Container Store Arms Employees With Wearables To Help Customers
What a Richardson startup put in place is the talk of The Container Store
Melissa Repko, Published:
Employees at The Container Store are now using voice-activated wearable devices made by Theatro, a Richardson startup. (Courtesy of The Container Store)
It may soon be easier to find a shoe rack or shelving system at The Container Store.
Employees at all of its stores will soon ditch their walkie-talkies for voice-activated wearable computers made by Richardson startup Theatro. The tiny hands-free wearables answer questions, similar to Siri or Amazon Echo. But the devices — which are about the size of a matchbox — also allow employees to communicate one-on-one or in a group by using software that’s connected to a Wi-Fi network.
That means a Container Store employee can search inventory without looking at a computer screen, find a coworker who’s in the stock room and ask him or her to bring that item to a customer.
Theatro wearables allow employees to quickly check inventory and the status of pickup orders without looking at a computer screen or walking to the stock room. (Courtesy of Theatro)
“Customers in retail stores today are there for a reason. The concept of people just shopping for fun doesn’t exist the way it did 20 or 30 years ago,”said John Thrailkill, an executive vice president for the Coppell-based retailer. “It means when you are taking time to stop in the store, you expect it to be quick and efficient.”
Theatro’s devices will roll out to more than 3,000 store employees in more than 70 locations of The Container Store by the end of July. They will be used at all locations of The Container Store by the end of 2017, Thrailkill said.
The wearables are also being rolled out nationwide at Cabela’s, a Nebraska-based hunting, fishing and an outdoor recreation retailer.
The rollouts are a milestone for Theatro, which has grown from three employees to 56 employees since it started about five years ago. CEO and co-founder Chris Todd said Theatro will grow to 100 employees by the end of the year.
Theatro provides wearable devices to retailers and charges them monthly fees for the compatible software. Over the past few years, the Container Store’s Austin location piloted the device and Dallas locations started using them.
Theatro has 24 other customers, including big box sporting goods stores, home improvement stores and major apparel brands, Todd said.
Theatro has raised a total of $8.8 million, including $5 million from Khosla Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.
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