Smart Industry 2/2018

Smart Business Twyst
Twyst
Smart
Bag
This tiny company is
changing brick-andmortar
retail by ending
checkout lines and
capturing customers’
in-store behavior.
n By Mark McCoy
Imagine walking into your favorite
store, getting a special offer
just for you, choosing your items,
and then walking out. No line, no
checkout. Just a wireless, effortless,
and secure transaction that automatically
charges you for the items
in your bag when you leave a store.
That’s the not-so-distant future
of shopping, and it’s being implemented
right now by innovators like
Kevin Schaff, founder and CEO of IoT
start-up Twyst.
Here’s how it works. Upon entering,
you’re greeted with a push notification
on your smartphone asking if
you’d like to try the Twyst Smart Bag.
The bag is equipped with Bluetooth
and by simply touching your phone
to the bag, you’ll receive a prompt to
pair the devices. Now your in-store
and digital shopping experiences are
linked, and all you have to do is shop.
That’s how Twyst is transforming
brick-and-mortar retail.
In 2015, Schaff, drawing on his background
in data analytics, had an idea –
eliminate points of friction in retail, primarily
the checkout line, and capture
in-store behavior to turn it into actionable
data. Then he met Avnet business
development manager Eric Leahy and
discovered the Avnet Innovation Lab
located at Arizona State University.
An idea and the team
to make it real
Leahy was impressed with Schaff’s
ideas. Avnet’s Innovation Lab was
conceived to help aspiring entrepreneurs,
like Schaff, to advance their
ideas and bring them to market.
Through the lab, Leahy was able to
connect Schaff with all the resources
he needed: technical support, mentorship
and design, manufacturing,
and marketing expertise.
“Kevin is an amazing guy. He knew
that friction within the retail space
was a problem. For customers, it’s
waiting in lines; for retailers, it’s trying
to understand why people abandon
carts. He understood the problem,
No more
standing in line
Thanks to Twyst,
a wireless, effort less,
and secure transaction
that automatically
charges you for the
items in your bag when
you leave a store.
just not the best way to solve it,” recalls
Leahy.
Schaff also knew there were already
RFID (radio frequency identification)
tags in most products for shipping
purposes, and that he could leverage
that inside a store. Twyst’s smart bag
(or any other shopping container like
a cart) is designed to detect an item’s
presence and transmit data via a Bluetooth
low-energy (BLE) network. Leahy
helped Schaff choose and source
the right technology – the microprocessor,
RFID reader and sensors that
go in the bag, and the beacons that
go throughout the store – to produce
and refine early prototypes.
What’s next?
Now well past the design phase, Twyst
is entering full-scale production and
installation into its first big-box retailer.
Its relationship with Avnet has transitioned
over time from innovation lab
participant to full-fledged customer.
“Having Avnet’s help in the design
phase as part of the innovation lab
was highly valuable. Now I’m at a
point where we’re putting a sensor
platform across 300 stores in different
cities. How can a startup handle those
logistics? Turns out Avnet does that,
too. Production, inventory, distribution,
even returns. Their ability to help
us rapidly scale is fueling our growth,”
says Schaff.
“As an entrepreneur, you want to
build maximum value before you
formalize your venture capital. That’s
what working with Avnet and having
their help in the design phase allowed
us to do. So, we get to keep more of
our company – more equity. That’s
every entrepreneur’s dream,” he concludes.
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