

We focus solely on startups—privately held tech companies that were founded within the last 10 years.

Companies mentioned in this report include: 3DLOOK, AiXcoder, Beautiful.AI, BlendAI, DeepBrain AI, Digital Wave Technology, Glean, Grammarly, Infinity AI, Jasper AI, Noty.ai, Observe.AI, Obsess, Perplexity AI, Persado, Resemble AI, Speak Ai, Stockimg AI, Synthesia, Tabnine, Taskade, Tavus

Other relevant research:

Look out for our upcoming Retail-Tech Landscape of GenAI infrastructure solution providers, which will include large companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Salesforce.
More research on GenAI in retail
All our Retail-Tech Landscapes spotlighting innovators that are disrupting the retail industry
Visit the Coresight Research Retail Technology Hub to explore reports, data and competitive landscapes on technology.

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Our weekly Earnings Insights reports feature highlights from recent management commentary from major US retailers within our Coresight 100 coverage list as they report fourth-quarter 2023 earnings.

This week, there are highlights from companies that reported in the week ended March 10, 2024, across seven sectors: department stores, discount stores, e-commerce, food and grocery, mass merchandisers, specialty apparel and warehouse clubs.

Data in this report are:

Quarterly data from companies, including gross margins and sales data by brand (where applicable), channel and geography

Companies mentioned in this report include: American Eagle Outfitters, Big Lots, BJ’s Warehouse Club, Burlington Stores, Foot Locker, JD.com, Kroger, Nordstrom, Ross Stores, Target

Other relevant research:

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What does Wave 3 of the AI (artificial intelligence) revolution hold? We present key insights from Salesforce’s TrailblazerDX 2024 conference, with a focus on next-generation AI. Read about the company’s new Einstein 1 Studio and Einstein Copilot solutions.

Companies mentioned in this report include: Salesforce, Microsoft, OpenAI, Snowflake

Other relevant research:

Generative AI Latest: The Copilots Are Now Flying the Plane
All our coverage of generative AI
Insights from last year’s TrailblazerDX conference
Visit the Coresight Research Retail Technology Hub to explore reports, data and competitive landscapes on technology.

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Each Market Navigator report offers an in-depth, data-rich view of a retail, consumer or technology sector and is packed with data on sectors, segments, companies and consumers. Our analysts discuss at greater length the sector themes they are observing and the insights they are forming on their markets. We intend these definitive guides to serve as points of reference to those in the retail ecosystem, guiding readers’ strategic decision-making and assisting them in tapping opportunities and navigating disruption in retail and adjacent industries.

In this Market Navigator, Coresight Research explores the UK retail market, including e-commerce. Dive in today to gain insights into emerging ideas and opportunities, understand the growth trajectory of the market and explore the competitive landscape. You will discover key insights about market factors and themes, consumer behavior and preferences, the UK macro context and more. Key topics covered in this report include GenAI (generative artificial intelligence), the UK housing market, inflation, supply chains and Web3, among others.

Included with this Market Navigator:

Grab quick access to charts, data points and conclusions in the presentation download
Access the data behind key charts and tables in the Excel download

Data in this research report include:

UK retail market size and year-over-year growth rates, 2019–2028E
Sales breakdowns by sector, 2018–2023
Online sales, year-over-year growth and e-commerce penetration rates, 2019–2028E
Revenues, operating margins and store portfolios of leading companies from across the UK retail market, 2018–2022
Survey data on where UK consumers are shopping

Companies mentioned in this report include: Aldi, Amazon, Asda, ASOS, Associated British Foods, B&M, Boohoo, Boots, Currys , eBay, Frasers, Harrods, H&M, JD Sports, John Lewis, J Sainsbury, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Next, Shein, Selfridges, Tesco, TJX Companies, Wm Morrison Supermarkets

Other relevant research:

The Research Preview for this report
Retail 2024: Five Forces and Five Trends Shaping UK Retail
Holiday 2023: UK Retail Wrap-Up—December Downturn Unlikely To Herald Renewed Retrenchment
Market Outlook: UK Grocery—Inflation Drives Value Growth Amidst Volume Decline
Our monthly reports keep you up to date on retail sales (in total and by sector) and key consumer indicators, focusing on the US, the UK and China

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The Coresight Research weekly US Consumer Survey Insights series takes a regular temperature check on US consumers’ behaviors and sentiment, based on exclusive proprietary survey data.

