#darkstore business model

[yourretailcoachae]

darkstore business model

Online  darkstore business model delivery businesses and retailers are gearing up themselves for this fast-paced growth in the online grocery stores market.

[warehousity]

Direct to consumer companies are on a constant quest to give their consumers an 'hassle free' fulfillment experience. But, it's not easy!

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As consumers are becoming increasingly non-linear, companies are seeking to use D2C models for growth acceleration, efficient ecosystem inclusion, and direct access to important information about consumers.

. All this is dependent on the availability of various technology systems such as OMS, WMS, Shipping platforms and intelligent inventory platforms and much more.

. Read more on this exciting trend in our latest blog and call us for a demo!

[newslookout]

Darkstore founder Lee Hnetinka on same-day delivery demand in 2021

Lee Hnetinka, Darkstore founder and CEO, join "Squawk Box" to discuss the company’s business model during the pandemic as demand for same-day delivery service skyrockets

The post Darkstore founder Lee Hnetinka on same-day delivery demand in 2021 appeared first on News Lookout.

source https://newslookout.com/world-news/darkstore-founder-lee-hnetinka-on-same-day-delivery-demand-in-2021/

[un-enfant-immature]

Shelf Engine has a plan to reduce food waste at grocery stores, and $12 million in new cash to see i

For the first few months it was operating, Shelf Engine, the Seattle-based company that optimizes the process of stocking store shelves for supermarkets and groceries, didn’t have a name.

Co-founders Stefan Kalb and Bede Jordan were on a ski trip outside of Salt Lake City about four years ago when they began discussing what, exactly, could be done about the problem of food waste in the US.

Kalb is a serial entrepreneur whose first business was a food distribution company called Molly’s, which was sold to a company called HomeGrown back in 2019.

A graduate of Western Washington University with a degree in actuarial science, Kalb says he started his food company to make a difference in the world. While Molly’s did, indeed, promote healthy eating, the problem that Kalb and Bede, a former Microsoft engineer, are tackling at Shelf Engine may have even more of an impact.

Food waste isn’t just bad for its inefficiency in the face of a massive problem in the US with food insecurity for citizens, it’s also bad for the environment.

Shelf Engine proposes to tackle the problem by providing demand forecasting for perishable food items. The idea is to wring inefficiencies out of the ordering system. Typically about a third of food gets thrown out of the bakery section and other highly perishable goods stocked on store shelves. Shelf Engine guarantees use for the store and any items that remain unsold the company will pay for.

Image: OstapenkoOlena/iStock

Shelf Engine gets information about how much sales a store typically sees for particular items and can then predict how much demand for a particular product there will be. The company makes money off of the arbitrage between how much it pays for goods from vendors and how much it sells to grocers.

It allows groceries to lower the food waste and have a broader variety of products on shelves for customers.

Shelf Engine initially went to market with a product that it was hoping to sell to groceries, but found more traction by becoming a marketplace and perfecting its models on how much of a particular item needs to go on store shelves.

The next item on the agenda for Bede and Kalb is to get insights into secondary sources like imperfect produce resellers or other grocery stores that work as an outlet.

The business model is already showing results at around 400 stores in the Northwest, according to Kalb and it now has another $12 million in financing to go to market.

The funds came from Garry Tan’s Initialized and GGV (and GGV managing director Hans Tung has a seat on the company’s board). Other investors in the company include Foundation Capital, Bain Capital, 1984 and Correlation Ventures .

Kalb said the money from the round will be used to scale up the engineering team and its sales and acquisition process.

The investment in Shelf Engine is part of a wave of new technology applications coming to the grocery store, as Sunny Dhillon, a partner at Signia Ventures, wrote in a piece for TechCrunch’s Extra Crunch.

From farm to phone: A paradigm shift in grocery

“Grocery margins will always be razor thin, and the difference between a profitable and unprofitable grocer is often just cents on the dollar,” Dhillon wrote. “Thus, as the adoption of e-grocery becomes more commonplace, retailers must not only optimize their fulfillment operations (e.g, MFCs), but also the logistics of delivery to a customer’s doorstep to ensure speed and quality (e.g., darkstores).”

Beyond Dhillon’s version of a delivery only grocery network with mobile fulfillment centers and dark stores, there’s a lot of room for chains with existing real estate and bespoke shopping options to increase their margins on perishable goods as well.

