
Visit the complete 2015 Everline Future 50 list
Name: ShopwaveIndustry/sector: Omni-channel retail
Date founded: 2013
Founders: Ben Brown and Julian Polzella
Location: London In 2012 Urban Outfitters hinted that it would be moving to iPad-based point-of-sale (POS) systems. “Two or three weeks ago, we placed our very last register order,” said CIO Calvin Hollinger at the time. “Once we make sure this iPad works, all stores will be equipped with iPod touches and iPads.” That Retail Week figures suggest that retailers are now spending the equivalent of three per cent of annual turnover on omni-channel alone, highlights the vertical is set to become one of the biggest drivers of retail technology over the next few years.
“I witnessed many companies doing interesting things but online banking platforms were still non-existent or had functionality that barely exceeded displaying your bank balance,” he said. “However, I ended up leaving Lloyds after gaining funding for my first startup, VouChaCha, which managed multi-channel coupon distribution for many of the UK’s top 200 retailers.
“We would track the in-store usage of each coupon in real-time, charging the retailer a percentage of each transaction which would be shared with the publisher. To achieve this we needed data from in-store PoS systems, which ended up being our greatest challenge. In many cases the systems that large retailers had were either incapable, or the companies that supplied them unwilling to integrate with us. Where it was possible, the cost to retailers was often prohibitive.”Share this story