Over the last 20 years, retail companies have used the same legacy systems to manage forecasting and planning. This moved up a small notch with AI/ML, but with inventory still inaccurate 20-30% of the time. That’s billions in lost sales, costs and waste.
Over the same period, shoppers have been led to make impulsive purchases fuelled by credit. People say this is human behaviour, but the reality is, it’s a preference of the financial system – more purchases, more fees, more profit. And it worked. Online shoppers buy US$10M in retail products every minute.
Times are changing. Retailers are struggling to manage growing volatility in demand with existing tools and face increasing cost and cashflow pressures as a recession looms. While shoppers want to save money and build healthier spending habits.
This is where Flare enters the US$5T e-commerce market. Flare integrates on retailer websites, enabling shoppers to order in advance in exchange for a discount – directly at checkout. Giving retailers the visibility they need to optimise inventory, profits and cashflow.
Flare is already live with 2 pilot customers, processing 20-30% of orders and generating revenue. In the last 2 weeks, Flare customers have expanded their offering from 40 to 80 products. One customer even told the team that they want Flare processing 70% of GMV. They have a strong pipeline of SME and large retailers across product verticals. This fundraise will enable them to hire, invest in product development and scale.
