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There’s been a growing emphasis on the customer experience in recent years, as more retailers roll out functions like BNPL and curbside pickup. How will they service customers next, you ask? Extended warranties, according to the startup, Clyde, might be poised for a glow-up.
Clyde provides retailers with warranty solutions, which CEO and founder Brandon Gell described as essentially brands’ “own version of Apple Care.” And this week, the company introduced its new ownership-enrichment platform, which offers warranty and product protection tools that double as a play for loyalty and customer retention.
- The platform’s three core products are extended warranties, a registration system that connects retailers with customers who bought their products from a third party, and an app that automates claims for product issues. Companies pay SaaS fees for the latter two offerings, according to Gell.
- Clyde works with ~300 brands, including Tushy, SharkNinja, and Movado.
Ride the wave: Gell sees the extended-warranty space—which generated $120 billion in sales in 2019, and is projected to hit $169 billion by 2027, per Allied Market Research—following a similar trajectory to BNPL in terms of widespread adoption. “If you go to Walmart or Amazon’s website, they’re selling an extended warranty on [many] products,” he told Retail Brew.
“We’re essentially equipping brands to do the same thing, but then to utilize that extended warranty as a tool to drive lifetime value and retain those customers so they buy direct instead of through third parties,” Gell said. “A core mission for us is enabling brands themselves to own the experience rather than relying on third parties.”—JG