Stor.ai partners with Toshiba to provide a white-labelled, SaaS online storefront solution

Tel Aviv-based Stor.ai, which has developed an end-to-end digital commerce solution for grocers, has announced a partnership with Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, the global market share leader in retail store technology. The partnership will facilitate the full offering and integration of stor.ai's platform within the retailer's environment.

Online grocery shopping has grown exponentially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and increased digitization is set to characterize the industry for years to come. Faced with rising consumer demand for digital solutions, retailers require integrated solutions to conduct sales both offline and online. In this context, grocers have seen their operations come under threat from a handful of leading ecommerce providers who increasingly monopolize the industry, taking many parts of the sales flow out of retailers' hands and eroding brands' hard-won identity. Stor.ai equips grocers with the tools to manage their own digital transformation, and its partnership with Toshiba Global Commerce Solution – a global market share leader in retail technology with over 3.25 million POS and self-checkout units installed worldwide – will greatly expedite these changes to be put in motion for their customer base.

"With ecommerce growing at breakneck speeds, retail store integration has often struggled to keep pace with rising use – and retailers increasingly demand integrated online sales solutions to ensure positive retail experiences for customers," said Orlee Tal, CEO, stor.ai. "This partnership strengthens the stor.ai mission, which is to create customer-first commerce, where consumers have one seamless, personalized, digital experience across all platforms. Aligning with Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions will help retailers shift towards front-end and digital transformation in a simple, convenient and user-oriented manner."

Stor.ai, which was founded in 2014 as Self Point, announced in March that it raised $21 million in an extended series A round.

As a Toshiba Global Commerce Solution Partner, stor.ai will provide a white-labelled, SaaS solution (via Microsoft Azure). Toshiba Global Commerce Solution is working with stor.ai and several other partners to create a suite of digital shopping solutions to address retailer and consumer journeys from online order to in-store fulfilment, to pick up or last mile delivery.

"By partnering with stor.ai, Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions can enable an integrated digital shopping experience for our retailers, allowing for an alternative to services such as Instacart," said John Pistone, Executive Director, Solutions Strategy and Business Development, Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions. "Instacart and other third-party solutions are frequently unprofitable to the retailer, control the consumer relationship and customer data, and have the potential to disintermediate the retailer from the equation. This partnership opens the doors for profitable scalability as the industry sees online orders grow."