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Will you shape the future of retail?

Retail Innovation Discovery is a worldwide startup search facilitated by one of the most notable fashion retail conglomerates in the world. This search is the next step in efforts to merge unparalleled large scale efficiencies with the technology of the new age and those who create it. Startups will have the chance to develop and test their products at scale, grow their network within the industry, and potentially secure funding and partnership.

Applications are now open for Customer Experience of the New Decade and Wildcard.

Applications are now closed.

Find out more

Who We Are

We are a global vertically integrated specialty retailer operating more than 2,900 company-owned specialty stores in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Greater China.

Our world-renowned brands are known for their iconic lines of lingerie, personal care, beauty products, and accessories. Within our family of companies, we also operate a global supply chain organization and information technology function that provides the best in innovative, end-to-end solutions to support each brand. 

In addition, the brands are also sold in more than 700 franchised locations worldwide and available online through a robust, fully integrated and supported direct business.

Our Brand Portfolio

  • Home & Body Fragrance Brand
  • Women’s Lingerie Brand
  • Collegiate Lifestyle Brand
  • End-to-End Support Services Organization

Home & Body Fragrance Brand

As one of the world’s leading speciality retailers of fashion fragrance for both body and home, this brand offers customers exclusive access to the world’s most affordable luxuries in ultra-pampering products, world-class fragrances and the perfect gifts for every occasion. Featuring hundreds of exclusive fragrances and product lines, this brand boasts the #1 selling collections in the U.S. for body lotion and body cream, body wash, hand soap and fine fragrance mist, as well as the world’s best 3-wick candle. For nearly 30 years, customers have looked to this brand for quality, on-trend products and the newest, freshest fragrances.

Women’s Lingerie Brand

An iconic lingerie brand featuring a wide assortment of women’s lingerie, sleepwear, prestige fragrance and body care, accessories and athletic and lounge wear.

Collegiate Lifestyle Brand

A collegiate lifestyle brand that celebrates and supports the power of femininity, individuality and being comfortable in your own skin. Sometimes cheeky, always fun and absolutely comfy, the product range includes lounge wear, knit tops, bras, panties, active wear, accessories, beauty, and more, treating customers to the delightful scented personal care products, including soaps, lotions, fragrance mists and sanitizers as well as home fragrance products and accessories.

End-to-End Support Services Organization

Our brand portfolio also includes a global function that provides the best in innovative, end-to-end solutions that help to “make, move and enable” our world-renowned brands. The company has more than 40 years of experience in global production, sourcing and logistics, and is known worldwide as a premier supply chain organization with a reputation for innovation, speed, efficiency and quality. 

Why Are We Doing This?

We all know that retail is changing at a rapid rate every single day. We realize that we must work hard to stay in-touch – we cannot continue to follow others towards the future of the retail industry, it is time that we take an active role in creating it. We not only need to catch up to where our customers’ expectations are now, but we must engrain them and their viewpoints into our processes for the future.

We have been gradually shifting our mentality. By partnering with the right startups, our goal is to go from being disrupted to being disruptive. Three years ago we started engaging with startups focused in one region of the world. Through trial and error, we have put systems in place that create an agile environment within our large corporation. We can not only open our doors to startups, but we can quickly test, validate, and successfully partner in ways that benefit both parties. We are ready to expand these systems within the company, instead of just a small team working with startups,  the broader organization will be involved.

So now, with Retail Innovation Discovery, we are looking to get more intentional when it comes to the startups we work with. We are appealing directly to startups, to you, to help us solve some of the biggest issues that keep us up at night.

Benefit to startups.

Invaluable opportunities to grow your network and engage the right people through our deep and broad retail connections.

The opportunity to present your business to the leaders of teams from each aspect and function of our business.

Exposure to decades of knowledge that only a few vertically integrated specialty retailers in the world have.

The chance to test your product with our teams and iterate upon the outcomes to further validate your concept.

A chance at partnership to develop your idea at scale or secure funding.

Categories

Applications will close on Wednesday, June 17th at 8:00am (EST)

Customer Experience of the New Decade

Customer experience is one of the most important factors when consumers choose their brands, but their expectations are constantly evolving. By providing more meaningful experiences and added utility to customers, we will be able to engage them in ways we never have before. We don’t just want to be another brand to our customers, we want them to feel excited and empowered in every interaction they have with us.

