b8ta

b8ta was a retail-as-a-service company which serve as presentation centers for consumer electronics and home goods. The company was founded in 2015 by Vibhu Norby, William Mintun, Phillip Raub, and Nicholas Mann. Its first location opened in Palo Alto in December 2015. Companies could pay to rent out space for their product to be displayed inside the locations, along with a tablet that each brand customizes with software. All of the products in stores were on display out-of-the-box and could be touched and demoed. The company also sold the products directly to consumers. Store employees, which the company calls "b8ta testers", assisted customers with demos and product information which is taught to them by companies with products on display. In November 2019, b8ta opened a fashion store named Forum in West Hollywood with the same business model.