In this report, our latest findings are from a survey conducted on March 5, 2024.

Data in this research report are our latest proprietary survey findings on:

What consumers have bought in-store and online in the last two weeks
Activities that consumers have done in the past two weeks
Where consumers have bought food and nonfood products from in the last two weeks
Consumers’ expectations for the economy overall and for their own personal financial situation

Companies mentioned in this research report include: Aldi, Amazon, Albertsons, Ahold Delhaize, Costco, Dollar General, Dollar Tree/Family Dollar, Kohl’s, Kroger, Macy’s, Target, Walmart

Other relevant research:

Read the full series of US Consumer Survey Insights reports
The Coresight Research US Consumer Survey Databank provides additional insight into US consumer behaviors from our weekly surveys.

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The Coresight Research monthly China Consumer Survey Insights series takes a regular temperature check on Chinese consumers’ behaviors and sentiment, based on exclusive proprietary survey data.

In this research report, we present findings from our weekly surveys conducted on February 26, 19 and 5 and January 29, 2024.

Data in this research report are our proprietary survey findings for:

Activities that consumers have done in the past two weeks—latest data and one- and four-week PPT changes
Avoidance of public places, by type of public place
What products consumers have bought in-store and online in the last two weeks
Expectations for economic conditions and personal finances in the next 12 months

Other relevant research:

Read the full series of China Consumer Survey Insights reports

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Shoptalk 2024 is nearly here! We preview the Shoptalk 2024 “Shark Reef” startup pitch competition, providing details on the event’s format and judging panel as well as the 12 participating retail-technology innovators.

Discover solutions spanning AI (artificial intelligence) content, the customer experience, loyalty, supply chain, e-commerce and more! Which startups do you think will win Judges’ Choice and Audience Choice?

Coresight Research is an official research partner of Shoptalk 2024.

Note: Since this report published, the Startup Pitch lineup changed (Primis did not compete at Shoptalk, and aiphrodite.ai was added) and Brent Murri, Partner at M13, joined the judging panel in place of Jett Fein. Read our recap report for insights from the competition.

Other relevant research:

Essential Guide to Shoptalk 2024: Strategies and Opportunities Across Five Retail Themes
You download an Innovator Profile for each company here.
All Coresight Research coverage of emerging technology
Visit the Coresight Research Retail Technology Hub to explore reports, data and competitive landscapes on technology.

Executive Summary

On March 17, 2024, the “Shark Reef” Startup Pitch competition at Shoptalk 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada, will see 12 early-stage, retail-technology innovators compete to win the Judges’ Choice and Audience Choice awards.

Coresight Research Insights

Event Format and Judging Panel

The event, emceed by Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, will see 12 early-stage, B2B (business-to-business) retail-technology startups present on their innovative technologies that are solving important challenges in retail.
The event will comprise two rounds: all competitors will present for three minutes in the first round, followed by a short Q&A, after which six companies (selected based on audience and judges’ ratings) will progress to the next round. In round two, the finalists will each participate in a more in-depth Q&A session.
The panel of judges will then select the Judges’ Choice winner, and the audience will have the opportunity to rate each finalist to determine the Audience Choice winner.
Joining Weinswig on the expert panel of judges are Jett Fein, General Partner at Headline; Christina Melas-Kyriazi, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures; and Matt Nichols, Partner at Commerce Ventures.

Areas of Retail Disruption

Coresight Research categorizes the 12 participating innovators into four areas of retail disruption: AI/AI-based content; shoppable media and experiential commerce; post-purchase customer experience and loyalty; and e-commerce operations and fulfillment.

Participating Innovators

The competing innovators are (in alphabetical order): dotkonnekt, EyeLevel.ai, Hue, MadeMeBuyIt, Node, Optiversal, Portless, Primis, PSYKHE AI, Raleon, Tare and Two Boxes.

