Startup interview: Mohammad Darab Ali, Founder and CEO, Better1

RTIH: Tell us about Better1

MDA: Better1 is an e-commerce startup that launched in late June. Based in the GTA and proudly Canadian, it will be offering consumers innovative products that are aimed at helping people live better. 

Our uniqueness is based on a few key elements, but we are especially proud of our immersive shopping experience, where people can view our rooms and see and buy our products. What we do is combine online shopping accessibility with the visual benefit of seeing our products in realistic room settings. 

Better1 also works hard to discover, curate, and review the latest in tech products so that we can help our customers make informed choices about purchases that best match their needs.

RTIH: What was the inspiration behind setting the company up?

MDA: We really had three observations that gave us the inspiration to create Better1. First, we saw that there are so many new products available today that can significantly improve the lives of consumers. Additionally, we saw that with today's new technologies, the pace of product innovation is moving at an ever-increasing pace.  

Second, while many of these products are available online, and consumers are becoming very open to shopping over the internet, the rate of adoption for new products isn't as fast as it perhaps should be, so we thought about why this was. 

The answer for us really boiled down to access, awareness, and knowledge about these products. When you think about it, it's not so easy to find out about new and innovative products, much less purchase them. 

You can find them on immensely large e-commerce platforms, but how do you wade through the myriad of brand choices, product options, and different price points?  Many shoppers are simply frustrated or overwhelmed with this type of shopping.  

From this, we began formulating possible ways to address these challenges and ended up with the general approach of curated products uniquely presented in realistic home settings. 

We utilised the Minimal Viable Product (MVP) approach and tested versions of our concept with many test consumers and found that people were open to buy products that could make their lives better, that they were willing to buy online, and that they really found the immersive shopping experience helpful and enjoyable. 

Overall, we received very good consumer interest and response.

RTIH: What has been the industry reaction thus far?

MDA: It's definitely early days for us. We have attended a few product trade shows already, including CES 2020 in January. When introducing ourselves, we invariably provided some context around our immersive shopping and curated product approach, and honestly, we got the gamut of reactions. 

From "interesting...prove to us you are worthy" to "Wow, interesting...really out of the box, tell me more!". Meeting directly with suppliers has been quite constructive, as many of them are thinking along our lines already and knew that consumers were looking for that immersive experience to really understand products and how they work in their homes and in their lives. 

From a consumer perspective, we received very strong and supportive feedback from our initial concept testing with specific mentions around the preference for our simple yet immersive shopping experience, versus the "endless aisle" approach of larger e-commerce platforms.

“We honestly feel that "startup" is just another word for "challenge". Every day there is something that either was unexpected, or doesn't work as we first planned, but over the course of our year long development, this has become normal”

RTIH: What has been your biggest challenge/setback?

MDA: We honestly feel that "startup" is just another word for "challenge". Every day there is something that either was unexpected, or doesn't work as we first planned, but over the course of our year long development, this has become normal. 

What wasn't normal was the pandemic and related social distancing restrictions that impacted our ability to deliver what we considered as our key shopping uniqueness (360-degree immersive tourable environments).  We were restricted from our on-site production and could not get the photography we had planned. 

So we went to plan B and utilised digitally rendered room environments, and we are actually quite happy with how things turned out. While we don't yet have the full tourable room capability we planned, we've learned a lot about digital rendering and design and think that we can do a lot with this in the future.

RTIH: What are the biggest challenges facing the omnichannel retail sector right now?

MDA: If everything stayed static, omnichannel marketing and retailing would be challenging enough. Brands and retailers are looking to customise and coordinate customer experiences across all channels (whether online, mobile app, retail or social media). 

Consistent data gathering, knowing KPIs for each channel and then coordinating the data to then truly understand the purchasing cycle and the process takes tremendous focus and investment. However, the world is never static. One of the biggest challenges facing omnichannel retailers is the ever changing channel landscape and how it interacts with consumers. 

Some years ago, a traditional retailer had to figure out how their website could become part of the integrated consumer experience. Today, an online presence means so much more as channel proliferation in the digital space has increased significantly. 

Consumers today can interact with your product and brand on any number of social media and shopping platforms, and a retailer must stay on top of technology and social communication trends to keep their omnichannel play effective. 

While Better1 is brand new, and currently online only, we are already highly engaged in omnichannel marketing with our customers through our website and various social media platforms. In the future, we are looking at app development or even bricks and mortar showcase stores where we can look to bring our shoppable rooms and our many innovative products to life.

RTIH: What's the best question about your company or the market asked of you recently by a.) an investor and b.) a customer?

MDA: From an investor, how do you guys expect to beat Amazon or large e-tailers like Best Buy? We don't expect to beat the "big guys". Our view is that the world is a large place and we can offer shoppers a different (and we think better) shopping experience as they discover products that can help them live better.

Customer: Better1 seems cool, but why don't I learn about products here and then just shop on Amazon?  Sure, we can't stop you, but we hope that the value we bring and the awesome loyalty point programme we offer will give you a reason to stay and shop with us. The more we can grow, the better we will get.

RTIH: What can we expect to see from Better1 over the next 12 months? 

MDA: Our focus, whether during our first, fifth, or tenth year, will be on customer experience. It goes back to why we think Better1 is a worthwhile concept. What this means is that you can expect us to keep working hard to find new and unique products that can help you live better, and we'll make sure to get you the information you need to learn about these products. 

We are just getting started with our immersive shopping and have some exciting plans around the corner on how we will make this experience even more immersive and relevant for our customers. 

We invite shoppers and visitors to check us out, make suggestions about products and our site. We welcome the feedback.