The Center for Advancing Retail & Technology (CART) announced this week the inaugural Retail Innovation Pitch Event, designed to bring relevant and transformative innovation to retail.
The Retail Innovation Pitch initiative recognizes the growing pipeline of domestic and international retail technology startups looking to penetrate the U.S. market, reads an announcement shared with MMW.
“CART looks at hundreds of new companies every year,” said Sterling Hawkins, who handles Operations and Venture Relations at CART. “Retailers and brands are struggling to keep pace with industry transformations as basic as eCommerce and as complex as virtual reality, 3D printing, robotics, IoT and other emerging technologies. Through the Retail Innovation Pitch Event, we will recognize top startups and help retailers and brands bring those technologies to market.”
The online event gives up-and-coming solution providers the opportunity to pitch key retail, wholesale and brand decision makers from companies such as C&S, Albertsons, Lowes Foods, Unified Grocers and more, who will serve as panelists representing over 12,000 stores. Panelists will learn about the solutions and have the opportunity to implement the latest innovations from participating startups.
“Several top tier retailers and brand manufacturers have created in-house innovation labs or incubators,” said Hawkins. “This event is designed to act as an accelerator for the broader retail industry, especially given that retail innovation is driven by rapid adoption of consumer technology and influenced by technology giants entering the retail space.”
