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With early adoption from major retailers like TaylorMade, Saucony and Wine Enthusiast, Humankind connects real products experts with online shoppers to deliver personalized, 1:1 shopping experiences via SMS.
INDIANAPOLIS — September 28, 2021 — Humankind, a digital concierge platform for e-commerce brands, is announcing its public launch today. The platform enables retailers to connect their product experts with online shoppers through scalable, 1:1 conversations via SMS.
Launched out of High Alpha, Humankind is led by Los Angeles-based Co-Founder and CEO David Weissman, an experienced e-commerce entrepreneur and former leader at Target, Dermstore and GSI Commerce. With over 22 years of e-commerce experience, Weissman has consulted for some of the world’s leading brands, including Burberry, Ralph Lauren, Adidas, Quicksilver, Beautycounter and Petsmart.
“E-commerce has exploded, but the customer experience has remained formulaic. Despite the changing landscape, shopping online is still a DIY activity for consumers,” said Weissman. “We want to put the customer back into the center of the experience and foster what we call ‘human commerce’, or H-Commerce — highly-personalized, 1:1 experiences with real product experts that are scalable, efficient and extremely profitable for retailers.”
The platform democratizes the concierge experience, provides shoppers hand-selected recommendations from experts and fosters long-term brand relationships. Through SMS, bespoke landing pages crafted for individual shoppers and asynchronous messaging with product experts, the platform provides a new way for consumers to browse and buy online.
“Every e-commerce brand is looking for high-impact solutions to elevate their customer experience,” said High Alpha Partner Kristian Andersen. "Humankind is the first platform that truly puts the customer front and center and provides the level of personalization and attention that today’s shoppers are increasingly demanding.”
Early customers, including major retailers such as Saucony of Wolverine Worldwide, TaylorMade, Olaplex, Wine Enthusiast, Shefit and REN Clean Skincare, use Humankind to elevate and scale their customer experience, grow sales and build long-term, 1:1 relationships with shoppers.
“The industry has been thirsty for an innovative way to bring the in-person shopping experience online for far too long now. While customer service platforms and automated messaging bots serve very meaningful purposes in the consumer journey, ultimately, there are critical moments where people simply prefer to interact with other humans,” said Matt Blonder, President of Global E-Commerce for Wolverine Worldwide. “Humankind’s platform offers a scalable, simple and much-needed solution for this long-standing problem…but above all else, it provides an exceptional shopping experience for our deeply valued consumers. I haven’t been this excited about a new piece of e-commerce technology in quite some time.”
About Humankind
Humankind is a digital concierge platform that connects real product experts from retail brands with online shoppers to deliver personalized 1:1 experiences and drive long-term relationships for customers throughout their entire journey. The platform powers human commerce (H-Commerce) for brands like Saucony, TaylorMade, Olaplex and Shefit.
About High Alpha
High Alpha, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a leading venture studio focused on conceiving, launching and scaling next-generation B2B SaaS companies. For more information visit highalpha.com or follow on Twitter @highalpha.
Media Contact
Humankind
Annie Bogigian Keller
annie@gethumankind.com
317-498-0962
