Marketplaces are notoriously hard to build. This episode features Jaclyn Grauman, CEO of The Verticale, a social shopping platform that enables customers to discover brands that align with their values. Jaclyn discusses her journey building a DTC marketplace that is focused on brand discovery, the challenges of connecting customers to brands, and the pivots along the way.
- Using community and word of mouth as a tool to build customer acquisition
- Partnering with brands in a different way versus typical B2C marketplaces
- Utilizing customer and creator feedback as a tool to iterate the platform
- Why dropshipping didn’t fit with their model
- Gaining customer engagement and sharing brand stories through video
- Building a marketplace that is optimized for the consumer
- Fundraising for a marketplace (spoiler: it’s not easy!)
- Focusing on one consumer segment and why that’s critical
Music by Eino Toivanen, kongano.com
Edited by Deven Shah
Learn more at Retail X Series and follow @retailxseries on Twitter and Instagram.
To submit a pitch or to find out more about Sapna Shah, check out Red Giraffe Advisors.
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