|
|
|
|
|
|
🦄 Unicorner Startup of the Week: Olive
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
✍️ Notes From The Editors
Hello! Hope your weekend went well. We're excited to announce that we've been nominated for best startup newsletter in the 2021 SPACS held by Intern From Home. It would really mean a lot to us if you took a short moment to vote for Unicorner (really, it only takes a few seconds).
If you like Unicorner, forward this email to a friend who would enjoy our content! If you're just seeing this email now, subscribe here.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
E-commerce for the environmentalist
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
Olive is an environmentally conscious e-commerce delivery provider that works with the US’s largest fashion e-retailers to redirect all purchased goods from participating retailers to their consolidation+recycling hubs, where items are removed from their cardboard packaging and placed into what Olive calls “two-way shippers.” The two-way shipper (picture a large, insulated, reusable lunchbox) is then dispatched to and returned from the customer’s home through local mail carriers, eliminating the need for a post office drop-off.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
💰 Business Model
Olive generates revenue by charging retailers a commission on all sales; commission fees average out to around 10%. Olive’s service is completely free to end customers.
📈 Traction and Fundraising
-
Raised Series A in December 2020 with investors like SignalFire, Primary Venture Partners, and more
-
Established partnerships with 100+ online fashion retailers including Adidas, Michael Kors, Everlane, and Saks Fifth Avenue
-
Diversifying into beauty retailers with the introduction of Goop to the Olive platform
-
Currently available to one-third of the US population
👫 Founder(s)
-
Nate Faust, CEO: Previously SVP, Head of US eCommerce Supply Chain and Logistics @ Walmart, Co-Founder and COO @ Jet.com, Operating Partner @ Primary Venture Partners, MBA @ Harvard Business School, Operations, Finance BSE @ Princeton
🔮 Our Analysis
Olive has its sights set on the e-commerce supply chain, aiming to offer a sustainable alternative to the high-waste packaging and high-volume delivery e-commerce experience Amazon has normalized. Shopping with Olive means customers wait longer for online purchases to arrive, as routing them to the consolidation+recycling hubs is clearly a detour, but that’s why Olive is beginning its efforts in the Fashion and Accessories vertical. Fashion has the highest return rates—it’s common to buy the same item in multiple sizes with the intent of only ever keeping one—and there isn’t immediacy to the deliveries. According to Olive’s founder, half of the carbon emissions related to each order come from the last-mile delivery. Per the company’s estimates, consolidating two packages reduces the carbon footprint by 30%. That’s why they’re betting customers are willing to wait a few extra days to receive all their order items in a single, reusable tote, as opposed to them all being shipped in separate packages and delivered on multiple trips. Not entirely dependent on shopper altruism, Olive is hoping the return convenience factor their two-way shippers offer entices users to opt in to the service. Returns are as simple as flipping the shipping label on the tote and leaving it on your doorstep.
📚 Further Reading
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Made with 💜 by the Unicorner Team 🦄
Comments? Just reply to this email!
|
| |
|
|
| |
🎁 Bonus Content!
Many of us have started an online course before and never finished. It’s hard to stay accountable with no external support. Enlight is building cohort-based courses for learning technical skills important for product managers and entrepreneurs such as programming and design prototyping. If you're interested in learning more, check out their web dev and prototyping courses. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
This email was sent to
You received this email because you signed up with Unicorner.
|
| |
|
|
|