[makemoneyonlineprofit-blog]

Augmented Reality Brings a New Dimension of Engagement to Customers

https://120profit.com/?p=1389&utm_source=SocialAutoPoster&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Tumblr Augmented reality (AR) has transformed the smartphone camera into a window through which consumers can engage with interactive digital scenes in the physical world. On the other side of this window, brands are also harnessing AR to serve up creative experiences to delight their customers. We launched Shopify AR to help you create personal and interactive AR experiences for your customers on iOS devices—with 3D models of your products that can be viewed at scale and from all angles via Safari. But the applications for AR go well beyond showcasing the size and details of your products in 3D. With use cases at every stage of the customer journey, AR can fundamentally change the way people discover your products and how you engage with customers after they make a purchase. Here’s a look at what’s possible when augmented reality meets commerce. Product discovery through branded AR “scenes” Pharrell William's Billionaire Boys Club AR activation at ComplexCon powered by Shopify.Today, more brands are investing in blended shopping experiences that set them apart from their competitors and connect with customers in more familiar settings. Through mobile AR, you can create interactive 3D scenes that can be brought to your customers or even be used to bring your customers to you. Bringing the interactive AR scene to customers With mobile AR, brands can draw customers in with unique marketing activations that bring products to life right in front of them. Without the restraints of physical inventory or set up, the experience of picking up and evaluating products in a retail setting, or discovering a product while passing by an artistic window display, can be actualized wherever your customers are. A traditional retail display reimagined in AR.These engaging AR displays can enhance your product launches and marketing campaigns with new layers of excitement. For example, you could send customers a push notification with a VIP alert on their phone to build buzz about an upcoming product launch. After a countdown clock strikes zero, the customer could also use their AR-enabled mobile device to participate in the product reveal in the comfort of their own living room. Your creativity doesn't need to be bound by the same real-world barriers of physical retail either. In the video below, the floor in front of the customer opens up to reveal a selection of sneakers flying in from outer space—a sample of what’s possible with today’s technology. With AR, your marketing ideas can truly be "out of this world."Create immersive local AR experiences The beauty of mobile AR is that you decide when and where your AR scenes can be accessed, making them as convenient or as exclusive as you wish. This unlocks the opportunity to use mobile AR in offline marketing activations—such as hiding a product display or promotion somewhere in a city or at a major public event and inviting customers to go out and find it. Jordan Brand’s Air Jordan III ‘Tinker’ release is just one example of how augmented reality can add another layer of engagement to an in-person marketing campaign. Jordan Brand teamed up with Snapchat, Shopify, and Darkstore to pre-release the sneaker during the NBA All-Star game in February of 2018. Air Jordan fans invited to the exclusive event were then prompted to scan a mobile Snap code to reveal the new sneaker, purchase it, and have it delivered to their home or hotel room by 10:30 pm that same night. The sneaker sold out in just 23 minutes. Michael Jordan’s iconic free throw line dunk from 1988, brought to life again in 2018 through mobile AR.Recommending products with a more personal context Beyond product discovery, mobile AR can tailor the shopping experience to a customer’s tastes by using their environment to make personalized recommendations. AR is becoming increasingly integrated with machine learning: the ability for computer systems to "learn" from and adapt based on a customer’s past behavior. Working in tandem, these technologies can begin to respond to a customer’s physical environment and offer real-time product recommendations that customers can “see” in their space. The mockup below illustrates how a customer could open an app with their mobile AR device, scan their living room, and immediately receive suggestions for complementary furniture and accessories based on their current decor. AR can open the door to contextual recommendations based on your environment.You can imagine how enhanced AR personalization could be used to recommend anything from additional automotive features, beauty products, clothing, sporting goods, and more based on the customer’s context. The next big leap for AR and machine learning will likely involve reading your physical features or characteristics to recommend products that complement your outfit, your hair or eye color—while taking your recent purchase history into account as well. Connecting with customers after they buy Mobile AR puts your product in context and provides valuable, personalized information that helps customers get more utility and enjoyment out of their purchase. Advancements in AR animation will enable businesses to offer guided experiences that make products easier to use and enjoy. For example, after a customer receives a product, an interactive tour can show them how to put it together. For furniture, that might mean offering AR animations demonstrating how to assemble a bookshelf step by step. Customers could also watch and learn how to put together toys like a giant LEGO structure, or how to use additional functions and add-ons that are sold separately. AR can offer customers 360-degree product walkthroughs.The video above showcases how a customer might experience the assembly of a Gramovox floating record player alongside an AR animation. Notice how each part of the process is slowly animated to add a new, 3D visual that complements the included instruction manual. What’s more compelling is that the demonstration unfolds on the actual surface where the customer will put the product together. In the case above, assembly takes place on a table, but AR animations can just as easily be viewed in your car to watch how to install a dash cam, or a tent to learn how to set up camping gear. This added product education is something few brands offer, and it provides rich context that helps customers get more immediate and long-term value from a product, improving their purchasing experience and overall satisfaction. Augmented reality: The next frontier for commerce Within the next few years, you can expect to see more and more creative applications of mobile AR, with brands using the technology to engage consumers at every stage of the customer journey, from discovery to post-purchase. At Shopify, we’re committed to creating that future by making augmented reality more accessible for businesses of all sizes. You can learn more about Shopify AR and how you can create AR experiences for your store today at www.shopify.com/ar Header image: Extra Butter's AR activation at ComplexCon 2018 powered by Shopify Learn more about Shopify AR !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','//connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '1904241839800487'); fbq('track', "PageView"); 120profit.com - https://120profit.com/?p=1389&utm_source=SocialAutoPoster&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Tumblr

