42. Dropit

Founder: Karen Cabili
Founded: September 2016
Website: www.dropit.shop

Love shopping but hate carrying bags around with you?

Dropit is the solution you probably didn’t know existed – but you’re going to wish you did now.

Founded by Karen Cabili, Tech Pitch-featured Dropit is the hands-free shopping experience that allows consumers to shop without the hassle of worrying about what to do with their bags.

Cabili was inspired to start the business after indulging in a spot of retail therapy in New York in 2014. She found herself laden with bags but, having not yet perused all the shops, wanted a means to be able to continue on.

Acting as a network between consumers, retailers, their partners and courier providers, Dropit allows a customer to drop unlimited bags in any of its partner stores and then have them delivered to their home, office or hotel at a time that suits for a £10-day pass.

For retailers, Dropit can be used to monitor operations and analyse shopping behaviour to inform more relevant and targeted marketing campaigns and find new segments for growth and expansion.

As well as raking in revenue from consumers who buy day passes, it captures business-to-business (B2B) revenue from retailers who purchase them on behalf of customers.

Cabili says that the platform has been built as a “plug-and-play” solution, meaning it can be easily rolled out to most of the major shopping districts across London.

More than 100 retailers have already signed up including big names like Marks & Spencer, Gap, Uniqlo, Adidas, Disney, Lululemon, Paul Smith, Hunter and London’s premier shopping institution; Liberty.

At its core, Cabili wants her business to champion the old-school ‘Mr Selfridge’-style of customer service in a bid to ensure one of the world’s “oldest and most wonderful industries is around for many years to come”.