From Monitoring to Knowing: How Owlet Is Redefining Infant Health at Retail

What makes your product offering unique in the marketplace? A lot of times, what you need to know is going on with your baby or that peace of mind can't really come just from looking at them or hearing them. And so we always say, you can hear your baby, see your baby, but for us, it's about hearing, seeing, and knowing that your baby actually is okay. So we go beyond what's just on the surface to measure those critical health metrics like pulse rate and oxygen level and bringing that peace of mind to parents that if those things fall out of range, they will be alerted. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Retail Refined, a Market Scale podcast with your host, me Melissa Gonzalez. Today, I get to have two guests, and I always love when we get to have a dynamic conversation with multiple guests on. Joining me today is Liz Terrain. She is the Chief Parent Officer of Outlet, and we're gonna learn a little bit more about Outlet today as well. I love her title and role because it's one that she helped shape, define since joining the company in twenty twenty. She leads end to end parent experience across product, design, customer service, and marketing with a focus on embedding the lived realities of parenthood into the company strategy at the highest levels. Love that integration, and we're gonna talk more about that. And with us, we also have Jennifer Billington, who is the head of retail, and she leads the company's revenue strategy and execution with a focus on sustainable and profitable growth, both important things. So excited that we're gonna dive into all those aspects of it, vision, success, revenue. But for those of you who are new to OULT, they are a leading pediatrician health platform. They are the only company in the world to offer US FDA cleared and internationally medically certified wearable pediatric monitors, which if you're a parent, you know how important that is, and delivering hospital grade technology directly into the home. There's so much to demystify in that, the education around it. And so we'll talk more about that and also how they are driving a new standard in pediatric well-being by pairing advanced media technology with consumer friendly design. So Jennifer and Liz, thank you so much for being with us today and having this conversation. Absolutely. It's great to meet you. Yes. Yes, great to meet you too. And I know the audience is going to love getting to know the both of you. But I gave the highest level introduction of the company and to each one of you. So if we can start first with Liz, you helped craft this title. What does the chief parent officer do at Owlette? And what should the audience know about Owlette before we dive further deeper into the conversation? Okay, great. Yeah, sure. Well, I'll start with just, I mean, you stated it so well, really, thank you. But to add a little bit more color, Owlette has been around for just over a decade now and was founded by a few dads that came together really thinking about their parenting experience, the fears that parents go through, technology could address those gaps in the parenting journey. And so we're so grateful to work with them. We work with all three of them still today now. Just all three returned to the company. So it's really exciting to have our founders back. But at the center of Owlette has always been about solving these gaps in the parenting experience. I think we're all fellow parents here and we know that when you bring a baby home, it should be a joyful experience. It should be one of the most exciting and wonderful things you're doing, but it's also actually extremely terrifying and challenging, and there isn't a handbook on exactly what to do. And Aled's mission from the start has been to support parents through those first moments of the parenting journey and really help them feel empowered and joyful in what would otherwise be a more challenging time. So I start with that because I would say that the role of the chief parent officer is essentially the same thing, just internal and as a North Star. My job really across all the different consumer touch points is to just make sure we're really thinking about and obsessing over that parent journey and solving real impactful problems for them along the journey, as well as speaking to them in a way that really resonates with them and offers the comfort and support they're looking for. I love that. I just went to a baby shower this weekend, and they asked for three tips. And my first one was you won't break the baby. Don't try either. But to your point, it's so scary in the beginning and you do feel like it. You feel like you're going to break. You run to the crib every couple hours in the beginning. Are they breathing? Are they okay? You're so nervous about those things. So can't wait to dive into how you're help alleviating some of that anxiety, especially for first time parents. So Jennifer, tell us a little bit more about your role as head of retail and bridging that a little bit to what Liz said. How are you bringing that storytelling to the shelf? Absolutely. So yes, my name is Jen. I help lead revenue operations here at Owlette. And really dovetailing into what Liz said, bringing this ability and bringing the value of what we provide not only to our retail partners, but also to customers. So right now, we have incredible physical presence out there. We are located in over four thousand retail locations across the US. And then we also partner in a big way with our online retailers, as Amazon and Babylist to really have that full omnichannel presence. We wanna be available where consumers wanna shop, and then we also wanna be able to help them get our products in hand quickly. We know that speed of delivery is so important nowadays. And so that's really the efforts that myself and my team work on each and every day is to have that story come to life the best way possible online and on shelf. I love that. So let's back up. Baby monitors aren't new, but your approach is differentiated. So let's break that down to the person who's listening to this episode. What makes your product offering unique in the marketplace? What were the main points that your founders saw were still existing in a world where monitors were available? And how are you solving for that gap? I'll take a stab at it. Jen, jump in if there's anything you wanna add or that I leave out. I spoke a little bit about our founders and actually our founder, Kurt, his wife had a hereditary heart condition that he was worried about he might encounter as a child. And he was talking to a friend of his who was a