Yahoo Finance The start-up helping local retailers tackle Amazon is now in 1% of US stores
Pointy, an Irish start-up that helps local retailers compete with Amazon (AMZN), is now in more than 1% of US stores, the company said on Wednesday.
The start-up’s device, which allows consumers to see what products are available in stores near them, now displays real-time availability information for over 50 million individual items, Pointy said.
Noting that certain retail segments have seen a “particularly high uptake”, Pointy said that 10% of all US pet stores now use its device, as do a similar proportion of toy stores.
Liquor stores, hardware stores, and sports stores have also seen a high uptake in the US, the company said.
Overall, the device is now in use in more than 15,000 independent retailers across the world, Pointy said.
READ MORE: How an Irish startup is helping local retailers tackle Amazon
Retailers plug the device, which costs $899 (£738) in the US, into their existing point-of-sale system. Pointy automatically creates a website for retailers that lists all of the products that they sell.
The service works with point-of-sale systems from new operators such as Clover and Square, and Pointy said on Wednesday that it now supported the Vend, QuickBooks Cloud and IdoSoft systems.
“Local retailers everywhere have the same problem,” said Pointy co-founder Mark Cummins in a statement.
“Consumers are searching on their phones for the products they want to buy, but local retailers aren’t appearing in those searches, and they’re losing business as a result,” he said.
“Pointy makes it easy for local retailers to win back that business by bringing their live inventory online.”
The offering from Pointy, which was founded in 2014, is different from most other solutions, which typically focus on helping retailers sell goods online.
Pointy instead drives consumers to individual stores, and helps local retailers “stand on a level playing field with the e-commerce giants,” the company said.
