Boxed, Inc. is an American online and mobile membership-free wholesale retailer that offers direct delivery of bulk-sized packages via the Boxed app or the website. Boxed product offering has been compared to that of

Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation ( doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box retail stores ( warehouse club). As of 2022, Cost ...

. It is based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

and was founded in August 2013 b
Chieh HuangJared Yaman
Christopher Cheung, and William Fong. The company has three fulfillment centers around the country in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

, and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, which allow orders to be delivered within two days. The company also has a support office in

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ; ) is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame, California, Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough, California, Hillsboro ...

. In 2016, Boxed was financed by $132 million in funding by investors including

GGV Capital GGV Capital is a global venture capital firm that invests in seed-to-growth stage investments across Consumer/New Retail, Social/Internet, Enterprise/Cloud and Smart Tech sectors. The firm was established in 2000 in Singapore and Silicon Valley, ...

and

DST Global DST Global is a venture capital and private equity firm that primarily invests in late-stage internet companies. DST Global has been described as one of the largest and most influential venture firms in the world, with an estimated $50 billion ...

. and by $111 million in 2018 from

Aeon Group is a group of retail and financial services companies based in Chiba, Japan, which is centered on ÆON Co., Ltd. It has sister companies in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. The group also trade ...

. The company went public by merging with

special-purpose acquisition company A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC; ), also known as a "blank check company", is a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring a private company, thus making it public without going through the traditional ...

Seven Oaks Acquisition Corp. in 2021 and was listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

History

Boxed was founded by Chieh Huang, Christopher Cheung, William Fong, and Jared Yaman. The

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on ...

launched in August 2013 and allows customers to shop for

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. I ...

products and have them delivered. Huang got the idea when he was living in New York City and did not have the same ability to shop at the wholesale clubs as he did while growing up in New Jersey. With their background in mobile gaming, the team created an app for iPhone and Android, and several months later, launched the Boxed website at Boxed.com. The company first started shipping out of Huang's garage in

Edison, New Jersey Edison is a township located in Middlesex County,in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated in Central New Jersey within the core of the state's Raritan Valley region, Edison is a commercial hub, home to Menlo Park Mall and Little India. It ...

, before opening their first fulfillment center, also in Edison, in December 2013. In May 2014, Boxed launched Express, its on-demand grocery delivery service, available in most of

, parts of

, and Boston. Customers can shop bulk sizes of fresh and frozen groceries and choose a delivery date and time. In January 2017, the

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It wa ...

profiled Boxed as the wholesale shopping app for

millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2 ...

, and highlighted the company's benefits, and in 2018, Business Insider compared it to

. In 2018, Boxed launched a membership program called Boxed Up. In May 2019,

Lidl Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, w ...

partnered with Boxed to deliver groceries. In July 2019, Prentis Wilson joined Boxed as president. In August 2019, Boxed announced a partnership with New York-based retailer, Century 21 to create a line of beauty and clothing items. It was the first time that Boxed had been offering those items to customers through its service, although the partnership ended due to Century 21 filing for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whet ...

on September 10, 2020.

Features

Boxed customers can shop on desktop, via the Boxed

iOS app The App Store is an app store platform, developed and maintained by Apple Inc., for mobile apps on its iOS and iPadOS operating systems. The store allows users to browse and download approved apps developed within Apple's iOS Software Deve ...

or Android app. In August 2017, Boxed launched SMART Stock up, a feature that applies

machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence. Machine ...

on customer data to predict when they will most likely run low on a particular product. It sends a reminder to customers when they log in, making it easy and convenient to re-purchase what they need. In tandem with SMART Stock up, Boxed launched Concierge, an autonomous shopping concept that uses the same machine learning to not only predict when a user is running low, but pre-emptively fulfill and send a customer's product to them without them needing to engage at all. It is currently available only to B2B customers.

Prince & Spring

In June 2015, Boxed launched their premium private brand Prince & Spring, focusing on high quality products and design. The collection includes toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, paper plates, party cups, cutlery, batteries and hand soap, as well as groceries including organic, fair trade coffee, organic coconut oil, olive oil, nuts and trail mixes. Prince & Spring has won three design awards at the Vertex Awards. The brand is sold exclusively through Boxed.

Boxed Hotels

In June 2017, Boxed launched Boxed Hotels, an online hotel booking service available only to Boxed customers that enables them to save up to 45% on thousands of hotels around the world.

Corporate social responsibility

In October 2016, Boxed launched its Rethink Pink campaign to end the upcharge on women's hygiene products, known as the

Pink Tax The pink tax refers to the tendency for products marketed specifically toward women to be more expensive than those marketed toward men. This phenomenon is often attributed to gender-based price discrimination, whose name stems from the obse ...

. Boxed reduced the per unit price to match the male equivalent on items such as razors, deodorant, and body wash, paying the margin. Boxed also reduced the state sales tax on tampons and pads in the 36 states that charge sales tax on these feminine hygiene products. A number of prominent politicians and media outlets have supported Boxed's Rethink Pink initiative, including New York Senator

Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...

, CNN,

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ...

, CBS News, and

Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

. For Giving Tuesday 2016, Boxed partnered with

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy ...

to donate women's body care essentials to shelters around the country - the number one most requested item at women's shelters.

Company benefits

In May 2015, Huang announced he would personally pay the college tuition of every full-time fulfillment center employees’ children. In May 2016, the company announced it would pay up to $20,000 towards any full-time employee's wedding.

Partnerships

Boxed has partnered with brands including American Airlines,

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

, Lidl US,

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery ( Uber Eats and Postmates), pack ...

and

Zulily Zulily, LLC is an American e-commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington and owned by Qurate Retail Group. Its target audience is young mothers interested in brand-name goods for their children. It holds no inventory, instead consolida ...

Achievements

In June 2016, Boxed was awarded Emerging E-tailor of The Year by Internet Retailer. In September 2016, Boxed was named one of the top 100 places to work in NYC by Crain's. In October 2016,

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

named Boxed one of their next billion dollar startups.

References

{{reflist Wholesalers of the United States Companies based in New York City Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Online retailers of the United States American companies established in 2013 Special-purpose acquisition companies