Introduction

Coresight Research is an official research partner of Shoptalk 2024, which will take place during March 17–20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Shoptalk is an annual retail conference that unites executives from retailers, consumer-facing brands and technology vendors across both physical stores and e-commerce to discuss retail innovation and the trends, business models and technologies that are shaping the future of retail.

On March 17, 2024, the “Shark Reef” Startup Pitch competition will see 12 early-stage innovators compete to win the Judges’ Choice and Audience Choice awards. The competition will span three sessions on Shoptalk’s Arctech Track Stage, beginning at 2:00 p.m. and concluding at 4:20 p.m. PT (local time of the event). Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, will emcee the pitch competition as well as serve as lead judge.

In this report, we preview the pitch competition, covering its format and the judging panel as well as an introduction to each participating innovator.

Shoptalk 2024 “Shark Reef” Startup Pitch Competition: Preview

Event Format and Judging Panel

The Shoptalk 2024 “Shark Reef” startup pitch competition will comprise two rounds:

Round 1: All competitors will present for three minutes on how their innovative technologies are addressing important challenges in retail. As emcee and lead judge, Weinswig will ask each presenter a single tough question following each presentation. The judges and audience will rate each presentation, and the six companies that receive the highest aggregate ratings will progress to the next round.
Round 2: The finalists will each participate in a more in-depth, five-minute Q&A session with all four judges. The judges will re-rate the finalists, and the audience will rate each of them as well.

Shoptalk will reveal the Judges’ Choice and Audience Choice winners at the end of the session!

Weinswig will be joined by three expert judges:

Jett Fein, General Partner at Headline—Fein specializes in global technology investments. Since joining Headline in 2014, he has been instrumental in leading or co-leading the firm’s early investments in a variety of successful ventures, including Gopuff, Fancy and Honeycomb.io. Before Headline, Fein worked at Fung Capital, focusing on investments in companies involved in global, omnichannel commerce. His earlier experiences include roles at Palantir Technologies and Cambridge Associates.
Christina Melas-Kyriazi, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures—Melas-Kyriazi joined Bain Capital Ventures in 2021, where she focuses on early-stage investments in fintech and commerce. She was previously Head of Product for Consumer Foundations at Affirm, where she led a team of product managers to enable a frictionless customer experience from account creation to loan servicing. Before Affirm, Melas-Kyriazi was a Senior Product Manager at GoFundMe, where she worked on growth and new product areas. Earlier in her career, Melas-Kyriazi also spent time in business operations at LinkedIn and as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. She is an active angel investor and an advisor to early-stage companies.
Matt Nichols, Partner, Commerce Ventures—Nichols has been an investor in and operator of early-stage technology companies for more than 20 years. At Commerce Ventures, he leads the firm’s retail-tech investing and has led investments in FleetOps, Grabango, Kevel, Mulberry, Pensa Systems, Rally, Simon Data, Syte and Trove. Commerce Ventures invested in Kevel in 2020, and Nichols has worked closely with the company since.

Innovative Solutions Across Four Areas of Disruption in Retail

The participating startups must satisfy the following selection criteria:

Business-to-business (B2B) solution
Pre-Series A—funding of less than $8 million
Founded since 2018
Scalable—addresses a major retail challenge or opportunity
Highly differentiated—unique or highly differentiated technology or business model

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

AI/AI-Based Content

This category comprises startups that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to create and optimize content for various purposes, such as marketing, customer engagement and personalization.

Startups: EyeLevel.ai, Optiversal, PSYKHE AI, Tare

Shoppable Media and Experiential Commerce

This category comprises startups that provide solutions for shoppable media and experiential commerce, enabling brands to create engaging and interactive shopping experiences for consumers, either online or offline.

Startups: dotkonnekt, Hue, MadeMeBuyIt

Customer Experience and Loyalty

This category comprises startups that focus on enhancing the customer journey—including the post-purchase experience—improving customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention through personalized communications, loyalty programs and more.

Startups: Node, Primis, Raleon

E-Commerce Operations and Fulfillment

This category comprises startups that are transforming e-commerce operations and fulfillment processes, optimizing supply chains, reducing costs and improving efficiency.

