Westfield owner, Scentre Group, had led a $2.85m investment into a shopping app backed by James Packer, as it looks to ramp up its targeting.
The Sydney-based startup, Booodl, announced today (Tues) that it completed an investment round, which will be used to boost store growth and user acquisition.
Booodl officially went live late last month and aims to help consumers find the physical retail stores that sell the products they want. Already brands such as Nike and JB Hi-Fi have signed on for the service.
It works by asking users to enter items they are hoping to buy and then it uses location services to send users a push notification when they are near a store that has the items on their wish lists in stock.
Booodl already has funding from a number of investors including James Packer, Erica Baxter, Square Peg Capital and Matthew Grounds.
“Our purpose is to create extraordinary places, and connect and enrich communities,” Scentre Group CEO Peter Allen said.
“Enhancing the connection between retailers and shoppers is a strategic objective for our business, and Booodl's technology – which helps shoppers find what they want and allows retailers to be discovered easily – provides a meaningful platform where this can happen.”
Booodl co-founder and CEO George Freney said the new cash injection will help expand on the 15,000 stores across Australia which can be discovered through the app.
“Our mission is to help all stores get found by shoppers who want their products,” Freney said.
“To achieve this we're in the process of building the most comprehensive and intelligent retail store directory out there, down to the category, brand and product level. It's no small technical feat.”
The launch of Booodl follows a Sydney-based pilot program with local retail partners including JB Hi-Fi, Officeworks, Rebel Sport, Nike and Aesop.
During the trial 31,600 products were added to users’ lists, 12,500 reminder notifications were sent to nearby shoppers, and more than 6200 messages were exchanged between stores and customers.
Australian label Aje is one of the app's retail partners and designer Adrian Norris said it is already helping the business to grow in a fragmented retail landscape.
“An online presence is essential for any retail business, but being able to directly connect with customers in your local area is the future of retail,” Norris said.
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