Santa Barbara Entrepreneurs Launch Beni, a Browser Extension for Secondhand Purchasing
Secondhand purchasing is extra fashionable than ever because of quick trend, rising prices of residing, and social media traits. However digging by the racks at thrift shops or looking throughout resale websites could be time-consuming and fruitless. That’s the place Beni is available in: a free browser extension that makes secondhand purchasing simpler by providing customers comparable merchandise for a fraction of the worth. Primarily based in Santa Barbara, the corporate launched in September and is led by S.B. natives Sarah Pinner and Ryan Shand, UCSB Bren Faculty alum Celine Mol, and new resident Kate Sanner.
Consider the Beni extension like a private on-line shopper. As soon as the extension is downloaded, the person navigates to the net web page for the merchandise they’d like, clicks the Beni icon within the backside proper nook, and receives a choice of secondhand alternate options. The person can create a profile to enter their dimension, set the platforms from which they like to buy, and shortly will be capable to record their very own objects to promote from their closet. Beni’s aim is to make resale seamless from begin to end.
“There’s no stigma round purchasing secondhand,” Pinner stated. “In actual fact, folks nearly really feel embarrassed to not do it. However there hasn’t been a device to really provide help to.”
Initially envisioned in 2020 as Pinner’s thesis venture, Beni is the primary to marry know-how and partnerships with main resale marketplaces. The software program options synthetic intelligence that combs the world’s largest catalogs of on-line aggregated resale. Beni presently companions with corporations like The RealReal, Lease the Runway, Vestiaire Collective, eBay, and Kidizen.
The corporate hit its beta metrics in August and is now in its second spherical of seed funding. This quarter, the staff’s focus is increasing their buyer base and changing downloads to profitable purchases. Shand is specializing in securing extra companions, Sanner is constructing a campus ambassador program to create a market amongst school college students, and Mol is accumulating knowledge and fine-tuning the software program to be much more clever and adaptive to customers’ habits. “We’re going to construct our personal model of a TikTok algorithm that may simply know you so nicely,” Mol half-joked.
“We wish Beni to be the welcoming social gathering to secondhand purchasing,” Sanner defined. That winsome ethos permeates the younger firm’s tradition. Pinner, Mol, Shand, and Sanner didn’t know one another earlier than turning into the manager staff of the corporate, however you’d by no means guess it from the way in which they end one another’s sentences explaining the round financial system, or tossing out concepts a few Beni van tour. The 4 share backgrounds within the company sector or startups, see waste as a design flaw, and worth progress over perfection as a tenet for his or her work. The corporate is proudly women-owned, remote-first, and holds its offsites in Santa Barbara at locations just like the Dart Espresso backyard and Kiva Cowork.
Beni can be tapping into the rising environmental consciousness of shoppers. Mol referenced a report from McKinsey & Firm: If only one in 5 clothes is traded by round enterprise fashions, patrons might make a big dent in lowering fashion-related emissions.
When requested concerning the state of the re-commerce trade in Santa Barbara particularly, the staff listed principally strengths. “I feel folks by default care concerning the atmosphere as a result of they’re extra within the atmosphere,” Shand stated. “I feel you simply have to look a bit tougher. There are enjoyable group occasions like pop-ups promoting secondhand clothes, and there are startups on the town akin to Apeel [Sciences] that additionally see waste as a design flaw.”
For those who’re focused on secondhand purchasing in Santa Barbara, you’ll want to try Crossroads Trading Company, Lazy Eye Shop, The Closet, Farmer & the Flea Market, Westward General, and The Blue Door.
See joinbeni.com.
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