nurse at a local university, and he was telling him about pulse oximetry technology and how it's used to measure the heart rate and oxygen levels of infants that are brought into the hospital. And he had started to think about, Oh, how could I take that technology, make that technology available at home? That would be really reassuring for parents to know their baby's okay. So I think when we talk about traditional monitors that are either video or audio, our big thing is they really can only tell you so much. You're seeing the surface of what's going on with the baby. A lot of times what you need to know is going on with your baby or that peace of mind can't really come just from looking at them or hearing them. And so we always say, you can hear your baby, see your baby, but for us, it's about hearing, seeing and knowing that your baby actually is okay. So we go beyond what's just on the surface to measure those critical health metrics like pulse rate and oxygen level and bringing that peace of mind to parents that if those things fall out of range, they will be alerted. So just to get into the mechanics a little bit of how the product works, it wraps around a baby's foot, tracks their oxygen and pulse rate in real time, and it does that safely, clinically proven and safely, sends that data to a little base station or a little alarm, you could say, that sits on mom and dad's bedside table. And if everything's looking good, it glows green, mom and dad don't even have to pull out their phone and look at the readings. They can just go about the night, the day, whatever, and feel reassured the baby's okay. But if those readings do fall outside of the preset ranges, they will receive a very loud, what we call a red alert with lights and sounds, either waking them from sleep or calling their attention, and they can intervene and support their baby in what otherwise might be a more scary moment. Well, have a lot of education around that if you're searching online. On your website, you have great storytelling, you have some stories on Pinterest, you have Instagram, but I'll give this to Jennifer as you're thinking about retail and you're thinking about some of your wholesale partners, how are you educating the advanced technology of it? Yes, absolutely. So we have three hero SKUs that would be our DreamSight, which is our camera, our DreamSoc, and then our combo, which is the Dream Duo, which combines the camera and the sock. And so having those three key items in store at any given time is really of critical importance to us so that consumers can help find what's right for them. At retail, we wanna make sure that we're showing customers the value we provide and having those features and benefits clearly stated right there on shelf, but also keep everything simplified so that they don't have to look through several different SKU variations to find out what product is best for them and their family. Yeah. I remember, again, my daughter So it was a decade ago, and retail has advanced since then. But if you even think about, there's so many different avenues for a stroller or so many different avenues. So this is just another one of those categories that I could see needs demystification. How are you also training the in store staff to make sure that they're an extension of that storytelling and that education at retail? Yeah, definitely. Well, our retail stores such as Walmart or Target, they keep a curated list of baby monitors on hand at any given time. And so we share information not only with our buying team that but also they'll have information and fact statements that they send out to their store associates to help broaden their knowledge of our product to be able to name those few highlighted items that really provide value for us. So whether it be at a Target, a Walmart, or a Best Buy, you can help find an associate that knows more about our product in a deeper way. Well, I I I read a insight that was shared that your data shows that almost forty percent of customers actually purchase after the baby arrives and often triggered by a health scare. So what has that informed you as well about how parents make decision and how does that relate to how your retail strategy has to adapt to that window? Yeah, absolutely. So yes, sixty percent of our customers buy before the baby's born, but that means forty percent are purchasing after the baby's born. And we know that forty percent, there had to have been some sort of impetus such as baby had a rough night's sleep, mom and dad also had a rough night of sleep, parents could be overwhelmed or maybe there's an illness in the family. So when those parents are looking to purchase after the baby's born, we need to be available quickly. And so for in store availability, people can shop in a traditional way, go in store and purchase a product. But also there's a lot of other ways that we partner with retailers to get that speed of delivery, whether it be buy online, pick up in store, or potentially getting curbside delivery or same delivery from these big retail partners like Walmart or Target. They've really focused on that because for a long time, Amazon has had incredible ship speed. They still do. But retailers like Target and Walmart, they wanna compete on that level. And so having our product available in these stores is of utmost importance. They think of their stores as little warehouses all over the country, and those warehouses can help get our products into hands quickly. But in order to be able to do that, we need to be assorted and available. So that's why in store presence is so incredibly important for us. We're in an interesting time too with just the access and information of data and now the integration of AI into people's lives. And I think a broadening understanding of what opportunities that brings to have real time health data. I don't know if you have stats on this, how many of the parents might already have their own connected devices, right? They have their smartwatch or they have an Oura Ring, and so they're understanding the opportunity of that. Over the last few years, how have you seen that evolve, a parent's association around health data and thinking as parents and also thinking about that intersection of connected technology and a more personal experience in early parenthood? Yeah, well said. I think we are seeing very broad mass adoption of wearable technology in general and a strong emphasis on digital health. So whether it's Oraring, the Apple Watch, as you said, WHOOP, all of these health trackers. So in many ways that benefits us and reduces the hurdle around education with consumers on why these types of things are important. But I