Aladdin.life is a Palo Alto based start-up reimagining shopping and commerce with Agentic AI and a Universal Merchant Network with initial focus on the travel sector. It aims to connect retailers directly to mobile telecom subscribers through “retailer-funded” discounts as rewards for monthly telecom spending.
Aladdin.life is building a multi-sector Intelligent Universal Merchant Network with Agentic AI to make shopping experiences across online and physical retail hyper-personalised, effortless, faster and cheaper. This tech innovation is combined with a new business model that facilitates retailers, merchants and brands to tap into the global base of mobile telecom subscribers (5.4 Billion) who also form the world’s largest base of digital consumers.
The re-imagination of shopping & commerce :
Today’s search and research experience when shopping is cumbersome and time-consuming. In the words of Founder & CEO, Subhra Das, “there are just too many apps, web sites, online search results, ads and retail stores to deal with. The shopping experiences which have evolved over the last decades are no longer serving the needs of our modern day lives.”
Consumers lead busy lives. As per the National Retail Federation, 9 out of 10 customers in the US choose a retailer based on convenience. Consumers are also facing a rising cost of living. Wage growth is lagging behind inflation in most countries (NIQ, Customer Behaviour data ). The need for best value and savings when shopping is therefore paramount.
Agentic AI + Generative AI + Predictive AI
Aladdin.life is solving this issue by empowering consumers with personalised, conversational, self-reflective and continuously learning AI agents. These AI agents will automate and hyper-personalise search and research, including comparisons for products and services across online and physical retail stores. These agents will also negotiate deals on behalf of the consumers in multiple retail and commerce categories.
The Intelligent Universal Merchant Network.
The Universal Merchant Network brings all types of sellers on one common This will increase the efficiency of consumer’s search and discovery across the universe of products, services and deals in online and physical retail stores. Shoppers can trigger one search that is simultaneously propagated across all relevant online and physical stores, thereby enabling their personal AI agents to select from a wider range of choices.
The Universal Merchant Network addresses the fragmentation of retail, reduces the cost of customer acquisition and sales for retailers, and levels the playing field for smaller retailers. All online and physical retailers can joining the network to maximise relevant traffic and leads. Online sellers can include DTC, marketplaces and aggregators.
Converging retail and telecom by rewarding mobile subscribers
Issues in Retail:
Retailers and brands need cheaper market access and more demand. Today they are paying an arm and a leg to marketplaces and aggregators for their daily sales. Restaurants for example, are paying between 18%–35% of their revenues to food delivery aggregators. Advertising on ad platforms owned by Big tech is also expensive particularly for smaller retailers who often do not have the digital marketing capabilities as well the dollars.
Retailers and brands are also hurting as they are denied access to the customer data and insights which are mostly kept and harvested by the marketplaces, aggregators and ad platforms. Ad platforms also foster a regime of “pay more to win” which does not create a level playing field for small retailers.
Issues in Telecom industry:
Average consumer spending on telecom services are falling causing grave issues to network operators. This is at a time when telecom operators are investing heavily in 5G and fibre. The more investments telcos make in high speed data networks and abundant capacities, the more commoditised these services become. In summary, consumers are seeking more value and relief from the rising cost of living.
More than 50% of telco’s data network is utilised by about a dozen OTTs like Netflix and Youtube but without telcos receiving any commensurate compensation from these OTTs. OTTs make all the profits while telcos end up holding most of the costs. High churn and inflation also puts pressure on a telco’s financials. European telcos with intense competition in their markets are some of the worst hit with ROIC often below WACC. All of these issues raises concerns about sustainability of network investments which may jeopardise the growth of the digital economy.
Solution and benefits:
The convergence of retail and telecom sector is a single solution aimed at resolving the myriad of issues facing consumers, retailers and telcos. Retailers in the $30 Trillion retail industry can get direct and cost-effective access to the world’s largest base of digital shoppers . This provides retailers a cost-effective alternative to online marketplaces, aggregators and online ad platforms.
The convergence is activated and accelerated by a retail rewards program app where mobile subscribers get value back for their monthly spending on mobile telecom and home broadband services. The retail rewards program is funded by retailer discounts and open to all telecom subscribers irrespective of their network affiliation or telecom service provider. As monthly spending on telecom services is offset by retailer funded discounts, the cost of digital access for consumers is therefore subsidised.
The impact on telecom operators is designed to be ground-breaking. Telecom operators get a new revenue stream and are entitled to a slice of the daily retail transactions of their eligible subscribers at eligible merchants as Aladdin shares its commission revenues. As customers get more value, churn is expected to fall. Moreover customers are likely to upgrade their plans and devices as their digital access is now subsidised. In a way Aladdin.life intends to trigger the come back for Big Telcos.
The revolution in our shopping and commerce experience may be sooner than you think.
About the Founders:
Founder & CEO Subhra Das (HBS alumnus) has held CEO and CMO roles with several telecommunication companies worldwide. Co-Founder & CTO Ganpat Singh Rajput is a serial tech entrepreneur with two successful exits including an IPO in the e-commerce space. Co-Founder & Chief AI and Product Officer Bhaskar Deka (Kellogg alumnus) has successfully scaled and exited three ventures backed by top tier VCs and PE funds in Silicon Valley.