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Deliv now offers same-day delivery for Shopify retailers

Deliv now offers same-day delivery for Shopify retailers

Deliv, which partners with retailers like Macy’s, Best Buy and Petsmart to offer same-day delivery, is enabling Shopify retailers to offer scheduled, same-day delivery to customers.

This is thanks to a partnership with Zapiet, a store pickup and local delivery plug-in for Shopify. Zapiet helps Shopify retailers manage store inventories and configure the confines of the deliveries. This greater expansion into small businesses comes a couple of months after Deliv launched DeIiv RX for same-day delivery of prescriptions.

“Part of our business model is we are an assets-free logistics company,” Deliv CEO Daphne Carmeli told TechCrunch. “When it comes to storage, the retailers are one place of where storage is.”

For the retailers without storage of their own, Deliv partners with third parties like on-demand fulfillment startup Darkstore and others. When it comes to actual deliveries, Deliv relies on 1099 contractors. Across all of its 35 markets, Deliv has a network of tens of thousands of delivery drivers on board.

“If you think about us in the world of driving, think of us as the airport shuttle versus the taxi,” Carmeli said. “By definition, if we’re focused on scheduled deliveries, our focus and technology is about adding as many stops to our routes as possible.”

This comes shortly after UberRUSH announced it would be shutting down nationwide.

“It wasn’t a surprise to us,” Carmeli said. “Moving people and moving packages are entirely different and requires very different things.”

[athome-businessideas]

Darkstore CEO Lee Hnetinka Finds Success in Phoenix with Tuft & Needle

Darkstore CEO Lee Hnetinka has found success in Phoenix by partnering with Tuft & Needle, an e-commerce mattress company. Darkstore’s expansion into Phoenix was announced at the same time as their intentions to move into the New York market. Darkstore, originally founded in San Francisco, has seen demand for their same-day delivery and storage services begin to pop up all around the nation.

Expansion into Phoenix was primarily driven by a partnership agreement with Tuft & Needle. At the time of the expansion Lee Hnetinka stated “The amount of volume that they are able to drive in Phoenix just from them alone made more than enough sense for us to launch there.” Since Darkstore became partners with Tuft & Needle both firms have seen considerable benefits to employing Hentinka’s unique delivery and storage models. At the inception of the partnership John Marino, Tuft & Needle co-founder, stated “Our customers wanted faster delivery and we’re excited to be working with Darkstore in order to provide them with the best experience.”

Tuft & Needle was founded in Phoenix, Arizona in July of 2012 by entrepreneurs Daehee Park and John-Thomas Marino. The company has seen rapid growth in the mattress industry but until this year was having problems employing a viable fast delivery service for their customers. Previously, customers would have to wait up to three days for their mattresses to be delivered. Since Darkstore has taken over their local delivery logistics, Tuft & Needle can guarantee that an order placed before 4 PM will be able to be delivered the same day within Phoenix.

