On 11 September 2024, Spreat took to the main stage in the Newcomer Battle at RETAIL NXT - the retail technology conference at the VILCO conference center near Frankfurt. The format is tight: every startup gets five minutes, then the audience votes by app.
By the end of the evening, Spreat's name was on the screen. Named the most innovative retail startup - by a room full of people who work in retail themselves.
What fits into five minutes
The pitch starts with the problem, not the product. For brands, getting their goods into someone else's store takes work: long sales conversations, contracts, and in the end the store has to be willing to take a risk. For the store, that is exactly the flip side - new products tie up capital, and buy the wrong ones and you are stuck with them.
Spreat's answer takes one sentence: the customer pays at the store's till but legally buys directly from the brand. The POS system handles payment and invoicing, and the store earns a commission instead of a retail margin. That removes almost the entire buying and selling process on the books.
That is the whole pitch. Five minutes is enough for it - and apparently enough to win over a room.
