Innovator Profile: Lucky Labs Brings Brands and Retailers Together To Enable Omnichannel Fulfillment

Introduction 

The Coresight Research team will attend and participate in this year’s Groceryshop conference, which will be held on September 19–22, 2022, in Las Vegas, US. Groceryshop 2022 will explore the changing grocery landscape and help businesses navigate the rapid rise in e-commerce, the latest business models and technologies, and the shifting consumer behaviors that are impacting the industry.

On September 19, 2022, Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, will emcee and feature on the judging panel of Groceryshop 2022’s “Shark Reef” startup pitch competition, which will see 12 early-stage innovators compete to win the Judges’ Choice and Audience Choice awards. In the lead-up to the event, we are profiling the participating innovators. 

This report forms part of our Innovator Profile series, which focuses on emerging technologies that are disrupting traditional retail and fueling innovation across the retail value chain. We present Lucky Labs, developer of an online marketing platform that enables online brands to offer same-day fulfillment and in-store availability through local retailers. Coresight Research collaborated with Lucky Labs to offer insights into its capabilities and offerings.

Areas of Innovation

Coresight Research categorizes the 12 participating innovators into three areas of innovation in retail: fulfillment and sustainability; product marketing and merchandising; and AI (artificial intelligence), ML (machine learning) and automation. Lucky Labs falls under “fulfillment and sustainability.”

Fulfillment (including the last mile) is often one of the most complex and costly processes in the supply chain, while sustainability is increasingly gaining attention from stakeholders. Technology innovators focused on these areas can assist brands and retailers in improving efficiency, transparency and sustainability in the supply chain, as well as supporting them in saving costs.

Lucky Labs: In Detail

Headquarters 

New York, New York, US 

Funding Stage 

Seed Stage 

Total funding raised: $7 million 

Company Description

Founded in 2020, Lucky Labs enables online brands and retailers with physical stores to work together to create an omnichannel experience for shoppers. The company’s online platform integrates a brand’s products with retail inventory in physical locations, allowing shoppers to see whether the product they want to purchase is in stock at a local retailer’s store and giving shoppers an in-store pickup option for their online orders. 

For online brands, Lucky Labs provides visibility into retailers’ inventory distribution and the ability to offer BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store). Brands can also generate a revenue and attribution data stream that will allow them to better understand their shoppers and sales to guide future growth. For retailers, Lucky Labs enables them to enhance their partnerships with the brands they carry in their store by having their stores available as a pickup location for online shoppers, thus increasing foot traffic and potential revenue.  

What Problem Is the Company Solving?

By integrating e-commerce elements into their physical stores, retailers can gain a competitive edge in the increasingly digital retail landscape, particularly following the pandemic-driven rise in e-commerce adoption among consumers and the proliferation of emerging online brands. Through Lucky Lab’s online platform, retailers can market their storefront as a pickup location for shoppers on online brands’ websites, increasing their exposure online and converting web traffic into physical store traffic and potential sales. 

Coresight Research’s US Consumer Tracker (our weekly surveys) from August 22, 2022, found that only around 21% of respondents are avoiding shopping centers and malls, and around 19% are avoiding shops in general—down from previous highs of over 50% in 2021 and early 2022. As shoppers return to physical stores to shop, online brands could facing losing share back to the physical retail channel. By working with Lucky Labs, online brands can diversify their sales and marketing reach via an omnichannel approach, offering the convenience of picking up orders at a brick-and-mortar store and so capturing share of the shoppers that are returning to physical stores.  

Market Opportunity 

We project that total US online retail sales as a proportion of total US retail sales will reach 30.8% in 2030, compared to 21.2% in 2022—a 45% increase. Retailers should look to integrate themselves into the online retail space and work with online brands to create an omnichannel approach where web traffic can lead to store traffic. 

Offering BOPIS options can increase revenue for both brands and retailers as it becomes a more popular fulfillment method. In a February 2022 Coresight Research survey, we found that among online shoppers in the US, 30% had used curbside pickup and 18% had used in-store pickup in the past three months, indicating opportunity for brands and retailers in omnichannel fulfillment. 

What We Think

As consumers increasingly look to combine aspects of physical and digital retail to achieve higher levels of convenience when shopping, both online brands and physical retailers should explore avenues of providing a better omnichannel experience for their shoppers. 

Brands and retailers can ramp up collaboration to seize opportunities in omnichannel services: brands can work with retailers to provide their shoppers with a physical pickup destination, while retailers can use brands to leverage website traffic and convert that into store traffic through pickup.