Darkstore has continued its regular commission model in Phoenix. It replaces traditional storage costs with a percentage commission on products leaving the storage facility. Instead of paying for time spent in storage, clients will simply pay 3% commission fee on the value of the good leaving the warehouse; this commission has a minimum of $2 and a cap of $20. The commission cap is advantageous for a company like Tuft & Needle, as firms with expensive goods will never have to pay more than $20 when a product leaves the warehouse.

Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Next Big Thing: Lee Hnetinka’s Darkstore Partners with SF Storage to Provide Unique Storage Model

Darkstore has announced a partnership with SF Storage in San Franscisco. The partnership aims to provide effective storage space for e-commerce clients that move high volumes of product within the San Francisco region. Darkstore was founded in 2016 by Lee Hnetinka and Wilson Lee in order to create same-day and two-day delivery services for e-commerce businesses.

Darkstore’s approach to storage and shipping is unique; they believe they have found away to create a streamlined approach to storing and delivering goods for e-commerce clients. Instead of the traditional per square meter costs associated with the storage industry, Darkstore partners with  SF Storage to charge a simple commission to e-commerce sites whenever their products leave the storage facility. This commission is 3% of the value of the product leaving the facility; there is a $2 minimum and 20$ maximum commission on the products. Darkstore then uses a range of delivery services to ensure that products arrive at their destination efficiently.

When Hnetinka delved into SF Storage’s storage costs he found their average charge was about $1.79 per square foot. Under Darkstore’s model the partnership able to achieve over $7 per square foot of storage. Under the current agreement there is a 70/30 profit split, with SF Storage receiving 70% of the revenue generated by storing the goods in their facilities. This is only possible with the correct e-commerce partnerships. Darkstore must ensure that their clients are moving high volumes of product that can continually generate commissions for themselves and SF Storage. Idle product sitting in the warehouse would greatly reduce the average per square foot storage revenue. For this reason, Hnetinka and Lee carefully vet their e-commerce partners to ensure their order volumes will sustain a profitable business model for Darkstore.

Lee Hnetinka believes this model will achieve greater efficiency for e-commerce sites. Many of Darkstore’s clients do not operate traditional brick-and-mortar stores and so outsourcing storage and delivery to a third party can greatly reduce logistical issues. In addition, their commission model is advantageous to e-commerce sites who transport expensive goods as their is a cap on the commission that Darkstore receives.

If you’d like to find out more about Darkstore and the rates that they offer to their e-commerce partners, check out the information on their URL: darkstore.com

The post Darkstore CEO Lee Hnetinka Finds Success in Phoenix with Tuft & Needle appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

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[yourretailcoachae]

darkstore business model

Online darkstore business model delivery businesses and retailers are gearing up themselves for this fast-paced growth in the online grocery stores market.

[warehousity]

Inauguration of our New D2C Fulfillment Centre for Apparel, Footwear, and Fashion product in Gurgaon

We are pleased to inform you that we have Inaugurated our New D2C Fulfillment Centre for Apparel, Footwear, and Fashion product in Gurgaon (NCR), Haryana, with some leading global brands.

In addition to our commitment to our clients, the Opening of the Fulfillment Center is another sign of growing demand for the right model in the industry to cater to their growing needs. This Fulfilment Centre will likely provide an excellent customer experience by having same-day express delivery in the NCR Region and Northern Part of India, with real-time tracking.

Reach out to us for placing your Footwear or Apparel product in this FC at: scm@warehousity.com or call us at +91-7677180180 to speak with our expert. Visit us at www.warehousity.com to learn more about us. . . #footwear #suppliers #india #apparel #gurgaon #fashion #d2c #ecommerce #india #lastmile #tech #4PL #darkstore #ecommercesolutions #warehouse #Warehousity #business

[warehousity]

Our endeavour has always been to create an element of sustainability and resilience in businesses. Every day through these efforts, we enable businesses to be more efficient by delivering QUALITY, CLEAN & GREEN service to customers and maximize their profit. In the quest to achieve a sustainable and eco-friendly delivery model, Warehousity has taken an essential step by delivering the Last Mile through its 1st set of Electric Vehicle fleet at our various Fulfilment Centres. Would you like to team up to advance this initiative further? . . #electricvehicle #ev #electricvehicles #lastmile #d2c #ecommerce #india #tech #4PL #quality #darkstore #ecommercesolutions #warehouse #Warehousity #warehouses #like #team #sustainability #sustainable

[un-enfant-immature]

Mexico City’s Jüsto raises a $12 million bridge round for its delivery-only grocery stores

Jüsto, the Mexico City-based delivery only grocery store chain, has raised another $10 million in financing as it looks to expand its now pandemically-relevant business of “dark stores” across the country.

