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“I’m looking forward to working with the team and sharing some of the lessons I’ve learnt from my time at Apple and the other tech businesses I’ve been lucky to work closely with over the years.” “Sparkbox’s approach to inventory optimisation has the power to bring about massive changes in fashion and home retail, which is clearly behind the times when it comes to technology adoption within merchandising,” he said. The team started Sparkbox after seeing an opportunity to innovate in a sector that still relies heavily on spreadsheets, guess work and gut feelings to make important commercial decisions.įinTech Delio secures £6.2m growth fundingĬolin Greene, an operational partner at Praetura – formerly Apple’s director of US consumer retail – will join Sparkbox’s board. The company was co-founded by Forbes 30 Under 30 inductees Lindsay Fisher and Matthew Wong, and Kevin Blackmore, who prior to Sparkbox was vice president of customer insights at Best Buy and a retail analytics partner at Accenture. Sparkbox will use Praetura Ventures’ investment to double its team and onboard further fashion, home and seasonal retailers, where deadstock is a constant challenge across the board. In addition to protecting retailers from profit losses, Sparkbox’s approach to data also has the potential to aid brand sustainability goals by preventing retailers from over ordering stock, with wide reports that fashion alone is responsible for up to 10% of global carbon emissions.
Sparkbox price trial#
Launched in 2019, Sparkbox says a recent trial with a £500m+ fashion retailer saw it improve cash margin on markdowns by 34%, paying back its client’s investment in just 34 days. Sparkbox’s solution, which is trusted by River Island and, enables retailers to forecast demand, optimise their pricing and promotions and plan inventory to reduce waste and the need for big discounts. A Manchester-based startup using AI and data to help retail merchandising teams make better stock buying and pricing decisions has raised £1.5 million.
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