actually would say there's still a huge gap between people perceiving that as something necessary for them as adults versus them seeing it as necessary for them with their children. And I think that's such an interesting challenge to have and discussion to have with consumers. So, I mean, for me, I have an Oura Ring. I say this all the time. I wake up, I look at how I slept last night. I say, Oh, I should make some different decisions in my life. I don't. I don't want about living this. But what I think is really powerful to think about is when I have access to information about my child's health or my child's behaviors or how that's impacting them, I'm much, much more likely to make necessary changes or to And also just even to have that context. My baby's really fussy today, but I can see they actually woke up four times last night. They probably didn't get very good sleep. I can be more patient or less worried that maybe something's medically wrong and just know that they had a rough night. I think the power this data has to empower parents and to impact the longitudinal health of infants and children is so powerful. So I really hope people can start to draw that correlation more clearly going forward. And it's our job to help do that. I'd also say that when it comes to AI and data, well, that people might be more comfortable with those things, but we also know, we have plenty of research to show, it's not just about having more information. More information can actually be overwhelming or have the opposite effect. So when we're thinking about how to surface our data, how to make it a bit valuable to consumers, we're really focused on, does this tell them the what and why and what to do about it? It's one thing to just serve the data, it's another to empower them with it and to make sure that they know how to use that information. So that tries to stay a main goal for us as well. Yep, absolutely. I remember again, so it's been a decade, but just journaling everything down, trying to figure it out all the time. So do you think it's mostly a hybrid now of those behaviors? People are still taking that approach, kind of journaling and getting all the notes down and then also working with your technology. Yes, and we still see that a lot when it comes to feedings or diaper changes or all the things you have to go to the doctor and how many times are they having a wet diaper and you're trying to remember it. So there's plenty of trackers and all those kinds of things, and that's great. But I think our product is really unique in that it's tracking things that other apps can't track, other monitors can't pick up. So when we're able to pair the information we have alongside some of those things parents are taking notes on, You know, I can share an example of when I have used the product in the past and maybe still do occasionally. Something I observe is that when my children are getting ill, their heart rate, their baseline heart rate is raised, or if they're getting a fever, it really spikes. I can use that information to note when I gave them medicine and how quickly the fever is able to come down and track that over time. So that's the power of the kind of data we have that they're not able to get anywhere else, But when you can also pair that with other things that people are trying are tracking, you know, feedings, diapers, etcetera, it definitely gives parents, you know, a much more robust toolkit in in helping their children. I think one thing that's so important when you talk about this life stage is community as well. And so what are some of the things that you're doing as a brand, as outlet, like really being at the nucleus of that community and the conversation as an extension of retail and or support of? Yeah, mean, a brand and a marketing perspective, I think we do this in a variety of ways. One, of course, is we have to constantly be talking to our parents, hearing from them, engaging with them. We are constantly doing outreach to understand insights around how they feel about certain features, how they feel about the product, just general parenting challenges. That's so important to stay close to it. We also have a lot of lived experience in house. Over seventy percent of our employees are parents themselves at various stages of the parenting journey. And so it's always wonderful to connect to them and their communities and hear what challenges they're experiencing. And then we also work with over forty parent led foundations across the country. And these foundations can be anywhere from They're often in service of parents who have experienced infant loss, whether it was to SIDS or something like that or something else. But they focus a lot on safe sleep education, CPR training, just resources for parents and communities, supporting parents who have been through either medical challenges or loss. So that's another huge way that we stay connected to the parents out there. It's really important to us that we are absorbing, remembering, and honoring every parent's journey, which is both entirely unique and specific to each person, but also has a lot of universalities. And we see that whether you're a US parent or a German parent or an Italian parent, that's what's kind of beautiful about the parenting experience is there are so many things that are such a common thread. Whether you had your child ten or eleven years ago or you're having one today, there are some really universal themes and there are also some specific challenges as well. So we try to stay connected to all of it as much as we can. Yeah. And then I would say on the retail side, our retailers consistently have different programs and events that they're a part of that we partner with them on. So for example, we recently partnered with Babylist and a big CHLA event, Children's Hospital of LA, where we partnered with them on that event to give back. When you look at Walmart, Walmart, we just partnered with them on their latest baby featuring new items out there for moms, giving away lots of gift bags to help in the community. We also partner Target just released a big campaign that we are partnering with them on with different mom influencers to talk about their favorite products and how they are really interacting with the community. So many of these things out there. Another big component for us is baby registry. So a lot of our products are purchased, about a quarter of all of our products are purchased via a baby registry. And so it's important for us to also, that's another way just engaging with moms and dads and caregivers out there in a variety of ways across retail. And then as an extension to that too, you also work with