Startup supermarket offers market research insight

A German company will give startups a brick-and-mortar presence while also providing market research insights.

When startups are looking to launch physical products to markets there are a variety of routes to take, none of which guarantees success. Germany-based KaDeTe is aiming to give these startups an opportunity to showcase their products in a brick-and-mortar space.

KaDeTe (or Kaufhaus de Testen, which roughly translates to ‘testing department store’) will offer shelf space to 150 startup retailers in the bustling Wilmersdorfer Arcaden in Berlin as a testing ground for products. Startups often rely on online interest to generate crowdfunding revenue or else they may present their products at markets. With KaDeTe their products will be exposed to the representative cross-section of consumers that frequent the mall, who can try and taste products. KaDeTe will collaborate with professionals in department store design and public relations from the Berlin Institute for Innovation Research, to record how customers interact with products and rate them. Real-world market research can be used to determine ideal product placement within stores and how fair pricing is compared to customer perception. This can maximize future sales potential, and also offer advice on marketing strategies and media exposure.

To gain a spot at the KaDeTe stall, businesses will pitch their product and pay a small fee, after which each product will be granted a six-month period on display, including time spent on special promotional stands. Alongside the tangible exposure and analytics benefits, KaDeTe also hope to create a Startup community; a networking incubator for new businesses to exchange ideas and experiences with other like-minded entrepreneurs. KaDeTe, which was recently awarded funding from ProSiebenSat.1 Accelerator, will open in March (having received over two hundred applications from startups) with plans to open more stores in Germany and internationally.

The KaDeTe concept follows from a previous spotting we covered, Singapore-based ‘We The People’, a brick-and-mortar store that sells products that exclusively started life via Kickstarter crowdfunding. How else can the gap between physical and online marketplaces be bridged?