Startups: Portless, Two Boxes

Figure 1. Shoptalk 2024 “Shark Reef” Startup Pitch: 12 Innovators Across Four Areas of Retail Disruption

Source: Coresight Research

The Competing Innovators

We introduce each innovator in alphabetical order below.

dotkonnekt

Presenter at Shoptalk: Dhiraj Jain, Co-Founder and CEO
Area of Disruption: Shoppable media and experiential commerce
Year Founded: 2021
Headquarters: Singapore, Singapore
Download the Innovator Profile for dotkonnekt here.

High customer acquisition costs (CAC) and the deprecation of third-party cookies pose significant challenges to businesses reliant on paid advertising for traffic generation. While not all paid advertising requires third-party cookies, their deprecation still poses significant challenges to businesses heavily reliant on them for traffic generation. High CAC not only strains budgets and eats into profitability but also limits sustainable growth opportunities. Additionally, the lack of engaging digital experiences on commerce sites contributes to suboptimal SEO (search engine optimization) rankings and reduced conversion.

These are the challenges that dotkonnekt seeks to tackle with Sangria, a digital experience platform designed to revolutionize digital commerce strategies. Sangria leverages advanced AI technology to seamlessly integrate content, community and commerce (which the company calls “3C”), enhancing engagement and driving organic traffic to brands’ commerce sites. By facilitating in-content shopping and engagement, Sangria empowers brands to organically improve their SEO rankings, increase conversion and reduce dependency on paid advertising. Furthermore, Sangria’s AI-driven capabilities enable personalized and contextually relevant experiences, mitigating the impact of third-party cookie deprecation.

“3C” integration and immersive experience by dotkonnekt
Source: dotkonnekt

EyeLevel.ai

Presenter at Shoptalk: Neil Katz, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer
Area of Disruption: AI/AI-based content
Year Founded: 2018
Headquarters: Denver, Colarado, US
Download the Innovator Profile for EyeLevel.ai here.

EyeLevel.ai solves a significant challenge in AI today: a lack of trust. Output from an LLM (large language model) is subject to hallucination, whereby the AI presents incorrect information as a fact in an attempt to satisfy the input prompt, due to the content not being grounded in real data. Whether a business is building LLM-powered apps for customer service, sales, legal, training or other functions, they need AI to generate answers that are consistently accurate and based on their own data.

EyeLevel.ai addresses this by turning corporate content into data that LLMs such as ChatGPT understand, providing businesses with AI applications that are up to 95% accurate—far beyond the industry standard—according to the company. EyeLevel.ai calls this “truth serum for AI.”

Making the use of AI simple and secure, EyeLevel.ai enables businesses to build e-commerce and customer service apps with no-code tools and APIs (application programming interfaces). The company’s solutions can be launched on web, apps and even SMS, and integrate with dozens of enterprise systems such as Salesforce, Hubspot, Google, Microsoft Clouds and more. Importantly, data are always encrypted, not leaked into LLMs and allow for full data governance—businesses can trust the AI with their private data.

Examples of EyeLevel.ai’s AI in use
Source: EyeLevel.ai

Hue

Presenter at Shoptalk: Nicole Clay, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer
Area of Disruption: Shoppable media and experiential commerce
Year Founded: 2020
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, US
Download the Innovator Profile for Hue here.

Established in 2020 and headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Hue is a shoppable-video solution designed for e-commerce brands and retailers. Historically, only a small selection of skin tones and body types were represented in beauty and apparel marketing, excluding many communities—Hue sets out to help retailers correct this. Hue enables brands and retailers to ensure that a diverse range of shoppers are represented modeling and reviewing their products, by embedding authentic video reviews directly on brands’ direct-to-consumer e-commerce websites. Hue leverages a diverse community of over 2000 micro-content creators whose user-generated content showcases products on various skin types, ages and hues, allowing prospective buyers to view the products paired with individuals that properly represent them.

Hue’s platform allows brands to utilize this content for various marketing channels, including advertising, social media and email marketing. By incorporating authentic video reviews into the e-commerce experience, Hue aims to assist brands in engaging and retaining customers, ultimately boosting sales and conversion rates.

