“When you sell through a marketplace like Amazon and to the same degree Walmart and other wholesale partners, they take on the heavy lifting of demand generation, logistics and all of these things. But in the process of selling through those channels, as a consumer brand, you end up capitulating on the things that are most important in terms of sustainable value creation. You give up control over your data, you give up the direct relationship with the end customer shopper.
The company’s intelligence platform, connecting marketing, operations and merchandising data provides an easy-to-use, no-code environment for users and is designed for retailers of any size or complexity. It has enabled the company to attract retail companies of all sizes, from small, regional brands, to some of the largest ecommerce retailers such as PacSun; FTD Proflowers; Bed, Bath & Beyond; Eddie Bauer; Bala and Rainbow Shops.
Best grew up in Seattle, the son of a Boeing engineer. His family moved to the outskirts of Spokane, Washington at the age of 12 when his father gave up big company life to start his own engineering business. “I observed how hard it was for my dad to start the company. We went from being middle class in Seattle to watching every penny of the family's net worth, which was not high when he started this business, which is still running today as a successful, regional engineering company.