Dive Brief:
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Computer hardware and software retailer Newegg is planning to launch a page on its e-commerce site dedicated to showcasing products financed through Indiegogo crowdfunding campaigns.
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Newegg announced in June 2016 that it would start helping selected entrepreneurs and small businesses that reached their Indiegogo campaign goal to take the next steps from funding to product delivery. Since then, the company has been worked with about 20 individuals and businesses, providing them with guidance on go-to-market strategies, shipping options and sales to help get their products in customers’ hands quickly and efficiently.
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Products that can be purchased through the new portal include $30 virtual reality glasses for a smartphone from a company called Stimuli VR; a $99 tennis racket sensor from QLIPP that helps players analyze their strokes; a windshield-mounted car sensor from CarVi that uses infrared and video data to alert drivers to potentially unsafe conditions.
Dive Insight:
The start of the relationship between Newegg and Indiegogo last June coincided with the crowdfunding site increasing its efforts to help funded entrepreneurs navigate retail opportunities. Newegg’s new landing page (portal? Product showcase?) takes its partner considerably closer to fulfilling than aim, though Indiegogo also has been trying to pursue its own path to e-commerce with its Celery platform for allowing startups to accept orders online.
A retailer aligning with a crowdfunding site to sell products made by startups is not unheard of, as Amazon has worked with Kickstarter to do something very similar. Also, Amazon Launchpad, which sells products from startups, is perhaps another version of what Indiegogo is trying to accomplish for the young businesses that use its platform to raise money.
In a statement announcing the new online showcase, Newegg said that it is mulling support for 100 additional startup products alongside the initial 20 Indiegogo-fed businesses it is working with. That will give the retailer a lengthy catalog of startup products to sell on its site, which should be a positive development for everyone involved.
Ultimately, Newegg is not Amazon in terms of the resources, promotional power and product development skills that it can bring to bear on the behalf of startups. However, this arrangement could give some entrepreneurs exactly the stepping stone they need to reach the ground floor of the market and get more notice.