Product features and illustrations of Hue’s solution
Source: Hue

MadeMeBuyIt

Presenter at Shoptalk: Benjamin Kosinski, Founder and CEO
Area of Disruption: Shoppable media and experiential commerce
Year Founded: 2022
Headquarters: New York, New York, US
Download the Innovator Profile for MadeMeBuyIt here.

Retailers encounter difficulties in navigating the vast array of emerging brands available in the market. This challenge not only consumes valuable time and resources but also hampers retailers’ ability to curate a diverse and appealing product selection for their customers. As a result, retailers may miss out on opportunities to capitalize on emerging trends and effectively meet evolving consumer preferences.

MadeMeBuyIt offers a centralized B2B marketplace where retailers can seamlessly discover, source and procure from emerging brands. By streamlining the onboarding process and handling operations, payments and shipments, MadeMeBuyIt simplifies the procurement journey for retailers, enabling them to efficiently explore new brand partnerships, thus reducing the time and effort required to expand their product offerings.

Snapshot of MadeMeBuyIt’s platform
Source: MadeMeBuyIt

Node

Presenter at Shoptalk: Rohan Mahadevan, Co-Founder and CEO
Area of Disruption: Customer experience and loyalty
Year Founded: 2021
Headquarters: Menlo Park, California, US
Download the Innovator Profile for Node here.

Node removes inefficiencies from the online shopping experience caused by cumbersome account setups. The process often leads to friction and security concerns for both merchants and consumers, negatively impacting the overall user experience and the company’s bottom line. The impacts of these challenges include lost sales for merchants and frustration for the consumer. Security and trust may also deter consumers from completing transactions, which hurts both the merchant’s revenue and reputation.

Node’s commerce platform removes friction between merchants and consumers, enabling them to interact directly (with one-click purchasing capability) without the need for sign-up or any servers. This paradigm shift—bringing commerce to the edge—eliminates the frustration, cost and risk associated with usernames, passwords, captchas, email spam, phishing, hacking, risk management, regulatory compliance, security and more.

Because it cuts out the server (and the need to store user data), Node’s technology delivers complete privacy for the shopper. For merchants, Node’s solution drives sales and enables trusted communication—and it takes less than 10 minutes to integrate the tech into an existing site, according to the company.

Node’s platform for customers
Source: Node

Optiversal

Presenter at Shoptalk: Lucas Tieleman, Co-Founder
Area of Disruption: AI/AI-based content
Year Founded: 2022
Headquarters: Saint Petersburg, Florida, US
Download the Innovator Profile for Optiversal here.

Many e-commerce businesses struggle to resonate with their target audience. This struggle often translates into stagnant traffic and revenue growth as generic or outdated content fails to capture the interest and loyalty of potential customers. This challenge is magnified by the fiercely competitive nature of the e-commerce landscape, where myriad brands compete for consumers’ attention amid a sea of options. Without engaging and unique content, e-commerce companies risk blending into the background and losing potential customers to competitors offering more personalized experiences.

Optiversal tackles this issue by providing an AI-driven e-commerce content-creation platform. Leveraging generative AI technology, Optiversal automates the creation of thematic landing pages, product content and marketing materials. This approach enables e-commerce companies to produce high-quality, keyword-optimized content that resonates with their audience, ultimately improving traffic, conversion rates and revenue.

How Optiversal helps retailers optimize content
Source: Optiversal

Portless

Presenter at Shoptalk: Izzy Rosenzweig, Founder and CEO
Area of Disruption: E-commerce operations and fulfillment
Year Founded: 2023
Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Download the Innovator Profile for Portless here.

Portless helps e-commerce brands to navigate the complexities of supply chain and logistics processes. Traditional methods often involve extended transit times, resulting in delayed market entry and increased inventory risks. Portless streamlines these processes by facilitating direct shipping from China to customers’ doorsteps within six days, thereby minimizing lead times and mitigating inventory risk.

Conventional supply chain practices entail heightened operational costs and reduced market agility for e-commerce brands. By offering direct shipping solutions, Portless aims to alleviate these challenges, enabling brands to achieve greater cost efficiency and market responsiveness. Additionally, Portless facilitates market expansion by simplifying cross-border shipping logistics, allowing brands to enter international markets more seamlessly from a centralized hub.

