Concept:
OrderGroove’s technology is designed to allow retailers to tap the power of convenience to turn new and existing customers into repeat buyers — with the ultimate goal of increasing sales, building customer retention, maximizing lifetime value and slashing customer defection rates.
OrderGroove’s flagship SaaS solution, the RetentionEngine Platform, is designed to allow online retailers to turn any purchase into an ongoing subscription, over which the customer has complete control. Retailers can also allow customers to sign up for clubs to their favorite brands.
OrderGroove aims to encourage one-time purchasers to become repeat, subscription-based customers. For example, a customer may visit filtersfast.com to purchase HEPA air filters. Instead of capturing just a one-time sale, filtersfast.com uses OrderGroove to automatically ask the customer if he would like to sign up for regular deliveries of his specified filter, at no extra charge and perhaps attached to a special incentive, such as 10% off on all items included in the subscription. Another example is a customer who signs up to receive a new dress shirt every month from their favorite apparel brand. In both cases, the customer can participate in a useful, free service that saves time and money, and the retailer “locks in” a customer and for repeat business.
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OrderGroove works with any retail website, large or small. The retailer does not need to install any software, as OrderGroove is a fully-hosted, SaaS solution. OrderGroove works with all shopping carts, e-Commerce platform, backend order, CRM, processing, and shipping software, automatically setting up repeat shipments without the need for any special set-up or maintenance on the part of the retailer.
The OrderGroove solution offers the potential to encourage customers to spend regularly, frequently and with the same retailer. Because customers have complete control over their subscription, they can change the frequency or product mix of their regular orders at any time, or cancel the subscription online.
By focusing on retention and sustained customer value, the OrderGroove solution is designed to help retailers boost revenues and save costs — for a fraction of the billions they spend on customer acquisition (search, social, mobile) each year. In addition, retailers can leverage OrderGroove’s robust dashboard and aggregate intelligence to get critical insights into customer behavior and real-time data on the impact of their continuity programs.
Team:
Founded in 2008, OrderGroove is headquartered in New York City. Founder and CEO Greg Alvo started the company after noticing a surprising trend in the e-commerce industry: while retailers spent billions to acquire customers, they were doing little to keep them! Retailers were pouring a lot of money into acquisition and conversion tactics. But, at the same time, these same retailers put very little focus on the opposite end – retention and maximizing the lifetime value of a customer.
Greg left his job at Liquidation.com and assembled an experienced team of retail and technology experts to start OrderGroove. VP of Sales and Services, Scott Simonelli helped start Optimost, which was the first company to bring optimization solutions to the market in 2002 for lead e-Commerce sites including Barnes & Noble and Walmart. VP of Engineering, Jorge Escobar, previously served as ExpoTV’s Director of Technology, where he built a custom-built media management system to manage a library of user-generated videos for brands including Sears, Proctor and Gamble and LG. VP of Marketing and Optimization, Eric Stucki, was previously Director of Marketing & Creative Strategy at Webloyalty.
The OrderGroove Board of Advisors has executives from the leading e-commerce companies, including Mark Wachen, Founder and CEO of Optimost; Julie Constantin, an early investor in Bazaarvoice and Coremetrics; Paul Miller, Director of Demandware, former Director of Shop.org and former SVP of e-commerce at Sears. OrderGroove has raised a major investment round led by Members of investment group TIGER 21, other early-stage angel investors, and venture capitalists.
Market Relevance:
Retailers spend billions chasing customers who slip away after a single purchase. Recent data from the ChannelAdvisors 2010 Consumer Shopping Habits Survey indicates that brand loyalty is in sharp decline, with low prices and free shipping acting as the #1 and #2 influencers on purchase decisions this holiday. Two out of three consumers stated that they would purchase an identical product from an unknown website if it offered a better value.
OrderGroove’s subscription platform taps convenience to retain customers, increase lifetime value, and ensure that customers don’t defect last minute to a competitor who might be offering a better promotion. Online subscription programs have evolved with industry leaders such as Amazon.com to become more broadly applicable to various types of retailers and deliver better value to retailers and consumers alike.
Shoppers today are fickle, value-driven, and have real-time search at their fingertips to find the best deals. But consumers are also busier than ever before and appreciate convenience. As a retailer, the only way to compete in today’s highly competitive market is to focus less on acquiring one-off customers, and instead allowing your customers to retain themselves through convenience.
Delivery:
OrderGroove’s RetentionEngine Platform is a SaaS-based platform that revolutionizes continuity programs, while delivering retailers the revenue lifts they need. On average, retailers using OrderGroove are able to drive 3x more purchases annually with subscriptions versus standard orders, according to the company.
The RetentionEngine Subscription Platform is designed to drive continuity by converting buyers into subscribers, while the Continuity Optimization and Analytics leverages robust dashboard and aggregate intelligence to drive customer behavior and provide real-time data on impact of continuity programs.
OrderGroove’s Point of Sale Applications are designed to maximize lifetime value with impulse buy tools.
OrderGroove is designed to allow retailers to promote, test and optimize subscriptions anywhere on their site, such as adding a simple call-to-action on a product order page that promotes a subscription option. All subscription offers are iteratively tested to deliver optimal results. The entire experience is seamless to consumers — who interact solely with the retailer’s own site, shopping cart and brand — and all subscription information (next delivery date, frequency, customer information) is immediately accessible through a client branded “My Subscriptions” tab in the retailer’s own account page. The content, hosted by OrderGroove, gives clear options for changing a delivery schedule, including accelerating orders, skipping orders or opting out of a subscription. OrderGroove also sends email notifications for key events such as subscriptions started, order reminders, subscriptions canceled and items added to upcoming order.
Proof Points:
The OrderGroove solution is designed to provide a flexible option for retailers across a wide variety of verticals, including apparel, beauty, groceries, office supplies, health and wellness, and sporting goods — providing technology for sectors where subscriptions work particularly well. OrderGroove’s early clients include Sally Beauty Supply, filtersfast.com, gDiapers, Teavana and ReStockIt.com. Other retailers are currently testing the RetentionEngine Platform.
