Boxed.com

Boxed.com
Private
Industry Retail
Founded August 2013 (2013-08)
Founders Chieh Huang
Jared Yaman
Christopher Cheung
William Fong
Headquarters New York City, New York
Website boxed.com

Boxed.com is an American online and mobile membership-free wholesale retailer that offers direct delivery of bulk-sized packages via the Boxed app or the website.[1] Boxed product offering has been compared to that of Costco. It is based in New York City and was founded in August 2013[2] by Chieh Huang, Jared Yaman, Christopher Cheung, and William Fong.[1]

Boxed is headquartered in New York City, and has four fulfillment centers around the country: in New Jersey, Georgia, Nevada and Texas, which allow orders to be delivered within two days. The company also has a support office in San Mateo, California.

In 2016, Boxed was backed by $132 million in funding by investors including GGV Capital and DST Global.[2]

History

Boxed launched in August 2013 when grade school friends Chieh Huang, Christopher Cheung, and William Fong, along with Jarad Yaman, came together to build the first mobile app that allows customers to shop wholesale products on-the-go and without paying wholesale club membership fees. The idea came when Huang, at the time a new father living in Manhattan without a car, did not have the same ability to shop at the wholesale clubs as he did while growing up in New Jersey.[3] With their background in mobile gaming, the team created an easy-to-use, intuitive app for iPhone and Android, and several months later, launched the Boxed website at Boxed.com.

The company first started shipping out of Huang’s garage in Edison, New Jersey, before opening their first fulfillment center, also in Edison, in December 2013.

In May 2014, Boxed launched Express, its on-demand grocery delivery service, available in most of New York City, parts of New Jersey, and Boston. Customers can shop bulk sizes of fresh and frozen groceries and choose a delivery date and time.[4]

In January 2017, the Today Show profiled Boxed as the wholesale shopping app for millennials, and highlighted the company’s benefits.[5]

Features

Boxed customers can shop on desktop, via the Boxed iOS app or Android app.

In August 2017 Boxed launched SMART Stockup, a feature that applies machine learning on customer data to predict when they will most likely run low on a particular product. It sends a reminder to customers when they log in, making it easy and convenient to re-purchase what they need.[6]

In tandem with SMART Stockup, Boxed launched Concierge, an autonomous shopping concept that uses the same machine learning to not only predict when a user is running low, but pre-emptively fulfill and send a customer’s product to them without them needing to engage at all. It is currently available only to B2B customers.[7]

Prince & Spring

In June 2015, Boxed launched their premium private brand Prince & Spring, focusing on high quality products and design. The collection includes toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, paper plates, party cups, cutlery, batteries and hand soap, as well as groceries including organic, fair trade coffee, organic coconut oil, olive oil, nuts and trail mixes. Prince & Spring has won three design awards at the Vertex Awards.[8] The brand is sold exclusively through Boxed.

Boxed Hotels

In June 2017, Boxed launched Boxed Hotels, an online hotel booking service available only to Boxed customers that enables them to save up to 45% on thousands of hotels around the world.[9]

CSR

In October 2016, Boxed launched its Rethink Pink campaign to end the upcharge on women’s hygiene products, known as the Pink Tax. Boxed reduced the per unit price to match the male equivalent on items such as razors, deodorant, and body wash, paying the margin.[10]

Boxed also reduced the luxury sales tax on tampons and pads in the 36 states that charge the luxury tax on these feminine hygiene products.

A number of prominent politicians and media outlets have supported Boxed’s Rethink Pink initiative, including New York Senator Chuck Schumer,[11] CNN,[10] Fox News,[12] CBS News,[13] and Entrepreneur.[14]

For Giving Tuesday 2016, Boxed partnered with Unilever to donate women’s body care essentials to shelters around the country - the number one most requested item at women’s shelters.[15]

Company benefits

In May 2015, Huang announced he would personally pay the college tuition of every full-time employees’ children.[16]

In May 2016, the company announced it would pay up to $20,000 towards any full-time employee’s wedding.[5]

Partnerships

Boxed has partnered with brands including American Airlines, United Airlines, and Zulily.

Achievements

In June 2016, Boxed was awarded Emerging E-tailer of The Year by Internet Retailer.[17]

In September 2016, Boxed was named one of the top 100 places to work in NYC by Crain’s.[18]

In October 2016, Forbes named Boxed one of their next billion dollar startups.[19]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Feldman, Amy. "Next Billion-Dollar Startups 2016". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-08-30.
  2. 1 2 CNBC.com, Susan Caminiti, special to (2017-06-07). "Boxed CEO Chieh Huang offers generous employee benefits to keep talent". Retrieved 2017-08-30.
  3. ↑ "What If Your Boss Paid College Tuition? This CEO Does".
  4. ↑ "Boxed.com Enters Fresh Food Delivery".
  5. 1 2 "Boxed app CEO is changing how millennials shop while offering employees generous gifts".
  6. ↑ "No clicks required: Artificial-intelligence is changing how we shop, Boxed CEO says".
  7. ↑ "Boxed is trying to predict when you'll run out of snacks and toilet paper".
  8. ↑ "Vertex Awards IV: Gold Winners".
  9. ↑ "Get Up to 45% off Your Next Hotel Booking with This New Site".
  10. 1 2 "Startup cuts prices on feminine products to protest 'pink tax'".
  11. ↑ "NY-based @BoxedWholesale takes a stand on #PinkTax, says they won't mark up women's products like deodorant, razors".
  12. ↑ "This Company Is Offering Discounts to Fight Sexist Product Pricing".
  13. ↑ "This retailer is striking a blow against the "pink tax"".
  14. ↑ "This Company Is Offering Discounts to Fight Sexist Product Pricing".
  15. ↑ "Boxed.com Partners with Unilever and Women in Need to Support Women's Shelters this Giving Tuesday".
  16. ↑ "What If Your Boss Paid College Tuition? This CEO Does".
  17. ↑ "Boxed Wholesale Wins Emerging E-Retailer of the Year".
  18. ↑ "Crain's unveils the 100 Best Places to Work in New York City in 2016".
  19. ↑ "BOXED: The Next Billion Dollar Startup".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.