The entire retail industry, given its historical and economic importance for America and its GDP, has an enormous legacy infrastructure which means that, contrary to other technology sectors, most retail tech startups will necessarily have to work in some capacity with established industry players just to get started. We feel that this mandatory engagement between retail tech startups and the established retail industry provides a unique opportunity to develop a third innovation paradigm through establishing an ongoing, structured and systematic interaction program of large-organization intra-preneurial with independent entrepreneurial development activities – and possible new investment paradigms by the retail industry to fund promising retail tech startups beyond the standard build or buy decision scenario. San Francisco has the most developed startup industry, leading in all the critical resource areas, and we believe San Francisco is the ideal place for this new innovation paradigm development work to take place – we are looking at the groundwork to turn the entire City of San Francisco into a retail incubator as a public/private partnership with the City and industry.

The industry numbers for online shopping, social media marketing, mobile technology adoption and location-based services are impressive and growing rapidly. Consumer spending represents 70% of overall GDP for the US economy. Luxury products and fashion are still experiencing double-digit sales growth despite recessionary outlooks in most major markets. What are the opportunities for entrepreneurs, startups, retailers, and consumers and how will this affect how we shop and what we buy in the future?

According to new research from GP Bullhound, apparel is the fastest growing and second-largest e-commerce category in the US — estimated at $41 billion — and there are now over 2000 online fashion sites competing in the market, up 126% year-on-year. Mobile device site visit share has nearly doubled from 2012 to around 25% on average today and the sales conversion rate on mobile tablets has surpassed traditional for the very first time. Now, savvy brands and retailers are embracing omni-channel and contextual marketing strategies to engage, interact, and in many ways define new relationships with consumers where they work, live and play.

Community Partners : Cisco, Walmart.com, SAP/SAP Labs, Gensler, Retail Design institute, Levi Strauss & Co., MIndSpring/GAP, Storefront, Avenue Code, Storenvy, Le Tote, Amour Vert, Fashion Technology Accelerator, Iron Creative Agency, Saako, Threadflip, Myntra.com, Trumaker, Fashion Finder, Deloitte Center for the Edge, Loop AI Labs, Gagan Mehra, Float Hybrid, Macy's, Avaya, McKinsey + Amex.

Blog Posts and Events