NewStore - Omnichannel Retail Platform
NewStore offers omnichannel-as-a-service solutions to retailers looking to sell across digital and offline channels
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Snapshot
NewStore operates a platform for retailers which allows them to run their stores on the iPhone. The company’s omnichannel solutions create an exquisite shopping experience for customers of a partner brand, by combining mobile POS, order management, clienteling, and inventory. NewStore delivers its omnichannel store solution in over 40 countries.
Founded in 2015, NewStore is headquartered in Boston, US, and has offices in New York City, Berlin, Hanover and Erfurt. To date, it has raised a total of $155.4M in funding over 7 rounds.
About NewStore: Website, LinkedIn
Business Overview and Products
As a mobile Omnichannel-as-a-Service platform, Newstore delivers a completely integrated shopping experience to its customers. Its core offering is its omnichannel platform. Partner brands may get a single platform that combines their global store network, warehouse facilities and digital properties. The platform offers the following features:
Cloud-based omnichannel order management
Omnichannel cloud, the engine that powers the platform
Real-time inventory management
Omnichannel insights for tracking business
NewStore Studio CMS for customizing app layout
Integrations and APIs
The store experience that is created by NewStore for its partner brands includes a Mobile POS and Checkout which streamlines checkout and customer engagement. It also includes an Endless Aisle, which makes it easy for store associates to sell inventory from any location.
The company’s global footprint also allows it to offer a variety of simplifying solutions to its subscribers, such as a variety of languages on the app, a variety of local payment methods, global tax compliance, and global shipping methods. Moreover, NewStore assists its partner brands in running their business according to global policies. For example, it offers certified cash management systems which make proving compliance easy. Reporting to tax authorities is made easy through scheduled/real-time financial reports that can be shared in a tax authority’s desired format.
How It Works
Integration for NewStore’s platform involves the company’s team of solution architects and engineers working with the brand’s team. According to chosen requirements of the brand, the teams work together to global, market, and country-specific rollouts of cloud commerce solutions. Following rollouts, seasoned retail leaders at NewStore provide customers with ongoing support for its business.
NewStore boasts reliable customer and technical support teams that can provide service 24/7. These include domain experts that can quickly provide answers. This system minimizes any project risk and maintains a standard of quality.
When brands finally deploy NewStore’s Omnichannel solution, it can help them acquire new customers at low cost. The app can also help with improving sales by tracking customer information such as past purchases, or alerting physical stores about incoming customers through the use of geo-location tracking. Going forward, NewStore recently introduced native consumer apps through which NewStore’s partner brands can strengthen their customer relationships on all digital and physical channels.
Business Model and Pricing
By enabling a faster checkout experience and conversion of mobile customers to in-store, Newstore makes money by taking a cut of the retailer's revenue. The company has not revealed what percentage of the revenue it takes.
Traction
In the first half of 2021, NewStore grew its revenue over 100% year-over-year. NewStore also expanded its geographic footprint, which now includes 40+ countries across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.
Currently, NewStore partners with over 50 retail brands around the world. It’s website boasts the diversity of its team as having 24 different nationalities. The company caters to 15+ languages, and has a team of more than 200 people spread across 2 continents. The company also shares the impact of its omnichannel offering on its partner brands in the exact following words:
7x higher mobile shopping conversion rates
15% lift in store GMV from endless aisle
26% lift in store conversion
9x increase in customer data capture
4x increase in customer lifetime value (CLV)
Founder(s)
Stephan Schambach: Founder and CEO at Newstore. Stephan is a German entrepreneur who created the first standard software for online shopping in 1995 called Intershop. He also founded Demandware in 2004.
History and Evolution
NewStore was founded in 2015 by Stephan Schambach. Prior to NewStore, Stephan had founded tech companies Intershop and Demandware. He designed the first ever software for online shopping and put retail on cloud, which meant he had significant experience with the online retail industry. With his history and expertise of online platforms, Stephan came up with the idea of Newstore as the retail experience was rapidly moving towards mobile platforms. With the establishment of Newstore, he sought to change the market once again, this time by solving the omnichannel problem facing so many retailers and brands.
In 2021, NewStore secured $45M in funding and announced its intentions to use the amount to ramp up its commercial operations and product development, as well as to increase its global presence. The company also intended to increase its employee base.
In January 2022, NewStore acquired High Street Mobile. With this move, NewStore added an offering of native consumer apps to its omnichannel platform. This offering will allow partner retailers to create unique mobile experiences that integrate their digital channels with their brick-and-mortar stores, which can be considered an extension of the company’s previous offerings. This also means that going forward, High Street Mobile will operate under the NewStore brand name. Following this acquisition, High Street Mobile’s founder commended Stephan over his smart approach towards online retail. In a comment that sheds light on NewStore’s success, he stated, “Retail apps are not a new concept, but few brands have gotten this channel right. They aren't meant to replace the website or mobile web experience. Instead, they should complement those channels and create a powerful new place for consumers to bond with the brands they love.”
NewStore’s services and cloud infrastructure is designed to cater to brands operating across multiple countries and borders. It helps its brands to not only create a seamless experience for their customers, but also expand around the world with its platform which supports multiple languages and currencies, and multiple payment and delivery methods.
Additional Learnings
According to a source, NewStore equips its partner’s store associates with iPhones for mobile checkout, endless aisle, store fulfillment and inventory.
NewStore’s omni channel platform can either be adopted all in one go, or module by module. This hinges on a brand’s position in their omnichannel journey and their preferences.
NewStore won the Top Supplier Retail Award 2020 on 18 February 2020. A partner brand Decathlon had won the Best Omnichannel Solution for leveraging the NewStore Omnichannel Platform.
NewStore Studio is an app content management system. It is responsible for providing retailers with all the relevant tools to create customized and engaging app experiences.
Newstore has customer support in North America, UK, parts of western Europe, and several countries in APAC.
Market Snapshot
In 2017, Harvard Business Review published a study on 46,000 people which revealed that 73% shoppers liked to shop via multiple channels during their shopping journey. Moreover, for omnichannel shoppers greater loyalty was observed. Within 6 months of theri Omnichannel shopping experience, those customers did 23% more repeat shopping from the same brand. These statistics reveal the importance of an Omnichannel strategy for retail.
It was predicted that by 2022, smartphones would play a role in 90% of all digitally-influenced sales. By 2023, 58% of retail sales would be influenced by digital technology. This means that these sales either will occur online or may occur in-store but be influenced by digital technologies.
By 2023, smartphones’ influence will grow to represent $1.4T in retail sales.
Next Suggested Reads
Stephan Schambach Launches NewStore, Secures $38 Million in Funding, and Signs Leading Luxury Fashion Brands (Business Wire, September ‘15)
Newstore Omnichannel as a Service (NewStore, ‘15)
Must-track Omnichannel Retail Metrics (NewStore, May ‘19)
Internationalization - Creating Consistent Omnichannel Experiences for Global Brands (NewStore)