Have you ever walked into a local shop with a specific item in mind, let’s say a snowboard? The store might have amazing products, but not the perfect one you had in mind. So you leave the store disappointed without your dream snowboard, and the store suffers the loss of what could have been a great sale.
What if that store was able to find that snowboard that you wanted through a network of similar small businesses? Solution 54, a Scottsdale-based startup, built a cloud-based e-commerce platform designed specifically for brick and mortar retailers across the country.
Through the company’s recently-patented design, it is now possible for one store to share customers with another, with all transactions happening within the walls of the stores. That local snowboard shop you want to support can now find that perfect item and everyone can make a small profit on items that might have otherwise collected dust.
Kyle O’Dea, founder and CEO of Solution 54, started his company after owning a snowboarding shop in Colorado and has made it his mission to help local other small businesses. Although he said that running a business was incredible, it was not as profitable as he thought it would be.
“We realized it’s all about the inventory,” O’Dea said. “If we could get rid of some stuff, the whole year would have been different.”
Solution 54 is launching this Fall across 15 states with an emphasis on winter sports, specifically snowboarding and skiing. While the company hasn’t locked down retailers in the Valley, he said there is a growing interest in Flagstaff.
Over time, O’Dea plans to branch out into additional outdoor enthusiast sports such as biking and canoeing.
Solution 54 was added to the list of Tallwave ventures via their High Tide competition and O’Dea hopes to take his business model to the next level.
“Everything we’re doing with Tallwave is moving us really far down the line,” O’Dea said. “We’ve come a long way.”
Read: High Tide 3 competition bring 10 ventures to Tallwave
O’Dea looks to make his first revenue in the fall and continues to maintain the core purpose of the company is to help small businesses.
“This is everything to me. I feel like I found a solution to this really big problem for the retailers, but also for this industry in itself, which is really driving to get people back into the stores,” O’Dea said. “It’s really in the best interest of the customers and vendors. You can’t just do everything online.”
