REVTECH Managing Director David Matthews is concerned for Dallas’ future in retail, but through the startup accelerator’s new space he foresees hope for the industry. 

It’s there in the 13,000-square-foot North Dallas office, which REVTECH will officially celebrate Thursday, that he envisions retail veterans and startups working side by side on new approaches to reach customers where they are. 

He spoke recently with The Dallas Morning News‘ Melissa Repko about why retailers need to innovate and Dallas’ place in the retail world.

For him, the biggest trend is “optimizing the customer experience.”

“There’s a big chasm between what you know about a customer in an e-commerce setting versus what you know about a customer in a bricks-and-mortar setting.”
DAVID MATTHEWS

“There’s a big chasm between what you know about a customer in an e-commerce setting versus what you know about a customer in a bricks-and-mortar setting,” Matthews told the Morning News. 

Historically, it’s been easier to glean customer preferences online, but a host of REVTECH startups are focused on evolving information gathering tools within the physical store. 

Matthews told the newspaper, that others in the industry can learn from Amazon’s “relentless focus on the customer.” And, from Wal-Mart, another retail giant, they can take note in the way it has successfully “[harmonized] the online and offline customer experience.”

During the recent RIS Retail Executive Summit in Arizona, Matthews seen promise in a retail startup offering a customer survey solution it says has an 80 percent response rate. Matthews, who served as a judge at the summit, wrote in a recent REVTECH blog post, that he was so inspired by the customer satisfaction tool, he used the accelerator’s funds to invest $2,500 in TruRating. 

You can read more of Matthews’ takeaways from the event here. 

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