Apply Now

Areas of interest:

  • Transcending MediumsAs the lines between real-life and online are becoming increasingly blurred, we need solutions that will create synergy between our brands’ physical and digital experience.
  • Future StoreWe are looking to create the brick and mortar experience of the future with technology and experiences that will make our customer want to come in-store.
  • Brand Unification & GraduationOur brands are increasingly relevant to our customers during different phases of their lives, we are interested in solutions that would help us seamlessly graduate our customers from one brand to the next.
  • Loyalty ProgramsWe are looking for the most innovative and unique ways to not only reward our customers but to add value to their overall experience, even their life.
  • Mapping the True In-Store Customer JourneyWe are on the hunt for technology that will make the interactions we have with customers in-store as data-rich as the interactions we have with them online.
  • Adapting to New Regulatory LandscapesThe international regulatory environment surrounding data privacy is changing and we need innovative solutions that will help us adapt.
Applications will close on Wednesday, June 17th at 8:00am (EST)

COVID-19 Wildcard

Coronavirus has thrown the majority of US corporations into survival and stabilization mode. But once this immediate crisis subsides, what will the new reality look like and how can we be prepared? This pandemic has not only introduced brand new problems that retailers like us couldn’t have imagined in our wildest dreams, but it has forced us into a future we thought we had much more time to prepare for. We are looking for solutions and companies that are responding to the evolving implications of COVID-19.

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Areas of interest:

  • Digital EngagementIn times like this, making online virtual connections with customers more engaging and meaningful is more important than ever.
  • Contactless TechnologyThings like mobile payment, queuing, click and collect, last-mile delivery.
  • SanitationWhat emerging solutions are out there that are helping retail disinfect spaces and products more efficiently?
  • OtherThe world's understanding of this new reality will continue to evolve, and so will our playbook as a retailer. We are open to solutions in any area of COVID-19 response.
  • Social DistancingKeeping our workers and customers safely distant.
Applications will close on Wednesday, June 17th at 8:00am (EST)

Wildcard

We want our brands to entice our customers to experience a whole new world of retail. We know there are startups out there with solutions that could be game-changing for our business, but may not fit into a predetermined box. So, if you have an idea, service, or product that you think could help us, we want to hear from you.

Apply Now

Applications close Thursday, April 23rd at 11:59pm (EST)

Predictive Modeling & Validation

As the saying goes, “If you’re not ahead, you’re behind” — especially when it comes to the retail industry and its many facets. We want to hear from startups that are using emerging technologies like AI and predictive modeling to inform us of future trends and validate key decisions across the business. Essentially, we want to come as close as we possibly can to predicting and optimizing the future.

Applications for Predictive Modeling & Validation are now closed. 

Areas of interest:

  • Trend ForecastingFrom fashion to consumer trends, we need tools that will allow us to know what is ahead of the curve, more quickly than ever before.
  • Emerging GenerationsSolutions that will help us keep up our understanding of newer generations and their core values.
  • Product DevelopmentInnovative solutions that will help our product teams to constantly test and gather feedback throughout their development process.
  • Pricing OptimizationTools that will help improve our margins by predicting the behavior and interaction of the various variables influencing our end prices.
  • Supply Chain SensingThings like adverse weather, public health concerns, and political strife have the potential to greatly impact our supply chain. Technology to better predict supply chain disruptions and proactively respond.
  • Brick & Mortar vs. Online, a Balancing ActAfter taking a big hit, we are seeing brick & mortar stores enter a revival period. We need tools that will help us make more informed decisions about our brick & mortar investment based on consumer preferences in different geographic markets.

Timeline

Our Partner

L Marks is transforming world-leading organisations through integrating pioneering technologies and inspiring an entrepreneurial ethos. Founded with a mission to create purposeful change and with an appreciation that collaboration is the accelerant for authentic transformation, L Marks is the engine powering innovation programmes across various sectors and has launched over 60 initiatives across the UK, Europe, Israel, Asia, and the US.

Working with partners that include BMW, Lloyd’s of London, and Arsenal FC, L Marks has created the UK’s largest network of corporate innovation labs and is now recognised as a leader in business change. L Marks collaboration programmes establish innovation as a key characteristic of their partners’ businesses, driving a dynamic culture and, ultimately, fuelling growth.

Through creating these relationships and experiences, L Marks is achieving rapid transformation across industries, accelerating the businesses of the future and making change happen today.