STORES Convention Daily - 2018 Big Show Day 2 - 29

2018 MONDAY

29

Rock Star

Beyond Digital

Continued from page 4

Continued from page 4

via social media - by Katy Perry, Kim
Kardashian, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jay-Z,
Beyoncé, Drew Barrymore and others. "In
2017," Vora said, "we had 500,000 visitors. In 2018 we expect a million-plus."
&pizza is a chain of 30 boutique
pizza shops based in the Washington,
D.C., area with locations in Philadelphia
and New York City. Michael Lastoria,
co-founder, chief executive and creative
director, notes that the company is an
"anti-establishment establishment" based
on the renown of its creative pies and
craft beverages, localized shop design
and the strength, unity and vibe of its
workforce. &pizza prides itself on this
latter; it offers, to all employees, competitive pay, flexible scheduling, medical
and dental insurance, a 401(k) program
and a "no ceiling policy" - you can start
sweeping the floor and go as high as your
ambition and abilities will allow. A number of employees, Lastoria said, have had
themselves tattooed with an ampersand
to demonstrate their sense of belonging
and commitment to the company.
Marcia Kilgore, by far the most
experienced creator and launcher of businesses among the morning's panelists, is
frequently described as a serial entrepre-

It's the club pack. A lot of manufacturers
wouldn't give them to us, and it was really
hard to differentiate ourselves. I was in
all these meetings where the buyers were
saying that we didn't have access to X
product. And I'm just sitting there, reading
about how Elon Musk is sending humans to
Mars, and as a technology company we're
debating whether we can make a plastic
bag or a cookie."
Further, because Boxed was a smaller
retailer, trucks would sometimes appear late
or without full orders intact. Having its own

Manish Vora, co-founder, Museum of
Ice Cream

neur. In 1996 she founded the Bliss Spa
chain in New York City; it was acquired
by LVMH in 1999 and is currently owned
by Steiner Leisure. Since then Kilgore
has founded Soaper Duper, Soap and
Glory and, most recently, Beauty Pie,
which she describes as "the Netflix of
luxury cosmetics." Beauty Pie acquires
products and materials from global thirdparty manufacturers and sells them direct
to consumers "without," she said, "the
thousand-percent markup."

Chieh Huang, CEO and co-founder, Boxed

brand eliminated those problems.
As for who the online bulk shopper
is today, it's decidedly not the single man
or woman in a small downtown apartment
working their first job.
"We are not the 'everything' store and
we cannot service everyone," Huang said.
Fully understanding that, however, helps
the company better service those it does.
The company continues to develop ways
it can more effectively own the customer
experience.
Boxed has its own robotics team and
builds some of its own hardware, including an autonomous guided vehicle. It also
built its own express stack; in some ZIP
codes, customers can get two-hour express
deliveries.
"If we are a retailer - even if we are a
technology-first retailer - we need to own
that customer experience ourselves," Huang
said. "When it comes to retail, the store is
where you live and die. When it comes to
online retail, the back end is where you live
and die. I couldn't imagine, if you're a large
supermarket chain, saying, 'Hey, you know
what? Let's outsource our store management
to this outside management firm who's going
to interact with our customers.'"
But that's essentially what's happening online, he said. "For us, we needed to
control that experience: How you receive
the box, how the box is packed. All that
experience is really our store."

Recognize

Premier face recognition technology for real-time video screening
and anonymous people analytics, supporting your security and loss
prevention measures and providing valuable statistics for in-store
ad placement, store design, and staffing managment.
www.cognitec.com

See it in action
at booth 548
887970_Cognitech.indd 1

11/4/17 2:05 PM

893249_Socal.indd 1

12/12/17 5:32 PM
http://www.cognitec.com http://www.mimo-llc.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of STORES Convention Daily - 2018 Big Show Day 2
