Retailigence bags $6.3M for online-to-offline marketing

The company sees triple digit revenue growth in Q4 2012

While e-commerce is a growing industry, the fact remains that the vast majority of U.S. retail purchases are still made in brick-and-mortar shops—a full 90%, to be exact. But of those in-store purchases, 50% are driven by the Web. Because people will always shop in brick-and-mortar stores to some extent, online to offline marketing (O2O) will always be a critical driver of sales.

One such O2O company, Retailigence, announced Tuesday that it has raised $6.3 million in Series B funding from existing investors DFJ, Quest, and Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, as well as new investors Telenav and OPT.

The company uses inventory data obtained directly from retailers to create Web and mobile ads and alerts that drive sales to local brick-and-mortar stores. For example, a retailer working with Retailigence can send an alert to a customer when a particular item is in stock and indicate where to find it.

Some 75% of consumer spending in the U.S. occurs within 15 miles of the average person’s home, and Forrester estimates that by 2016, more than half of the $3.5 trillion spent in retail purchases in the U.S. will be influenced by the Web. Retailigence is targeting this market to guide shoppers to the products they want.

But why focus on in-store retail when e-commerce sales are growing at a double-digit rate each year? Last year, consumers spent $186.2 billion online in 2012, an increase of 14% over 2011. True: e-commerce only accounts for about 10% of total retail dollars spent in the U.S., but with the e-commerce industry growing at such a rapid clip that it’s going to account for a larger share of retail spending in the near future.

“The addressable market of what Retailigence does is huge. But more importantly, we are filling a very important gap on products and locations, and we have seen rapidly growing demand for our solutions from retailers and brands,” Retailigence founder and CEO Jeremy Geiger tells me.

The company boasts some solid results. Brands who work with Retailigence see an improvement in traditional and ROI-oriented digital ad performance by an average of 50%, while retailers see an increase in top-line revenue by 10%.

Retailigence currently works with retailers such as Home Depot, Nordstrom, and Best Buy, as well as brands in fashion, consumer electronics, and CPG categories. The company saw triple digit revenue growth in Q4 2012. 

Image source: eccemedia.com