A comparison between Portless and traditional logistics methods
Source: Portless

Primis

Presenter at Shoptalk: Rebecca Griffiths, Founder and CEO
Area of Disruption: Customer experience and loyalty
Year Founded: 2020
Headquarters: London, UK
Download the Innovator Profile for Primis here.

Primis addresses the challenge of providing a seamless and engaging post-purchase experience for online shoppers, which is a common pain point for retailers in today’s competitive market. This challenge presents itself in various forms, including decreased customer satisfaction, diminished brand loyalty and missed opportunities for further engagement and sales. Today’s online shoppers expect more than just a transaction; they seek a personalized and memorable experience throughout their entire journey. A subpar post-purchase experience not only fails to meet these expectations but also risks negative reviews and decreased customer retention. Moreover, in an overcrowded marketplace, brands struggle to stand out and build lasting relationships with customers.

Primis specializes in the post-purchase stage of online shopping. Through tailored and sustainable strategies, Primis helps brands elevate their customer experiences, differentiate themselves and cultivate genuine loyalty. By seamlessly integrating with e-commerce platforms and carrier networks, Primis provides features such as live delivery updates, personalized recommendations and visually appealing order summaries, enhancing the overall post-purchase journey for both brands and customers.

Features of Primis platform
Source: Primis

PSYKHE AI

Presenter at Shoptalk: Anabel Maldonado, Founder and CEO
Area of Disruption: AI/AI-based content
Year Founded: 2020
Headquarters: New York, New York, US
Download the Innovator Profile for PSYKHE AI here.

PSYKHE AI seeks to help retailers optimize product discovery amid competition for consumers’ attention. With a vast array of products now available online, consumers often struggle to find items that align with their preferences and needs. Traditional recommendation systems may not accurately capture individual preferences, leading to missed opportunities for retailers to connect with potential buyers. This surfeit of choice leads to reduced customer engagement, conversion rates and sales opportunities for retailers.

PSYKHE AI tackles this issue by providing a solution that leverages advanced deep-learning models and product information to accurately predict purchasing behavior based on consumer’s psychological characteristics and traits such as values, desires, goals, interests and lifestyle choices. PSYKHE AI generates custom rankings of each store’s catalog for individual users, ensuring that the most relevant products are presented to each user based on their interests. By assigning specific qualities to products, PSYKHE AI’s patented system can precisely match products with the right consumers, thereby enhancing the shopping experience and increasing sales for retailers.

Personalized e-commerce product discovery from PSYKHE AI
Source: PSYKHE AI

Raleon

Presenter at Shoptalk: Nathan Snell, Co-Founder and CEO
Area of Disruption: Customer experience and loyalty
Year Founded: 2020
Headquarters: Wilmington, North Carolina, US
Download the Innovator Profile for Raleon here.

Raleon aims to overturn outdated loyalty and retention strategies, which are still prevalent in the industry. These traditional approaches fail to fully capitalize on the value of customers beyond their initial purchase, resulting in missed opportunities for businesses to cultivate lasting relationships with their clientele. These outdated loyalty strategies limit customer engagement, reduce retention rates and waste opportunities for brand advocacy.

Raleon aims to change this by offering a modern loyalty solution founded on personalization and AI capabilities. By employing AI and deep-learning models, Raleon enables merchants to optimize their loyalty programs and enhance customer engagement passively and neutrally. In a market where digital-first approaches are becoming increasingly prevalent, Raleon’s focus on enhancing the post-purchase customer experience aligns with the evolving needs of e-commerce businesses.

Raleon’s loyalty sidebar integrated into a website
Source: Raleon

Tare

Presenter at Shoptalk: Eileen Dai, Co-Founder and CEO
Area of Disruption: AI/AI-based content
Year Founded: 2023
Headquarters: New York, New York, US
Download the Innovator Profile for Tare here.

Tare allows brands and retailers to optimize their email marketing. Many businesses struggle to create engaging and effective email campaigns that resonate with their audience, leading to low open rates, high unsubscribe rates and missed opportunities for customer engagement and conversions.

