Today we’d like to introduce you to Gina Ashe.
Gina, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
During 2013, I was fortunate to join Redstar, a venture foundry launched by Jeet Singh and Joe Chung, founders of ATG. Their retail tech legacy is with ATG, the very successful eCommerce company that went public and was then purchased by Oracle. I liked how they are turning the traditional VC model inside out. Working with some of the top brands I had gotten to know in my previous company – like Oakley and GoPro and New Balance — we have tackled one of big brands’ biggest challenges: “If I could see into the thousands of stores that carry our products, we could optimize each one and drive higher sales!” I realized that over 90% of retail sales still happen in physical stores, and they can’t be everywhere at once. Everyone talks about the huge innovation happening in the digital space, but it’s a just a fraction of the big picture. This is not an easy problem to solve: the industry is a laggard on the technology front, it’s huge and fragmented, and until recently, it just wasn’t cost effective to put people and/or technology in every store in every town. But a mentor once told me, “solve the hard problems. It will take longer and cost more, but you’ll build significant barriers to entry.”
ThirdChannel has been an exciting process. We identified a significant challenge in the retail industry very early on and were able to engage customers to help us fund development for the solution. Retail is a giant industry – $4.5T in revenue each year, and as I mentioned, what most people don’t know is that over 90% of retail sales still happen in physical “brick & mortar” stores! Everyone is focused on eCommerce and mobile, which is much more contained and controllable. We committed to driving the same kinds of visibility and control in physical stores as brands and retailers have in their eCommerce: visibility into the thousands of stores across the US and Canada that carry their products and an ability to re-shape the customer experience. Consumers are demanding that retailers and brands up their game, and consumers are letting them know if they’re doing a good job by voting with their feet. There are very tangible reasons why some are performing well, and others are dying: the consumer experience in their stores might as well be Paleozoic. The Chief Merchants in the largest brands and retailers know how to engage their consumers, and if they could be “on the ground” everywhere at once, they could fix all the small things that are preventing sales. We collect all that ground data, combine it with their sales and inventory data and surface what needs fixing!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s never easy! The retail industry is during rapid transformation. We saw lots of store closings last year, budgets were tight inside brands and retailers and we had to show real value out of the gate. The most valuable thing we did was to show lift in their sales within a few weeks – that has become a main component of our offerings.
ThirdChannel – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
ThirdChannel, leading real-time store monitoring and optimization, is revolutionizing sell-through at retail for many of the industry’s leading players — billion-dollar brands like Luxottica, New Balance, The Honest Company, OXO and others. Companies invest millions to develop and sell their new lines in to retailers. Then the minute products hit stores — the most critical point — they “go dark.” ThirdChannel technology lets brand teams see what’s happening with their products in thousands of stores that carry them and recommends actions that will drive higher sales. The integrated Web-based platform collects and analyzes real-time data from field teams on the ground, revealing opportunities to optimize store environments and quantifying results with a real, measurable ROI. Don’t have a field team? ThirdChannel will match an exclusive, on-brand force for you. Customers typically generate sales lifts of 15% – 45% in just a few weeks.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
For me, it’s about persistence. I have always believed that if you put a group of smart people to work on any problem, they can solve it. Inherent in this is the ability to identify those great people, which I take full credit for!
Also, in our industry, the opportunities are rare where you get to build a business that is such a win/win for retailers, brands and thousands of field team employees. That keeps me coming back every day.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.thirdchannel.com/
- Phone: (617) 417-5896
- Email: info@thirdchannel.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thirdchannel/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThirdChannelField/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thirdchannel3c
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