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Here’s a brief article from Chain Store Age<\/a> about 4 up-and-coming retailers. \u00a0What I find interesting is that 2 of the 4 are basically home delivery services. \u00a0I myself have tried out the Graze snack service (a little pricey but I love the variety) and it seems like there’s more and more of these coming out–there are several snack delivery companies, precooked meals at your door, and so on. \u00a0I guess it’s another trend which will keep customers out of retail stores (grocery and drug) and get them buying more online. \u00a0Does not bode well for brick and mortar.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0<\/b> Blue Apron. Dollar Shave Club. Real Real. Honest Company. All start-ups, all relative newcomers to the retail scene,\u00a0 and all generating big buzz and sale increases \u2014 enough to place them among the top 20 fastest-growing e-retailers in a recent survey. What\u2019s more, they are all pure players (at least for now).<\/em><\/p>\n Here\u2019s a brief snapshot of these four up and comers:<\/em> In June, the company, which delivers some three million meals per month, landed $135 million in Series D funding from Fidelity Management and Research Company, valuing the company at $2 billion. It plans to use the funding to enhance its supply chain and fulfillment logistics, which includes growing its network of farms, throughout the country.<\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 Dollar Shave Club:<\/strong> Think of it as a Birchbox for men. This monthly razor delivery service offers proof positive that a viral YouTube video can indeed launch a brand\u2014and that clever use of social media and smart marketing can help create an online community. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Since attracting 12,000 subscribers in the 48 hours after its YouTube debut in 2012, the company has grown to some 1.5 million active subscribers. Along with razors, it now offers shaving cream, aftershave, wet wipes, and, most recently, hair care products. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Other new ventures: a men\u2019s lifestyle site and expanded print product.\u00a0 Currently, it sends a small magazine, \u201cThe Bathroom Minute,\u201d in its monthly package to subscribers. Dollar Shave Club<\/a> also has a blog where it answers customer questions on health and hygiene. Founder and CEO Michael Dubin recently live-streamed his colonoscopy to raise cancer awareness.<\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 The RealReal: <\/strong>Authentication. That\u2019s what helps luxury goods (think Chanel and Christian Louboutin) consignment retailer The RealReal stand out from competitors. The company inspects and authenticates its merchandise \u2014 women\u2019s and men\u2019s apparel, fine jewelry, watches, and art \u2014 before selling the goods, ensuring that customers don\u2019t end up with designer knockoffs.<\/em><\/p>\n In addition, The RealReal, which claims 3.5 million members, offers \u201cwhite glove pick-up\u201d in major cities where associates will come to sellers\u2019 (or \u201cconsignors\u201d) homes to pick up their items. Claiming 3.5 million members, the company recently closed on $40 million in Series D funding, its largest round of financing to date, bringing its total raised to $83 million.<\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 The Honest Company: <\/strong>Actress Jessica Alba\u2019s non-toxic, eco-friendly product brand is on fire. Starting out with diapers, the company\u2019s wares now include baby formula, bath and body products, household cleaning products and more, with a feminine care line in the works. High quality standards, community outreach, educational and charitable initiatives have helped Honest Co. a mass a dedicated, almost cult-like following. Alba\u2019s high-profile \u2014 she even lobbied before Congress to make the testing of children’s clothing and toys for chemical inputs more stringent \u2014 is another plus.<\/em><\/p>\n While the bulk of sales occur on its website, Honest Co. also has a growing brick-and-mortar presence, with distribution in such retailers as Whole Foods Market, Destination Maternity and Nordstrom. And some reports have it scouting out its own store location.<\/em><\/p>\n The company has a current valuation of $1 billion, and reportedly will file to go public this year.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here’s a brief article from Chain Store Age about 4 up-and-coming retailers. \u00a0What I find interesting is that 2 of the 4 are basically home delivery services. \u00a0I myself have tried out the Graze snack service (a little pricey but I love the variety) and it seems like there’s more and more of these coming Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-retail-companies","category-retail-trends"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1071"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1259,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions\/1259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n\u2022 Blue Apron:<\/strong> A subscription service that helps busy consumers get a home-cooked meal on their table in no time, Blue Apron delivers boxes of perfectly-portioned fresh ingredients (with accompanying recipes) for three meals per week right to their\u00a0 customers\u2019 doorsteps. (It also sells kitchenware.)<\/em><\/p>\n