The COVID-19 pandemic is changing consumer habits and increasing the use of delivery services across the world, and consumers n Mexico are no different.

A recent Nielsen study cited by the company found that 11 percent of respondents had purchased fresh food online for the first time in 2020, as lockdowns in cities across the world restricted movement for everyone but essential workers — with 70 percent of those surveyed saying they’d do it again within the year.

“Despite Covid-19 dramatically accelerating the curve of adoption of e-commerce, the penetration rate of e-grocers is still less than 1 percent,” in Latin America, according to Jüsto founder and chief executive, Ricardo Weder, in a statement. “That means there’s an enormous opportunity—and all the right conditions—to disrupt the grocery industry in Latin America.”

With the new bridge round Jüsto’s financing has hit just over $20 million in less than a year. Part of that can be attributed to the pedigree of the company’s founder. Weder was instrumental to Cabify’s growth in Latin America, according to Rodolfo Gonzalez, a partner at Foundation Capital, who led the firm’s investments into Jüsto. And Gonzalez also saw the opportunity in the company’s business model.

“We’ve seen that type of model of warehouse and D2C for groceries be very successful in other geographies,” Gonzalez told Crunchbase, when Jüsto announced its previous $10 million seed round. “But that model didn’t quite exist in Mexico yet.”

Other investors in Jüsto’s round include Mountain Nazca, FEMSA Ventures, Quiet Capital, and 500 Startups.

The Mexican company prides itself on selling both local and international brands in categories including: fresh produce, dry goods, personal hygiene and beauty care, home and cleaning goods, beverages, organic food, and pet supplies.

“We have these darkstores and hold the delivery,” says Manolo Fernandez, a spokesperson and member of Jüsto’s founding team. “At traditional supermarkets the fill rates are lower and the product is less fresh. One of our core tenets is to reduce waste. We don’t have fruits and vegetables sitting outside in the store.”

Jüsto also claims that it’s prices come in at roughly equivalent to those of a regular supermarket. The company has delivery options ranging from express delivery, same day, and next day delivery.

The company isn’t the first startup to look at unused real estate and internet shopping habits and see an opportunity. Darkstore is a company that has raised nearly $30 million to convert empty space into third-party fulfillment centers. Istanbul’s Getir, which recently raised $25 million from Sequoia’s Michael Moritz, is doing the same thing. And Samokat has adopted a similar strategy in Russia, promising over 3,000 SKUs and an under 45 minute delivery time fulfilled via their urban darkstores.

These companies are focused on being third party logistics players for delivery rather than creating their own brands, but Jüsto shows that there’s an opportunity for purpose built direct to consumer grocery businesses to use the same infrastructure and create actual brand loyalty.

“We have the technology, talent, and infrastructure to scale our expansion to more cities in Mexico and begin our international expansion, beginning with Colombiam” Weder said. 

[abckidstvyara]

Deliv, which partners with retailers like Macy’s, Best Buy and Petsmart to offer same-day delivery, is enabling Shopify retailers to offer scheduled, same-day delivery to customers.

This is thanks to a partnership with Zapiet, a store pickup and local delivery plug-in for Shopify. Zapiet helps Shopify retailers manage store inventories and configure the confines of the deliveries. This greater expansion into small businesses comes a couple of months after Deliv launched DeIiv RX for same-day delivery of prescriptions.

“Part of our business model is we are an assets-free logistics company,” Deliv CEO Daphne Carmeli told TechCrunch. “When it comes to storage, the retailers are one place of where storage is.”

For the retailers without storage of their own, Deliv partners with third parties like on-demand fulfillment startup Darkstore and others. When it comes to actual deliveries, Deliv relies on 1099 contractors. Across all of its 35 markets, Deliv has a network of tens of thousands of delivery drivers on board.

“If you think about us in the world of driving, think of us as the airport shuttle versus the taxi,” Carmeli said. “By definition, if we’re focused on scheduled deliveries, our focus and technology is about adding as many stops to our routes as possible.”

This comes shortly after UberRUSH announced it would be shutting down nationwide.

“It wasn’t a surprise to us,” Carmeli said. “Moving people and moving packages are entirely different and requires very different things.”