#pitchevent

Twice a year CART provides hundreds of innovative startups the opportunity to participate in the CART pitch event and have an opportunity to present to our panel of industry executives who together represent an estimated 18,000 supermarkets across the U.S. We want to congratulate the winner and other finalists of the recent CART Pitch Event!

The winner is Fract, a fascinating solution that leverages big data to provide insight to brick & mortar store location performance. The solution provides value to retailers for use in evaluating existing stores and provides a next-generation approach to evaluating new store locations. I met Fract several months ago at an incubator and was impressed with their approach and their work. The founder and CEO, Mike Mack, shared some of their past work that included helping a retailer understand that simply by adding more parking spaces they could significantly grow sales. Or helping other retailers understand the optimum location for a new store. Fract is even able to provide insights to the effectiveness of signage wording and colors, and a vast array of other attributes impacting store performance. Congratulations to Fract as our Pitch Event winner!

SYNQY was runner up in the event and provides a solution tailor made for retailers as they are moving online. SYNQY brings brand advertising to retailer’s online grocery shopping experiences, placing relevant ads alongside products and categories. For retailers the solution helps bring knowledge of relevant products to the shopper online while providing a rev share. For brand manufacturers SYNQY provides access to a growing network of retailer online shopping sites where the brand can reach relevant shoppers.

Telesense uses Internet of Things (IoT) technology to provide cost-effective temperature monitoring across every step of the cold chain. Easy to deploy, the solution provides retailers a realtime view to and monitoring of all the refrigeration systems - walk-in coolers to cold display cases - around the store. The Telesense solution also helps optimize energy use and provides predictive maintenance information.

IAM Robotics is focused on automating fulfillment of grocery orders placed online by using autonomous piece-picking robots in the store. Imagine when the store closes at night a group of robots rolling out across the store to pick and fulfill all the online orders that came in that day. The robots are built to be able to navigate the store and pick individual products off the shelf in a supermarket. As every retailer knows, growing online sales is one thing but the big challenge for retailers is to make the online business profitable. IAM Robotics is focused on using automation to bring efficiency to the order fulfillment process.

The CART team is blown away by the growing pace of technology and the innovative solutions it enables for the retail industry as evidenced by the companies participating in the recent Pitch Event.

VIEW ALL SOLUTIONS HERE  

HOW CART WORKS

CONTACT US    

TELL ME HOW TO GET MY SOLUTION ADDED TO CART

A special guest blog by Ethan Goodman, Co-Founder, SmartAisle

There are three converging retailer pain points and dynamics that have created a compelling and important market opportunity: 

First, there’s an historic labor shortage in the US – for the first time ever, there are more job openings than people to fill them, and this is undoubtedly impacting retailers’ ability to put high quality workers on the floor to interact with shoppers. 

Second, The “Amazon Effect” is putting intense pressure on brick & mortar retailers to deliver a user experience that meets or exceeds that of E-Commerce – for example, better personalization – or risk losing trips and sales to Amazon and other pure plays. 

And third, shoppers are indicating that they are increasingly open to engaging with voice-based virtual assistants in the in-store environment in favor of summoning a human sales associates – 52%, in fact, according to a recent report from AdWeek.

So, we created an innovative new solution to help retailers address these challenges head-on. Meet SmartAisle, the world’s first voice-powered in-store shopping assistant. 

SmartAisle brings the power and simplicity of voice technology to brick & mortar retail stores in a completely unique and ground-breaking way. 

Specifically, it is a patent-pending technology platform that combines an intuitive voice interface, connected LED lights embedded on the shelf and a powerful artificial intelligence engine on the back-end to help shoppers with product selection and education at the First Moment of Truth. 

It’s incredibly easy for shoppers to use: 

First, shoppers see a call-to-action on at-shelf signage with a prompt for what to say to initiate the voice assistant – for example, “Alexa, open SmartAisle.”  

Next, they answer a series of simple questions audibly about their product selection criteria – for example, in whiskey, their desired type (bourbon, rye or scotch) and a target price range (like, under $50). 

And finally, our algorithm selects up to 3 recommended products; reads out the product names, descriptions and other relevant information (like ratings & reviews); and lights their position on the shelf for easy identification.  

Beyond providing an undeniably cool & novel experience to shoppers, the value our platform can deliver to retailers, as I insinuated at the beginning, is significant. SmartAisle can do everything from enhance at-shelf navigation, selection and education to help close the sale; to capture and report incredibly valuable data about shoppers’ at-shelf behaviors and interactions, and allow retailers to optimize their staffing decisions – not necessarily replace human associates, but rather augment their capabilities and allow them to focus on other key tasks

And we think SmartAisle does these things better than any available competitive options today, bet it:  

Store associates, who in most cases have limited product knowledge, and whom shoppers sometimes avoid because they’re seeking discretion or don’t want to be “sold.” 

Be it traditional at-shelf signage, which can only deliver static content and can’t capture shopper engagement data. 