Tare addresses this challenge by providing an AI-powered email marketing platform tailored to optimize business processes. With features such as automated image generation using Shopify store products, fully customizable email campaigns and robust tools for measuring and refining email strategy, Tare empowers businesses to elevate their email marketing. The platform facilitates automated customer segmentation, AI-driven content and imagery creation and streamlined scheduling for delivery, resulting in enhanced efficiency and effectiveness in email campaigns.

Illustration/snapshot of Tare’s platform
Source: Tare

Two Boxes

Presenter at Shoptalk: Kyle Bertin, Co-Founder and CEO
Area of Disruption: E-commerce operations and fulfillment
Year Founded: 2022
Headquarters: Remote (serving the US and Canada)
Download the Innovator Profile for Two Boxes here.

Returns operations in warehouses worldwide are hamstrung by outdated processes, creating inefficiencies and challenges for logistics providers and brands alike. While significant advances have been made in fulfilling online and retail orders, returns processing has remained challenging. Inefficient, unintelligent manual processes often result in delays, leading to significant financial losses for brands and contributing to negative environmental impacts such as unsellable returned products going to landfill.

Two Boxes is tackling this challenge by leveraging innovative technology to streamline returns operations within warehouses. Through strategic partnerships with numerous third-party logistics providers, Two Boxes facilitates the efficient processing of large volumes of returned inventory for leading brands across the US and Canada. This approach not only optimizes labor-intensive processes but also contributes to environmental sustainability by preventing thousands of units of inventory from ending up in landfill. Additionally, Two Boxes provides valuable data insights to both third-party logistics operators and brands, enabling more efficient, intelligent and environmentally friendly returns management.

Two Boxes’ dashboard shows return statistics and item-level details
Source: Two Boxes

Notes

Shoptalk 2024 “Shark Reef” Startup Pitch details and participating innovators are accurate as of March 8, 2024.

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Executive Summary

Coresight Research Insights

Event Format and Judging Panel

Areas of Retail Disruption

Participating Innovators

Introduction

Shoptalk 2024 “Shark Reef” Startup Pitch Competition: Preview

Event Format and Judging Panel

Innovative Solutions Across Four Areas of Disruption in Retail

AI/AI-Based Content

Shoppable Media and Experiential Commerce

Customer Experience and Loyalty

E-Commerce Operations and Fulfillment

Source: Coresight Research

The Competing Innovators

dotkonnekt

“3C” integration and immersive experience by dotkonnekt Source: dotkonnekt

EyeLevel.ai

Examples of EyeLevel.ai’s AI in use Source: EyeLevel.ai

Hue

Product features and illustrations of Hue’s solution Source: Hue

MadeMeBuyIt

Snapshot of MadeMeBuyIt’s platform Source: MadeMeBuyIt

Node

Node’s platform for customers Source: Node

Optiversal

How Optiversal helps retailers optimize content Source: Optiversal

Portless

A comparison between Portless and traditional logistics methods Source: Portless

Primis

Features of Primis platform Source: Primis

Personalized e-commerce product discovery from PSYKHE AI Source: PSYKHE AI

Raleon

Raleon’s loyalty sidebar integrated into a website Source: Raleon

Tare

Illustration/snapshot of Tare’s platform Source: Tare

“3C” integration and immersive experience by dotkonnekt
Source: dotkonnekt

Examples of EyeLevel.ai’s AI in use
Source: EyeLevel.ai

Product features and illustrations of Hue’s solution
Source: Hue

Snapshot of MadeMeBuyIt’s platform
Source: MadeMeBuyIt

Node’s platform for customers
Source: Node

How Optiversal helps retailers optimize content
Source: Optiversal

A comparison between Portless and traditional logistics methods
Source: Portless

Features of Primis platform
Source: Primis

Personalized e-commerce product discovery from PSYKHE AI
Source: PSYKHE AI

Raleon’s loyalty sidebar integrated into a website
Source: Raleon

Illustration/snapshot of Tare’s platform
Source: Tare

Two Boxes’ dashboard shows return statistics and item-level details
Source: Two Boxes