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Operations
17 November 2022
TAGS Commerce lets shoppers buy an item wherever they see it
The startup's Tags turn any physical or digital media into a checkout point.

A TAGS checkout page. (Courtesy photo)
Deciding to buy an item and completing a transaction are closely related steps in the ecommerce journey, but there can be a lot of distance between them.
Great marketing and merchandising can help put a sale within reach, but the path to “Buy” is often hampered with roadblocks like second-guessing, second opinions and even multistep checkouts.
Often, items go unsold. Shopping cart abandonment on mobile devices rose to 85% in 2021, according to the Baymard Institute. For brands and retailers, one way to address this may be to grow traffic, as a larger number of visitors will increase the likelihood of more checkout completions. But the cost to get more people in the door is going up, as US ad spending per person is expected to rise 8% this year, according to Insider Intelligence.
“Brands need a more organic solution that doesn’t require expensive ad spend,” said Daniel Abas.
As a five-time founder with two exits, Abas turned this gap into a product at the heart of a new company.
Called TAGS Commerce, the Los Angeles-based startup’s innovation addresses the issue of cart abandonment at the checkout process level.
The company’s technology enables brands and retailers to place a Tag on an item in any digital or physical media that provides a way for customers to check out instantly. Once the Tag is activated through a click or a scan, the shopper is taken to a pre-loaded shopping cart, where they can complete checkout with a single tap.
To date, the company is seeing 64% order conversion rate through its work with brands and retailers such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Foot Locker, Roc Nation, Parade and Young & Reckless, as well as influencers Kall Me Kris, Guap and others.
This momentum is propelling TAGS into a more public launch. It recently emerged from stealth mode with a rebrand from Boost Commerce, and is in the process of closing its seed round. So far, it has raised $3.5 million from investors including XRC Labs, Gaingels, Not Boring, Tiny Capital, Vibe Capital and Unpopular Ventures.
It arrives as commerce is extending from marketplaces and stores into more channels. More digitally native brands are opening brick-and-mortar retail stores, while short-form video and livestreaming are making media shoppable and growing social commerce. Crossover between physical and digital experiences is also becoming more prevalent as a result of QR codes and early exploration of the metaverse.
With experience building virtual assistant pioneer Red Butler and early digital marketing agency GHOST, Abas saw how this shift will require infrastructure to create efficiency and allow the different experiences to work together. That’s not yet fully in place, and Abas said a return to focusing on the customer is required to get there.
“Ecommerce, for the most part, is a grumpy old Frankenstein, made up of foreign body parts that have been forced to work together,” Abas said. “Most sellers’ inertia prevents them from adopting new technology and thinking critically to win unrecognized customers. Ironically, we built TAGS by placing the buyer in the center of our story. If you can optimize the buyer’s experience, you win the seller by default.”
With evolution can come improvement. So as TAGS is building technology for a new generation of distributed commerce, it is not only aiming to provide the checkout points that will be an important tool to allow transactions to happen. It is also working to address the cart abandonment rates that became such a big issue in the current era by embedding checkout at the point where purchase intent is highest.
One way it’s doing so is by ensuring that Tags are available across the different types of media where commerce is taking place. The company offers the following formats:
- QR Tags can be used for instant purchasing at physical locations, products or print materials, like magazines or brochures.
- Link Tags can be used on social media as link stickers or as bio links.
- Text Tags can be embedded in live shopping, podcasts and other types of conversational commerce.
- Tap Tags are designed for engagement on websites, AR, VR or the metaverse.
- Creators and influencers can generate Tags for products and share them to earn commissions. Or, creators can curate products and add them to “Dropshop” pages for direct buying.
A TAGS Dropshop for creators. (Courtesy photo)
The range allows brands and retailers to offer the same checkout across the breadth of formats where they have a presence. It’s also evident that mobile checkout can be a mechanism to evolve the shopping experience as a whole. In physical retail, the process of checkout can be made simpler by scanning a QR code at the rack, instead of taking it to the register.
