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Also, some thoughts about marketplaces  ☃️

Technology for the Commerce World.

WHAT'S NEW AT INTERLACE - DECEMBER EDITION


Friends,

It’s almost time to welcome 2020, but before that let’s all celebrate our achievements of this year ! 

New deal alert: Algopix joined our community of portfolio companies. Ori, Dani and their team have created “the Nielsen of Marketplaces”, see below for more info.

In portfolio highlights, you will read among others that b8ta has been on an opening sprint after completing a $50m round, right in time for the holiday season. 

As usual, we cherish your thoughts and feedbacks.

In the meantime, we wish you all Happy Holidays with your family and friends.

Until next year,

Joseph & Vincent

FUTURE OF COMMERCE FOCUS:
MARKETPLACES AND WHY THEY MATTER

It’s simply massive:

  • Marketplaces accounted for 52% of Worldwide eCommerce Sales in 2018 at $1.8Tn;
  • The top 100 marketplaces represent 95% of the total GMV and the top 3 (Tabao, Tmall, Amazon) make more than 50%;
  • In the United States, marketplaces were growing at 16.3% in 2018, and 23.1% without Amazon and eBay;
  • The median commission sits at 11%.
  • 1 in 3 Americans visits Facebook Marketplace once a month (source: Facebook April 2019).

Traditional retailers made the move to grow assortment and customer reach.
Just to name a few:

  • Walmart eCommerce performance is due to a thriving marketplace growing more than 40% in 2018;
  • Launched in 2011, BestBuy US marketplace met some scale challenges in 2016. Meanwhile BestBuy opened its Canadian one in May 2015 (powered by Mirakl);
  • In November this year, Loblaws Canada inaugurated its own marketplace (more here).

Getting specialized, “the Verticalization of Horizontals”

  • Reverb: the Ali Baba cave of musical instruments, recently acquired by Etsy for $275m ($36m revenue, $500B+ GMV);
  • StockX: for the sneaker-head in all of us, the recent Unicorn discloses a GMV above $200m;
  • Overstock: the promo of the week is “Black Friday blow out”, home decoration it is. $450m revenue in 2018.

Data as a Moat

Algopix, our newest portfolio company, can support marketplace resellers on what to buy, maximize margin and reduce inventory. It also delights marketplaces with sellers qualification, market insights and more important product catalog enhancement. They are already powering the performance of thousands of resellers and finalizing a couple of significant Entreprises accounts, stay tuned !

Marketplaces will become the cornerstone of a successful re-commerce strategy. The time of TheRealReal, Depop, Poshmark, Grailed is here.

FUTURE OF COMMERCE: KEY NEWS

  • How We’ll Buy Things in 2030: Smart Stores and Personalized Experiences: "E-commerce is surging while brick-and-mortar sales fall. What could possibly save malls and shopping centers? Enter the experience economy". Read more on Singularity Hub here
  • Walmart launches autonomous delivery in Houston: “Over the next few months, Nuro delivery will be made available to Walmart shoppers in Houston who have opted into the service. It will expand to the general public later in 2020”. Read more from Retail Dive here.
  • Ikea teams up with Optoro to reduce reverse logistics waste: “Ikea will employ logistics startup Optoro's technology to improve its returns management and reverse logistics processes”. Read more from Supply Dive here.
  • H&M For Rent? The Company Is Testing A Service To Tackle Environmental Concerns: "The company is testing out a clothing rental service at its flagship store in Stockholm. For the equivalent of $37, customers can rent clothes from a collection of 50 pieces, according to a report in The Business of Fashion". Read more from Refinery29 here.

PORTFOLIO NEWS

 

Ark / b8ta

  • b8ta, Leap and BaubleBar: Moving From Digital to Brick and Mortar. Get more Bloomberg here

  • A candid debate with b8ta Co-Founder and CEO Vibhu Norby  Get more Omnitalk youtube channel here

  • Since our latest newsletter: Stores opening in Denver and Dubai.

  • Forum (Apparel) opening party in LA took place on November 15th.

 ON OUR PLAYLIST

 
 
Article we loved
The NFX marketplace scorecard
by James Currier NFX
 		 Blog we follow
Omnitalk 
Commerce content by Chris Walton
 
Podcast we loved
Future commerce 
Various episodes started in Oct 2019
 		 How we are jamming
Kalabancoro - Richard Bona 
A gem from the camerounais genius
 
Until next time, check us out online
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Interlace Ventures is an equal opportunity investor. We celebrate diversity and do not discriminate against age, gender, religion, number of Twitter followers, or French-ness. 

Questions or feedback?
Drop us a line at hello@interlacevc.com 
Copyright © 2019 Interlace Ventures, All rights reserved.


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