Walking on a beach in Hawaii about two years ago, Shaan Arora, a fourth-year student at Northeastern University studying computer science and business, came across a woman selling bracelets.
Out of curiosity, he asked her how they were made. In response, the woman said that every morning she goes to the beach, collects plastic debris that washes ashore and uses these materials to produce her bracelets.
Her story inspired Arora to buy bracelets for himself and his entire family.
“And now when I wear this bracelet or my mom wears this bracelet, we think about this woman and we think about her story and we think about what she does every morning to produce these bracelets,” says Arora, co-founder of Alia. “For us, this is very impressive and the bracelet means a lot to me.”
However, the woman told Arora that she failed to do her business online. Her story got lost in an ecosystem with so much content to compete with.
That's where Alia comes in, says Arora.
“We're trying to solve the problem of how small businesses compete online and build relationships,” says Arora.
The software company creates a loyalty program that appears on small business websites. The widget rewards users with store discounts for learning about the company in short, easy-to-download quizzes.
Most other widgets that appear on retail sites are transactional, Arora says. But these are about creating an emotional connection with the owner.
“We are disrupting this industry by allowing customers to learn and be rewarded in this way,” says Arora.
Last year, Statista reported that it passed 60% of all online purchases goes to the 15 most prominent retailers, with Amazon pulling in the majority at 37.8%, followed by Walmart at 6.3% and Apple at 3.9%. As a result, big players are crowding out small businesses, says Arora.
“We want to give them the tools to be able to compete more effectively online against these big sellers,” says Corey Gill, Alia co-founder and fourth-year economics and finance major.
The company recently won the Hult Prize Challenge, organized by the Northeastern Entrepreneurs Club. The pitch contest focuses on sustainable fashion, one of the company's main clients.
In addition to the co-founders, Alia's team includes four other employees, all Northeastern students who met at university.
“We are a Northeast startup at our core,” says Arora.
The company plans to launch the product within the next few weeks with a pilot program involving other North East European startups. Then, once it proves successful, they will take those examples and sell them to companies outside of the Northeast ecosystem.
The plan is for 100 customers to use the program in a year, with 25 customers being marketed on Alia's website. In five years, the company aims to change the way people shop online — moving from large retailers to smaller sustainable companies.
The success, the co-founders say, is based entirely on what Northeastern offers.
“Northeastern has been amazing in the resources it has,” says Arora. “We've used every single resource we can possibly find and have been able to bootstrap ever since.”
Beth Treffeisen is a reporter for Northeastern Global News. Email her at b.treffeisen@northeastern.edu. Follow her on Twitter @beth_treffeisen.
