Etailz Rebrands As Kaspien, Ushering the Next Generation of Ecommerce Services and Software

By Peter Salib Peter Salib has been verified by Muck Rack's editorial team
Published on September 4, 2020

The landscape for the retail and ecommerce industry has shifted immensely as it has for practically every business in the past few months. Although many small businesses have shut down, many companies have found a launchpad to launch during the pandemic and succeed. While some are starting from scratch, leading companies are positioning themselves for growth in a post-corona world. Etailz did just that.

Like any business that evolves with the industry and adapts to customer needs based on feedback and growth, Etailz–now Kaspien–underwent a top-to-bottom rebranding to better position their evolved services and mission. This follows a chain of leadership changes in recent years as Kunal Chopra was named CEO of Etailz in July 2019. Chopra then also became CEO of the parent company–Trans World Entertainment–in April 2020. Trans World Entertainment is also rebranding to Kaspien to better align with the subsidiary and bring a new age of growth for their partners. 

“Kaspien is in a different place in the market than we were 1 year ago, much less 10 years ago. Today, there are thousands of third-party sellers, agencies, and software providers offering brand services for online marketplaces. It’s a fragmented market. As etailz, we were one of those fragments. As Kaspien, we are defragmenting the market, pulling all the services, tools, data, and integrations brands need to succeed on ecommerce under one roof.”

Kunal Chopra, CEO, Kaspien

So why would a company rebrand, now of all times? Well–simply put–they outgrew their old name and needed to take on a new one that better represents their expanded portfolio of offerings, all geared toward growing brands online.

Humble beginnings 

As an established third-party seller on Amazon, Etailz became quite known in the industry for their expertise as a third-party (3P) retailer. During the early founding days in 2008, Etailz began as a niche 3P seller of eco-friendly products. As they branched out and partnered with more brands, they grew naturally and so did their offerings. They developed proprietary software for the Etailz internal teams which evolved into SaaS products and became a foundational benefit for all partners. 

Photo credits: Kaspien

This paved the way for Etailz to offer a full suite of ecommerce software and services and build a platform that helped over 4,000 brands grow their sales on Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and other major ecommerce channels. Through this journey, Etailz averaged a 30% lift in sales for their partners with their marketing, totaling nearly $1 billion in retail sales. The reputation of Etailz in the ecommerce space preceded them as the go-to third party retail partner and while they still dominate as a 3P retailer, they’ve packaged everything they’ve developed that’s enabled their past success into different models to suit partner needs. 

Kaspien to unify a fragmented ecosystem

Rebranding to Kaspien serves to bring the well deserved attention to their data, strategy, platform with machine learning and AI, as well as their agency arm. Ecommerce is complicated and to succeed in today’s competitive landscape, companies need to be at the forefront of all the best practices in marketing, advertising, and all things digital. It requires selling on multiple platforms, controlling pricing, protecting the brand, social media marketing–and much, much more. All of the tools for accomplishing and managing many essential elements for successful ecommerce become fragmented and complex as you layer software upon software and partner with multiple agencies for different needs.

Photo credits: Kaspien

While Etailz became synonymous with retail partnership–where they buy inventory and sell it on Amazon, etc.–Kaspien will be more. Kaspien aims to build its reputation as an elite one-stop-shop for ecommerce solutions offering its classic 3P retail service, managed agency services, and proprietary, powerful software. All of their services and strategies are informed by their experience and data in working with over 4,000 brands and powered by artificial intelligence technologies like machine learning.

Everything under one roof

The vision for Kaspien is to simplify the rapidly evolving marketplace ecosystems filled with agencies, software, and retailers and ultimately better serve their partners. Kaspien will serve as a dedicated partner who could provide all the needed services to grow an online business. Industry-leading services include selling on Amazon and beyond, digital marketing, social media marketing, inventory and supply chain management, brand protection, tax compliance, and creative services. For the brands served by Kaspien, this is a great stride forward as the services and software they use every day expand through further internal development, integrations, and acquisitions. 

Behind the rebrand

The name Kaspien was inspired by the Caspian Sea, the largest inland sea in the world. Like many waterways, it’s a hub of commerce. There is also debate whether it’s a lake or a sea; it’s more than it appears to be. The name can grow with the company as they continue to evolve and pays homage to their unique approach operating as a retailer, agency, and software provider. The logo utilizes an abstract “K” as a graphic element and the negative space subtly incorporates a forward pointing arrow, representing forward thinking, innovation, and leadership – traits that Etailz was founded upon and Kaspien will continue to embody. The hexagon behind the ‘K’ is inspired by patterns prevalent in nature due to the hexagon’s efficiency, from bees’ honeycombs to the Giant’s Causeway. Their value proposition is rooted in maximizing efficiency, and Kaspien’s logo is an homage to this.

It’s an exciting time to be in the ecommerce world where you can focus on creating a great product and enlist the expertise of companies like Kaspien to partner with. The top-to-bottom rebranding is a landmark move in the ecommerce space and it’s a big win for Kaspien to move into 2021 with a brand new look and attitude. 

By Peter Salib Peter Salib has been verified by Muck Rack's editorial team

Peter Salib is a Tech Columnist at Grit Daily. Based in New Jersey, he is an avid participant of events nationwide who's attended CES in Las Vegas consecutively since 2013. Peter is the host and producer of Show & Tell, a product showcase YouTube channel and also works at Gadget Flow, a leading product discovery platform reaching 31M consumers every month. Peter frequently works with startups on media, content writing, events, and sales. His dog, Scruffy, was a guest product model on the Today Show with Kathy Lee & Hoda in 2018 and was dubbed "Scruffy the Wonder Dog.”

Read more

More GD News