Yet there are other opportunities to serve customers, as well. TAGS allows items to be saved for later, so shoppers can start an order in-store and finish it from somewhere else. Brands and retailers can also add recommended items to the checkout page, providing a way to potentially increase average order value. Post-purchase, they can provide access to more flexibility by adding in-store pickup or shipping options for an item. Along with offering a way to pay, it’s a jumping off point for new opportunities to serve the customer.
“TAGS is pioneering a new category in the future of commerce,” said Al Sambar, general partner at retail tech and consumer goods accelerator XRC Labs. “We welcomed them into our Opportunity Fund earlier this year, and we believe they’re the missing link between advertising spend and monetization for retailers and brands.”Want to know how to spend your next $1?
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Brand News
21 February
New funding for Lemon Perfect, Moët Hennessy acquires rosé
Dealboard has news on funding for ecommerce finance and subscription tech.
Dejounte Murray signed on with Lemon Water. (Courtesy photo)
Welcome to Dealboard. In this weekly feature, The Current is providing a look at the mergers, acquisitions and venture capital deals making waves in ecommerce, CPG and retail.
This week, a hydration brand raised its second $30+ million round in a year, and there’s new funding for seaweed materials and subscription tech. Plus, Gorilla Glue sells a home goods maker, and Moët Hennessy adds luxury rosé.
Funding
Lemon Perfect, the Altanta-based hydration brand, raised $36.8 million in a new funding round. Goat Rodeo Capital Management led the round, Forbes reported. Goat Rodeo Managing Partner Carlton Fowler and Arby’s CMO Rita Patel will join the company’s board. The new funding comes less than a year after the lemon water maker raised $31 million in a Series A round that was backed by Beyonce. Alongside the funding news, the company also laced up a new endorsement deal with NBA star Dejounte Murray.
Loliware, a materials tech company that makes products using seaweed, raised $6 million in a pre-Series A round. The financing includes investment from L Catterton, CityRock Venture Partners, Alumni Ventures Group, Geekdom Fund, Ehukai Investments, 5 Pillars Capital, Kilara Capital founder Ben Krasnostein, Clay Rockefeller, Kiss the Ground cofounder Ryland Engelhart, Nutiva founder John Roulac and Blue Bottle Coffee founder Bryan Meehan,
Smartrr, which provides subscription technology for Shopify brands, raised $10 million in a Series A funding round. The financing was led by Canvas Ventures, with participation from Expa and Nyca. The company’s software allows Shopify brands to offer customizable subscriptions, bundles, loyalty programs and rewards. “While Smartrr got its start in subscription management, we really see them as a leader in an emerging ‘post-purchase operating system’ for growing digital brands,” said Canvas’ Harrison Lieberfarb.
Highbeam, which provides financial insights for ecommerce brands, raised $10 million in debt from TriplePoint, TechCrunch reported. Founded by Microsoft and Shopify alums, the company will use the funding to expand its digital products, which include banking and cashflow insights.
Caliray, a beauty brand from Urban Decay founder Wende Zomnir, raised funding from early stage beauty and wellness-focused VC firm True Beauty Ventures, WWD reported. The funding will help the company expand an existing partnership with Sephora.
M&A
Moët Hennessy acquired Château Minuty, a luxury rosé producer based at an estate in the Saint-Tropez peninsula in France. With the deal, previous owners The Matton family will continue to run the estate, and operate the company. Under Moët Hennessy, the company will be able to meet export demand for the wine internationally. Terms were not disclosed.
Sapadilla, which makes environmentally conscious and naturally scented home products, was acquired from Gorilla Glue by Cincy Brands, a technology company founded by former Procter & Gamble executives that acquires “better-for-you” brands. Vancouver-based Sapadilla makes a line of hand soaps, dish soaps and cleaners that use essential oil blends and biodegradable ingredients. The brand sells through its direct-to-consumer website and Amazon. Terms were not disclosed.
Away, the DTC luggage brand, is exploring a potential sale of the company, according to reporting from Bloomberg. Valued at $1.45 billion, Away was among a generation of digitally native brands that combined product acumen, millennial-friendly design appeal and marketing prowess to achieve fast growth over the last decade. After demand cratered during the pandemic, the brand rebounded as travel returned and explored an IPO in 2021. Now, it is working to solicit potential buyers, as well as other strategic options.
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