Groceryshop 2022 Preview: “Shark Reef” Startup Pitch Competition

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. 

The conference will bring together around 4,000 established retailers, brands and technology companies, and feature talks from 200+ industry leaders. The conference presents an opportunity to gain insights into emerging trends and recent innovations. 

The Coresight Research team will participate in two sessions during the conference, on the key trends and best practices in loyalty for grocery retailers and CPG (consumer packaged goods) companies, and on reaching consumers through emerging platforms (see the appendix of this report for more details).

In addition, on September 19, 2022, Coresight Research will host the “Shark Reef” startup pitch competition, which will see 12 early-stage innovators compete to win the Judges’ Choice and Audience Choice awards. 

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

Groceryshop 2022—“Shark Reef” Startup Pitch Competition: Preview

Event Format and Judging Panel

The Grcoceryshop 2022 “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 grocery. An expert panel of judges will lead a short Q&A session following each presentation, before selecting six companies to progress to the next round.  
• Round 2. The finalists will each participate in a more in-depth, five-minute Q&A session. 

The judges will then reveal the Judges’ Choice winner, and the audience will have the opportunity to cast their votes for the Audience Choice winner.

Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, will moderate the pitch competition. She will be joined by three expert judges:

• Ken Parakkattu, Partner at Plug and Play Ventures 
• Elaine Russell, Co-Lead of Albertsons Fund at Greycroft
• Rob Trice, Founding Partner at Better Food Ventures 

Innovative Solutions Across Three Areas of Disruption in Retail

Coresight Research categorizes the 12 startups into three areas of disruption in retail.

1.  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.

Startups: Deliverider, Lucky Labs, Lula Delivery, Pipedream Labs, Whywaste

2.  Product Marketing and Merchandising

Brands and retailers are increasingly finding innovative ways to expand their marketing reach and raise brand awareness. Advances in retail technology and accessibility to shopper data are supporting omnichannel marketing and merchandising strategies to achieve growth.

Startups: Brandcrush, Jupiter, Peekage, Shelfleet 

3.  AI, ML and Automation 

Advances in AI and ML are enabling the technologies to be applied to a variety of retail operations, such as marketing and pricing. Technology innovators focused on AI, ML and automation can help brands and retailers reduce costs, improve efficiency and convenience, enhance personalization and more.

Startups: Promio.io, SalesBeat, Vici Robotics

The Competing Innovators

We profile each of the 12 innovators below—including the speaker who will present on the company’s solution at the pitch competition—in alphabetical order.

Brandcrush

 

 

• Speaker: Teresa Aprile, Co-Founder and CEO 
• Area of disruption: Product Marketing and Merchandising

Founded in 2017, Brandcrush has developed an omnichannel retail media platform that powers shopper marketing, retail media and business-to-business (B2B) partnerships between retailers and brands. The company helps retailers buy and sell via in-store, out-of-store and online media channels by enabling businesses to sell their owned media channels to companies looking to capitalize on sellers’ existing audience and marketing reach. 

The company’s software enables businesses to unlock and grow their media revenue via self-serve media portals, sales and inventory tools, and workflow management solutions. 

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Brandcrush.

Deliverider

 

 

• Speaker: Ido Raz, Co-Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: Fulfillment and Sustainability

Deliverider provides technology-enabled logistics services for online retailers. The company uses its AI-driven platform to enable e-commerce companies to offer products from local third-party sellers not in their inventory alongside their in-stock selection.

Deliverider’s platform connects catalogs from local third-party sellers to e-commerce retailers’ websites and allows customers to place orders from both catalogs on the same online page, in the same cart. After the order is placed, Deliverider uses trucks and scooters to deliver the items to a distribution center, where they are consolidated with the e-commerce company’s in-stock items and prepared for delivery to the customer.

Jupiter

 

 

• Speaker: Chad Munroe, Co-Founder and CEO 
• Area of disruption: Product Marketing and Merchandising

Founded in 2019, Jupiter is a social commerce platform that enables food-based content creators from Instagram and TikTok to launch their own shops where they can sell recipes and meal plans directly to their followers. 

Consumers can shop for recipes, meal plans and ingredients from a variety of creators that focus on different categories and styles of food—such as ethnic, vegan and health-conscious food—and customize their final list of ingredients before they order. Shoppers can then have their groceries delivered to their door or even directly restocked into their fridge via delivery services such as DoorDash and Uber Eats.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Jupiter.

Lucky Labs

 

 

 

• Speaker: Nafis Azad, Founder and Chief Product Officer 
• Area of disruption: Fulfillment and Sustainability 

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). 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.

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Lucky Labs.

Lula Delivery

 

 

 

• Speaker: Adit Gupta 
• Area of disruption: Fulfillment and Sustainability

Founded in 2020, Lula Delivery assists small to mid-size retailers, primarily grocery and convenience stores, to digitalize their physical inventory for online sales and delivery.

The company enables retailers to create and upload a digital store profile with updated inventory information and a digital presence across major delivery providers, including Uber Eats, Postmates and Grubhub.

Lula Delivery enables retailers to manage all orders, inventory and delivery from its central platform. The platform also has analysis capabilities, providing order insights into total sales, new customers and inventory levels. 

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Lula Delivery 

Peekage

 

 

 

• Speaker: Milad, Zabihi, Co-Founder and CEO 
• Area of disruption: Product Marketing and Merchandising 

Founded in 2019, Peekage has developed a business-to-consumer online product sampling platform that enables online brands and CPG companies to better understand their target audiences and optimize their marketing campaigns.  

Shoppers that sign up for the Peekage app can choose from thousands of products and try those that interest them for free. Shoppers are rewarded for providing feedback on sample products, which brands can use to improve their offerings. Peekage helps brands and CPG companies increase brand awareness by targeting consumers strategically, based on over 200 characteristic filters, including age, lifestyle and diet, to reach their desired demographic group(s). 

