Lafayette Plug and Play: Enhancing Start-Up Incubation Programs
For their 5th session, Galeries Lafayette are making improvements to their start-up incubator through the addition of two customised assistance programs. This session will be stressing topics such as transactional data exploitation, seamless payments and chatbot enhancements.
This structure based on an open innovation approach results from a partnership between Galeries Lafayette and Plug and Play incubator. It is meant to assist retail start-ups through their development process. Innovative digital solutions are also provided for partner retailers by way of addressing specific issues.
Two hundred applications were submitted for this session, including 12 French start-ups. Two of them focus on bank data analytics: Joko implements a loyalty program requiring no card or bank account and automatically rewards customers based on their transactional data. Another FrenchTech called Oyst proposes a free payment solution for merchants, and a one-click payment solution similar to Amazon’s service.
The first tailor-made Lafayette Plug and Play program Early Track is intended for start-ups who already built a structured and approved offer for businesses, helping them increase their customer bases. The second program called Late Track is meant for more mature start-ups seeking to optimise their business plan.
Comments – Creating networks for the future of retail
This initiative stresses the group’s strategy and their partners’ strategy to secure a competitive edge as ambassadors of retail innovation: predictive analysis, customer experience, theft prevention, etc. The incubator also confirmed they signed new partners, including Camaïeu (which relies on this structure to keep an eye on a promising start-up ecosystem). For Lafayette Plug and Play, the idea is to speed up market launches for solutions meeting partner companies’ short and medium-term challenges.
Officials from the program and their partners may choose the projects they deem most interesting. These start-ups are hoping to attract these brands. Place 2 Swap, for instance, now works with Galeries Lafayette to enter the market for second-hand sales.