Boosted Commerce, which hunts for top-rated companies on Amazon to buy, is about to go on a massive shopping spree of its own, purchasing 100 consumer packaged goods companies over the next four years with funds from a $87 million raise it announced Thursday.
The company uses its experience and resources to boost already successful Amazon sellers, hence the name. Rather than gamble on unproven concepts or spend hundreds of millions on research and development, as large corporations like Procter and Gamble have traditionally done, Boosted employees scour Amazon looking for companies with top reviews and offer to buy them and close in fewer than 45 days.
<p>"When you find something that is ranked in the top five and has thousands of reviews, you know it's a good product," explained co-founder Keith Richman. "We're buying them and we're accelerating their growth."</p><p>For sellers, many of whom are mom-and-pops living in far flung locales around the world, Boosted offers a chance to take money off the table and bring in management expertise to help scale their company. </p><p>"We know the space very well," said co-founder Charlie Chanaratsopon. "The sellers are burnt out. Their life savings are in the brand. They are generally excited and pretty relieved [when we reach out]." </p><p>Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) businesses now represent 60% of gross merchandise sold on Amazon, according to Boosted, and there are now eight million third party sellers on Amazon with 367,000 joining this year alone.</p><p>Some merchants have described <a href="https://digiday.com/marketing/amazon-consolidated-marketplace-sellers/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">bullying tactics by the retail giant </a>and lawmakers <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/29/bezos-cant-guarantee-no-anti-competitive-activity-as-congress-catches-him-flat-footed/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">have been investigating</a> whether Amazon engages in anti-competitive behavior, but Richman says they see the online retail giant as a friend rather than a foe.</p><p>"Obviously we're not afraid of them," said Richman. "Amazon is incredible and when we look at the ecosystem of retail distribution, we look at them as a force to bet on."</p><p>Still, even though Boosted uses the ecommerce retailer to source products, part of its strategy involves broadening a company's distribution to include other outlets like Walmart and Shopify, which founders often do not have the expertise to do themselves. </p><p>Chanaratsopon previously founded Charming Charlie, a national chain of 290 stores that sold women's jewelry and accessories before filing for <a href="https://www.retaildive.com/news/charming-charlies-pending-liquidation-a-reminder-of-bankruptcys-limits/558650/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">bankruptcy for a second time last year</a> and closing its stores. </p><p>Richman co-founded Voi Technology, a leading European based mobility company and previously co-founded Break Media, OnePage, and Billpoint Inc. He currently serves on the board of directors of GrubHub, The Meet Group and Vostok New Ventures. </p><p>Investors in the round include Torch Capital; CrossCut Ventures; Elie Seidman, former CEO of Tinder; Tucker Kain, president of Los Angeles Dodgers; Ken Ramberg, founder of Good Pods; Scott Hendrickson, co-founder and partner, Permian Investment Partners; and Thomas O. Staggs, former chief operating officer of The Walt Disney Company. (dot.LA chairman and co-founder Spencer Rascoff, co-founder of Zillow and Hotwire, also participated.)</p>
From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
Read more
Show less
Terry Boyle, co-founder and CEO of Behold, says his newly launched retail platform aims to solve a major pain point for online fashion consumers: Having too many options.
When on-boarding to the site, customers take a few minutes to plug in their fashion likes and dislikes, as well as their body type and sizes. Guided by machine learning, Behold's customers receive personalized outfits and streamlined choices, based on their shared preferences.
<p>For example, if a search is plugged in for black shoes, Boyle says, "we don't bring you back seven thousand five hundred black shoes...we bring you back 20. And then we see...what you think and how you react, and then we bring you back more."</p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><iframe allowfullscreen="" height="90" mozallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/16038614/height/90/theme/legacy/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/" style="border: none" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="100%"></iframe></div><p>Hear how Boyle, who's been in fashion tech for over 10 years — most of them spent at the venerable Nordstroms — is competitively positioning and running his trailblazing company, in which I'm a small, personal investor.<br/></p><p><em>Want more? Subscribe to Office Hours on <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/zillow-group/office-hours-with-spencer-rascoff" target="_blank">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/office-hours-with-spencer-rascoff/id1124608295" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5mXgvbUsaOv7JJQRecBdYw" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-office-hours-with-sp-28214033/" target="_blank">iHeart Radio</a> or wherever you get your podcasts.</em></p>
From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
Read more
Show less
- Repeat aims to make consumer packaged goods (CPG) customers more loyal by sending personalized reminders.
- The company raised $1.5 million in seed funding from Harlem Capital, Techstars and Mucker Capital.
- The two co-founders met at a Venice startup and were planning to get married in April until COVID-19 happened.
The good news for ecommerce companies is that the pandemic has driven U.S. consumers online. Up to half say they buy household supplies with a click, according to McKinsey & Company, but 70% of buyers never return to a brand for another purchase.
Repeat, formerly known as PRZM, aims to change that and make customers more loyal by figuring out their unique consumption habits. The company uses the data to remind shoppers with email nudges, it is time to restock. "Hi Anna. Are you ready for another face wash?" reads one such reminder. When customers go back to the site the items they "need" will be waiting for them in their cart.
<p>"We help brands turn customers into repeat customers," said co-founder and CEO Kim Stiefel. "We're essentially removing the friction from the replenish experience, allowing brands to unlock more repeat revenue."</p><p>Repeat announced Wednesday it has raised $1.5 million in seed funding in a round led by Harlem Capital. Existing investors Techstars, Act One Ventures and Mucker Capital returned while Break Trail Ventures, Vamos Ventures and Wedbush Ventures also came on board.</p><p>Repeat's business has been booming due to the accelerated shift to ecommerce. "We were already seeing consumers come online, but with COVID it dramatically changed," said Stiefel. Case in point: She says a toilet paper brand that is a client saw a 3000x increase in conversions.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<a href="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NTA3Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTk3NjE3N30.h9TREdBZlFs7N44NMki-wiZakADKSQbCsyjeKYzwpOY/img.jpg?width=980" target="_blank"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NTA3Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTk3NjE3N30.h9TREdBZlFs7N44NMki-wiZakADKSQbCsyjeKYzwpOY/img.jpg?width=980" id="ad83e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2f894185e42482b6f9e7f4a74879bc67" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"></a>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Stiefel and her co-founder Sarah Wissel met in 2015 while the two were colleagues at Vytmn, a short-lived Venice startup.</small>
</p><p>Stiefel and her co-founder Sarah Wissel met in 2015 while the two were colleagues at Vytmn, a short-lived Venice startup. It soon ran out of money, but the two started dating as well as hatching an idea for a new company that would be a subscription brand. "There was nobody else I wanted to do it with," said Wissel.<br></p><p>But like many startups, they pivoted. "During the process of building a brand we discovered subscribing to products is not a great experience," said Stiefel. The two decided to focus on using their own data to help other consumer packaged goods companies retain customers.</p><p>Stiefel says their skills complement each other since she is good at strategy, sales and bringing in revenue while Wissel is more analytic and focused on the product. "There's no power struggle," Stiefel said. "We're big fans of each other."</p><ul class="ee-ul"></ul><p>The co-founders were planning to get married in April until courthouses closed. "They are now offering marriages on Zoom and so I think we're going to do that," said Stiefel. </p>
From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
Read more
Show less