We’re investing in Skupos as a play on our vision of the future of retail. Skupos’ real-time inventory data fundamentally changes the game for convenience stores (c-stores), distributors, and brands. Automated retail and same day delivery are the future of commerce, and Skupos enables its customers to benefit from these shifts.
Skupos leverages scan data from c-store transactions that, in our view, will play a crucial role in the emergence of cashier-less commerce and same day delivery from c-stores.
The $50B Automated Retail Opportunity
In 2016 there were 3.5 million cashiers in the U.S., according to the Department of Labor, with an average salary of $13,574 (Data USA). That represents a nearly $50 billion opportunity in cashier-less retail. Of those 3.5 million cashiers, 323,000 are convenience store or gas station employees, 9% of the cashier workforce.
Same Day Delivery Isn’t Solved Yet
Just 12% of Americans live within 5 miles of one of Amazon’s 194 fulfillment centers, according to data from Piper Jaffray. Including the 427 Whole Foods Market stores as “Amazon fulfillment centers” increases that number to 30%; expanding the distance to 20 miles increases the number of Americans that live near an Amazon fulfillment center or Whole Foods to 63%.
Amazon’s network is impressive, but not good enough. It’s why we still see $35 minimums and $5 on-demand delivery fees.
By contrast, 93% of Americans live within 1 mile of one of the 155,000 convenience stores in the U.S., according to the NACS.
93% of Americans live within 1 mile of a convenience store.
Imagine the power of leveraging convenience stores as nodes on a same-day-delivery distribution network. Suddenly, it’s feasible to deliver a can of Coke and a Snickers bar instead of 6 twelve packs of Coke and a dozen Snickers bars, just to meet a minimum. Skupos’ real-time inventory data will enable convenience stores to join the same day delivery distribution network.
The Value of C-store Scan Data Today
C-store scan data is also incredibly valuable today. Skupos gives retailers, distributors, and brands real-time insights into sales and product velocity. Since launching in 2016, the company now tracks and analyzes over 2 billion c-store transactions per year for over 2,000 customers.
We’re proud to partner with Jake, Mike, Linh, and the rest of the Skupos team to help build the future of retail.
Disclaimer: We actively write about the themes in which we invest or may invest: virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and robotics. From time to time, we may write about companies that are in our portfolio. As managers of the portfolio, we may earn carried interest, management fees or other compensation from such portfolio. Content on this site including opinions on specific themes in technology, market estimates, and estimates and commentary regarding publicly traded or private companies is not intended for use in making any investment decisions and provided solely for informational purposes. We hold no obligation to update any of our projections and the content on this site should not be relied upon. We express no warranties about any estimates or opinions we make.