Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Glass-Media founder and CEO Daniel Black thinks the brick-and-mortar retailer is here to stay. And when foot traffic returns, he sees his company’s tech as a way to drive the traffic into their stores.
The Dallas-based digital display and content platform startup landed a strategic growth round to extend its runway as it expands its portfolio of offerings and deploys new technology ahead of a planned raise later this year, Black said. He declined to disclose how much the round was for but said it was more than $500,000.
“We just decided that right now, with the retail recovery, it made more sense for us to raise a smaller round,” Black told NTX Inno. “Right now, I think most retailers are looking at what investments they’re going to make in customer experience for their new store layouts and they don’t really know what budgets are like today.”
Previous backers of the company include local early-stage VC firm RevTech Ventures and the Houston Angel Network.
In addition to the new funding, Black said Glass-Media was also in the process of moving its offices to the West Village area of Uptown.
“There’s really a wide array of solutions we’re working on but I think the most fascinating thing is everyone is just picking up on the evolution of the brand-customer relationship,” Black said.
Even with the pandemic, Black said Glass-Media has been working with 30 to 40 different retailers in the area using the company’s proprietary liquid-crystal projection film that creates digital and engaging storefronts. Since its launch in 2015, the company has worked with big-name brands, including Fossil, 7-Eleven, Levi’s, and McDonald’s.
“We’re being approach almost on a weekly basis by different strategic partners,” Black said. “It’s helped us push the boundary of what our existing products do because a lot of the interesting use cases we’re getting now are ones that partners are actually bringing to us.”
However, with social distancing measures limiting foot traffic in stores and with many retailers considering the need for large floor plans, Glass-Media has been rolling out new solutions. In addition to things like digital wallpaper and digitized mannequin displays, the company has been working with clients, especially in the grocery, convenience store and liquor store space, to build customized, hyper-modular solutions.
Black also said the company has been working on displays the are 4G- and battery-powered, and enabled with touchless computer vision-activated technology, allowing them to be remotely controlled and easily moved, if a store wants to rearrange or is closing a specific location.
“Everything we’re doing right now is trying to make it more seamless and much easier to deploy and move,” Black said. “Historically speaking, companies like mine were approached to do things that were very cool, cutting-edge. The reason brands came to us for those kinds of solutions is they didn’t really care about the notion of return on investment, they wanted something big, they wanted something bold, they wanted something in flagship stores where they know the traffic already is. Now, there’s been a huge focus on us and the part of our clients to kill either two or three birds with one stone.”
Black said that for a variety of reasons – whether it's wanting a personal touch or whether it’s to test before they buy – physical brick-and-mortar retail will survive the pandemic, even with more shoppers moving to e-commerce. As shoppers do return, he said having displays that can be eye-grabbing and emotionally captivating are going to be key to connecting with customers and bringing them into the store.
“I think it’s going to be really important for brands to double down on the reasons why a consumer is going to drive to North Park Mall and go to their store,” Black said. “Online is saturated, it’s very hard to get in front of the consumer. It’s still not easy in the physical world. You can’t just have the same TV thrown in your storefront window because you look the same as your neighbor and content is king and content is hard.
“Anything we can do to tell a more impactful story, to make a display more engaging, more captivating and more memorable or even inspiring, I think that’s the reason brands are going to succeed in the offline sector. More than the wow factor, it’s the emotional connection.”
Looking ahead, Black said Glass-Media’s focus will be on building out its technology and designing custom solutions. With the funding, the four-person company will be growing out its business development team. And since, the company has many connections in the retail industry that have found themselves without a job due to the pandemic, it has been hiring some on in consulting roles for different projects.
In addition to plans to grow, Glass-Media is also looking to raise a new round between $2 million to $3.5 million, Black said.
“I think it’s really interesting what’s happening in the retail sector, and I’m actually really bullish on it. A lot of people are like, “Is retail going to survive,” Black said. “Obviously, it’s going to survive, it’s just going to be a little bit different.”
