We founded Retail Zipline to help retailers operate brick-and-mortar stores more efficiently through a streamlined communications infrastructure. Our platform allows employees to prioritize their time and understand how tasks impact the success of the company. It’s a simple idea that helps employees better enjoy their work. A happy and hummin’ workforce creates an atmosphere that customers love to shop in and results in better top-line results for the business. 

2020 was a challenging year, but the chaos also created an opportunity for massive progress. As stores got bombarded with new government regulations and safety measures, it marked the start of a new era for retail operations. Long gone were the days of rigid and slow-moving structures; the retailers that flourished in 2020 needed to be agile, organized, and dependent on crisp and clear store communication. 

Retail Zipline was made for exactly this moment, and we seized it.

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Forged in Fire

Businesses quickly turned to us as a trusted partner, and the stakes couldn’t have been higher. We helped keep doors open, people employed, and staff and customers safe. Retailers also used our platform to reinvent their customer offerings at a moment’s notice, including creating options for customers to order online and pick up at the store. 

And when companies were thrown the ultimate curveball of lockdowns, we were there again, assisting them in bringing back furloughed staff remotely. No matter the situation, we were there to lend a helping hand. We love what we do, and our customers love working with us.

Because Retail Zipline is the perfect solution to help retailers align the fleet and drive compliance alongside flawless store execution, our customer base more than doubled in 2020. We are humbled to be the operations platform for so many leaders in retail. To continue our vision of transforming how retail operates, today my cofounder Jer and I are announcing $30 million in Series B funding from our strategic partners, Fifth Wall, Emergence Capital, Ridge Ventures, Hillsven Capital, Matt Wallach, and Robert J. Fisher. We are also excited to announce that Dan Wenhold, a Partner at Fifth Wall, will join Retail Zipline’s Board of Directors and Matt Wallach will be joining as an advisor.

Doubling Down on Our Vision

The pandemic will end, but the rate of technological change and new forms of shopping and experiences within stores will continue to adapt and accelerate. There is no putting this genie back into the bottle, which means operations will remain under the spotlight. The only companies that will thrive moving forward will be nimble, lean, and recognize the power of investing in their store teams. So we’re doubling down and using our new funding to improve the happiness of as many employees as possible, along with the bottom lines of their employers. To do so, we have three main priorities:

1. Expanding our Retail Zipline team with brilliant and creative people passionate about shaping the working lives of millions.  
2. Meeting customer demand, we’re seeing an increase in inbound interest given the success we’re enabling in our customers. If they’ve got a physical presence and employee operations, we know that we can make them better and the workforce happier. 
3. Innovation, it’s core to our vision, and we’re focused on remaining the best R&D team with a consistent pipeline of new sector-shaping products. 

Looking Ahead

As we look to the future and what it holds for Retail Zipline, we can promise one thing, our partners, their operations, and their workforce’s well-being will always remain top of mind for us. These principles will guide us as we continue expanding our Retail Zipline team and developing new products. We’ll always strive to safeguard the trust and love that we’ve worked so hard to earn from our partners and their storefront employees.

We are hiring across all teams so please check out our careers page, and if you’re a retailer and you’re interested in learning more, please reach out to me directly as we’d love to help you.