Cadi announced today that it has surpassed its monthly fundraising goal by raising over $600K of its $1.07M crowdfunding round in 50 days. Cadi is combining autonomous retail technology with e-commerce to provide golfers with a completely tailored shopping experience via its autonomous kiosks.
In effect, Cadi can turn any place into a powerful retail location that offers a quick, seamless, and an integrated shopping experience that simultaneously supports the golf course and the player. The company uses Big Data and Artificial Intelligence to develop its products which result in a completely personalized shopping experience tailored to each individual.
Today, the vast majority of products are purchased by visiting a traditional retail store or buying online. Today, as we’ve experienced the world change with COVID-19, we’re witnessing an accelerated shift to e-commerce. This shift significantly threatens sporting goods because many products, including golf clubs, are best tried before purchasing.
The Founding VP of R&D for Callaway Golf Ball Company, David Felker, notes, “with Cadi, I recognized there was an opportunity for autonomous technology to revolutionize the golf industry. There is an opportunity to advance AI and there is no better time than now for Cadi to spearhead the innovation”.
The traditional retail experience only offers short indoor trials or infrequent demo days. It is no surprise that 90% of golfers prefer to demo products on a golf course or driving range before buying equipment. The result is two-thirds of customers are unhappy with their purchase within 14 days with no option for money back.
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Cadi’s kiosk enables golfers to engage in a “try-before-you-buy” model on the golf course, which creates an entirely new retail experience. Furthermore, Cadi offers a success-based revenue share for the local pro-shop.
Carole McCluskey, Former CTO of Outerwall, (Operator of Coinstar, Redbox, and ecoATM) which each leverages deep technology, says, “As the world becomes more digital, customers want to control their shopping experience. Automated retail is an enabler to a better user-controlled consumer-driven experience. I immediately saw Cadi as a way to create a data-centric value chain for sports manufacturers, and curated golf retail”.
Cadi’s retail technology has proven to be a market fit and will lead the transition to autonomous retail in the $126 billion sporting goods market. With over $1M in pilot testing sales in 2020, Cadi has partnerships with 63 golf courses, several sporting brands, and dozens of golf course management groups — which unlocks revenue and access to at least 250,000 golfers nationwide.
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