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Peekage. 

Pipedream Labs

 

 

• Speaker: Garrett McCurrach, CEO 
• Area of disruption: Fulfillment and Sustainability 

Founded in 2020, Pipedream Labs aims to revolutionize last-mile delivery by developing underground delivery networks designed to rapidly transport instant needs products. The company aims establish underground tunnel networks where items can be rapidly moved within a local geographic area via electrically powered robotic pods.

Pipedream Labs will use drivers to deliver items from retailers such as grocery and convenience stores to “portals” where the items will enter their underground delivery system. Items will then be transported underground via electric pods—capable of up to 75mph—across the city where another driver will collect the item and deliver it to its destination. 

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Pipedream Labs  

Promio.io

 

 

• Speaker: Anthony Eros, Founder and CEO
• Area of disruption: AI, ML and Automation 

Founded in 2018, Promio.io offers a sales communication platform that enables CPG (consumer packaged goods) sales teams to manage customer offers and promotions quickly and easily by category across various channels—including independent grocery stores, convenience stores, gas stations, food banks and more—all from one app. 

Through the Promio.io platform, retailers can communicate with their customers about offers, promotions, new item introductions, events, excess inventory, available shelf and floor space, and more. The company’s offering aims to help brands boost trade promotion management to drive sales lifts and enhance sales communication efficiency. Promio.io also supports negotiation and contracting through its app, in addition to reporting and real-time management of marketing strategies. 

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Promio.io 

SalesBeat

 

 

• Speaker: Veena Giridhar, CEO  
• Area of disruption: AI, ML and Automation 

Founded in 2019, SalesBeat provides a software platform for brands and retailers to manage optimal in-store inventory levels based on consumer behavior patterns. The platform uses AI to model consumer behavior and make recommendations for specific stock levels across different CPG products and stores. 

SalesBeat’s platform analyzes stock traction and provides insights on companies’ target consumers, product categories and stock-keeping units (SKUs) by individual store—reducing stock waste, out-of-stock issues and lost sales. The platform also provides various reports, such as overstock reports, which outline recommendations of optimal promotions and activities to deplete current overstock. 

• Read the full Innovator Profile for SalesBeat. 

Shelfleet

 

 

• Speaker: Sierra Pena, Co-Founder and CEO 
• Area of disruption: Product Marketing and Merchandising 

Shelfleet’s online marketing platform allows independent DNVBs to expand into the physical retail channel by partnering with local retailers to sell their products. The shelf and wall rental program connects online brands with local brick-and-mortar retailers that have underutilized shelf or wall space in their storefronts. 

Brands can currently pre-register for Shelfleet’s shelf and wall rental program, where they enter information about their company, including their retail vertical, and wait to get matched with local retailers. 

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Shelfleet. 

Vici Robotics

 

 

 

• Speaker: Kyle Smith, CEO 
• Area of disruption: AI, ML and Automation 

Founded in 2019, Vici Robotics is a retail-technology company that operates a commercial RaaS model aimed at boosting retailer productivity through inventory automation technology. 

The company assists retailers by using AI, ML and robotics technology to automate tedious and labor-intensive duties such as stocking shelves. This enables retailers to allocate their human labor in a more productive and cost-effective way. 

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Vici Robotics.

Whywaste

 

 

• Speaker: Martin Gradal, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer 
• Area of disruption: Fulfillment and Sustainability 

Founded in 2015, Whywaste offers an inventory management platform to assist retailers and grocers to reduce food waste in their stores. The company’s range of digital solutions center on making food expirations easier to track, enabling retailers to better manage their food inventory to maximize its utility and reduce the probability of waste or spoilage.

Whywaste’s platform includes date-checking technology that keeps users informed of when products are due to expire. The platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) to dynamically discount products based on a specific product’s cost, expiration and quantity, to clear the products from shelves in the desired timeframe. 

• Read the full Innovator Profile for Whywaste. 

Appendix: Coresight Research at Groceryshop 2022

The Coresight Research team will participate in two sessions during the conference, on the key trends and best practices in loyalty for grocery retailers and CPG companies. 

Case Studies—Reaching Consumers Through Emerging Platforms: 8.30 a.m.–9.10 p.m. on Wednesday, September 21, 2022

The “reach consumers where they are” mantra has become more difficult to follow with shoppers using more platforms, channels and technologies than ever before. Voice assistants, shoppable video and the metaverse are just a few of the digital tools that companies are using to engage with consumers throughout their shopper journey and make commerce easier. In a series of sequential case study presentations, three executives will individually walk through their use of an emerging medium or platform to interact with shoppers and share key learnings and insights from these initiatives.

• Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder at Coresight Research
• Dominique Essig, VP of Conversational Commerce at Walmart
• AJ Dalal, GVP, Data Strategy and Consulting at Publicis Sapient
• Rocquan Lucas, Content Director for Groceryshop (Emcee)

New Customer Loyalty Tactics: 11.20 a.m.–12:20 p.m. on Thursday, September 22, 2022  

Price inflation, new competitors and changing consumer preferences are just a few of the factors challenging customer loyalty for grocers and CPG brands. To compete, many are thinking beyond traditional approaches to discounts and rewards programs, in favor of new strategies and tactics. In this session, three grocery and CPG leaders will showcase new and inventive ways their companies are boosting customer satisfaction, driving repeat purchases, and increasing customer lifetime value.

• Ken Fenyo, President of Research and Advisory at Coresight Research (Interviewer) 
• Michael McGowan, SVP at Commercial Insights and Loyalty at 84.51 
• Sofia Laurell, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Tiny Organics