Or be it mobile apps, websites or bots, which require shoppers to have necessary hardware, software or browsers, and a reliable internet connection, and whose screen-based experiences can create barriers to speed. 

At this point I’m sure you have all sorts of questions. Here’s my best effort to address the ones most frequently asked by clients and prospects alike: 

Do I have to use Amazon Alexa as the underlying AI platform?

No. SmartAisleSM is platform-agnostic, and can be built using other comparable AI like Google Assistant. 

Has it been executed in a live store environment?

Yes. We successfully ran a 2-month test with a boutique wine & spirts store in New York City, and just signed a contract for a 5-store test with a national liquor store retailer on the West Coast (set to launch this December). 

How does it perform?

Very well. During our 2-month test, SmartAisleSM drove a 20% YOY category lift for our client, and shoppers told us it provided an experience that was “noticeably better”, “easier to use” and “more entertaining” than normal.  

Does it only work for Alcohol/Beverage?

No. SmartAisleSM is perfect for any retailer aiming to elevate the in-store shopping experience, particularly those in heavy-assortment, high-consideration and/or premium-priced categories like Beauty/Cosmetics, Electronics, Fresh & packaged Grocery, Health & Wellness, Home Hardware, Pet Care and Fashion/Apparel.  

How complex is it to execute?

Not very. A typical engagement takes 3 months to launch from contract signature to go-live, we handle the installation and all needed maintenance, and the only infrastructure requirement of clients is accessible power.

How is it priced?

For the time being, pricing is still determined on a case by case basis. But we’re planning to implement a standard per store, per month model in the coming months.  

Our vision is to be the world’s biggest, best and most indispensable network of digital in-store shopping assistants – installed in tens of thousands of stores, serving tens of millions of shoppers, and generating millions of dollars in incremental sales for our clients – and we hope you’ll join us on that journey.

For more information, visit www.smartaisle.io or email [email protected].

SmartAisle is the world's first voice-powered in-store shopping assistant. It is an innovative, patent-pending platform that combines an intuitive voice interface, LED lights at shelf, and a powerful artificial intelligence engine to provide a vastly improved customer experience at the all-important point of purchase. The platform guides shoppers through an interactive experience that asks relevant questions, offers product information and ultimately makes a recommendation, bringing the power of voice technology to brick & mortar retail stores in an entirely unique and groundbreaking way. Click here to learn more!

Ethan Goodman, Co-Founder, SmartAisle

Twitter  @marsagency 

Facebook 

Linkedin 

Inaugural pitch event introduces top retail technology startups to retailers, wholesalers and brands

http://solutions.advancingretail.org/innovation

The Retail Innovation Pitch initiative recognizes the growing pipeline of domestic and international retail technology startups looking to penetrate the U.S. market.

“CART looks at hundreds of new companies every year,” said Sterling Hawkins, Operations and Venture Relations, CART. “Retailers and brands are struggling to keep pace with industry transformations as basic as eCommerce and as complex as virtual reality, 3D printing, robotics, IoT and other emerging technologies. Through the Retail Innovation Pitch Event, we will recognize top startups and help retailers and brands bring those technologies to market.”

The online event gives up-and-coming solution providers the opportunity to pitch key retail, wholesale and brand decision makers from companies such as C&S, Albertsons, Lowes Foods, Unified Grocers and more, who will serve as panelists representing over 12,000 stores. Panelists will learn about the solutions and have the opportunity to implement the latest innovations from participating startups.

“Several top tier retailers and brand manufacturers have created in-house innovation labs or incubators,” said Hawkins. “This event is designed to act as an accelerator for the broader retail industry, especially given that retail innovation is driven by rapid adoption of consumer technology and influenced by technology giants entering the retail space.”

The winner will be highlighted in CART media and pre-qualify for a potential $25,000 cash investment from CART partners and $25,000 in CART services. The competition will give participants exposure to potential investors, retailers and media.

Participation is open to startups of all stages worldwide at no cost. Applications are due by Sept. 1. For more details and to apply, please visit: http://solutions.advancingretail.org/innovation.

http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/25/cart-launches-retail-innovation-pitch-event/

About CART

Today, we announced that Codenvy will exhibit at Under the Radar on May 23, 2013 in San Francisco, California. Under the Radar is Silicon Valley’s premiere startup showcase and will illuminate the latest innovation in business technology including Codenvy's solution for eliminating waste for all developers.  

“Only the most innovative emerging technologies are invited to present their solution to the expert panel at Under the Radar, which includes VP and C-level execs at Fortune 500 companies like Salesforce, Google, Virgin America, Bank of America, and more, who are looking to partner, purchase,  or acquire innovative new technologies,” said Debbie Landa, CEO, Dealmaker Media/Under the Radar.  “We are extremely pleased that Codenvy will be sharing its next-generation business technology with hundreds of highly-influential attendees.”