providers, you work with organizations, HR teams and providing benefits. Can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah, so a little bit on our side, we just released our outlet for orgs. We have a landing page now where we're taking intake forms and had some really good insight already into people looking to partner with outlet as part of a return to work maternity or paternity leave benefit. So we know that when people have a baby, they're losing several nights of sleep each year. And if we can help babies sleep better, we know we can help mom and dad sleep better. And if everybody's sleeping better, we know that people will come back better, more productive at work. And so a lot of organizations are actually looking to partner with outlet to provide outlet as that return to work benefit out there, which is incredible. And we're getting a lot of it so far. We've already signed up a few companies and looking to scale this in a big way this year. I love that because I think that that's an example of you furthering your promise. You're not just showing up at retail, but you're partnering with organizations, you're partnering with corporate organizations in addition to organizations like a baby list and that added benefit. And then also educating through partnership with pediatricians. Yeah, so we have our DreamSoc, which is our over the counter device, but then we also have a prescription device called BabySat. And so the BabySat version is for those babies that need that extra care that need to be monitored at a higher level. And so with that product, we're consistently speaking with pediatricians and neonatologists and currently selling that in several hospitals right now across the country and also looking to expand that in a big way this year. Because I guess at the end of the day, we really believe that Ola is for every baby and every family, and we wanna be able to have a product that works no matter what the family's current situation is. Well, that's an incredible ecosystem that you're creating and really intersecting with parents' lives. And then maybe by having that intersection at the pediatrician level, you'll bring that forty percent number down of those who we go after. Absolutely. Yeah. So I love how you're really thinking so holistically about how this can be a partner to a parent's life. Again, whether you're intersecting through the employer, through the provider, or people kind of finding you firsthand direct to consumer or through a partner. Looking ahead, where do you see the biggest opportunities are? And also conversely, some of the biggest challenges in making infant technology more accessible to parents. We have a couple of very specific things on our roadmap that we're really excited about. We're soon going to be launching Olla OnCall, which is a telehealth service integrated into our app. And for us, that's kind of about closing that loop with parents who might, whether they see their child's heart rate rising over time or whether they see their child getting sick. One of the biggest core issues you see in the early parenting journey is your child has their first sickness or their first fever, whatever it is, and you're at home debating, oh my gosh, I go to the hospital or not? Do I need to talk to a doctor? So this integrated telehealth service will be able to allow parents to quickly talk to a physician, specifically a pediatrician, get that real time feedback based on their child's data and make that call whether they're okay to stay home and monitor or they need to go in and seek more care and just be that point of reassurance for parents. We're really excited about that. I think that's a specific opportunity we have in front of us as well as the Outlet for Orcs program. So those are two kind of things that are in our near term future that we're really excited about. Big picture, I'd say I am just so passionate about bringing this kind of information to parents and from night one. Also a parent of two, and I just so wholeheartedly believe in the power that this data has to change the trajectory for an infant or a child at the earliest stages across their health. And we talk all the time about how important sleep is for adults or how important it is to track our activity, those kinds of things. But if that's really true of adults, think about how true that is for infants. And so I just think on top of our heart rate oxygen level, we do track sleep as well. And those things combined for parents having that information as early as night one, the impact it has on the peace of mind they're able to have and therefore the kind of parent they can show up and be, as well as just the decisions they'll be able to make with better information and education and the impact that can have for their families. I'm just so passionate about that and we're just getting started. So I think there's so much more in our future of how we're going to be able to support parents throughout the journey, but this is just like the starting line. So that's what I'm excited. Yeah, I mean, did the company launch? There were a couple of starts, but twenty twelve is generally we refer to our kind of first official launch. Still pretty young, actually. And we've only had our FDA clearance since twenty twenty four. So we're really, really excited now to have that to be the first and only monitor on the market with FDA clearance that's available in non prescription. And we're excited to close part to work closely with the FDA and other follow in the footsteps of brands like Aura and WHOOP who are kind of helping shape policy in these things and push to support parents even more. Yeah, I think it's such a big accomplishment. I mean, whether you're talking about data or even if you look at adjacent spaces within well-being like supplements and all of that, I think there's so much on the market that doesn't get that FDA approval. And so people aren't sure. They don't have that confidence. And so it really just solidifies the ability for you to be a partner for them in their lives. But Jennifer, think you're gonna say Oh, no, absolutely. I was just gonna say on our side too, we believe that traditional baby monitoring isn't enough. Liz mentioned you can see and hear baby, but you don't know their vitals. You don't have those sleep stats or those insights to help baby sleep better so parents can sleep better too. And so for me, I really believe that opportunity is helping show the value we bring and provide and what is available out there. Melissa, you mentioned earlier, a lot of parents now, they've grown up with technology. They have things like Aura and Whoop and or Fitbit. And so they know what technology is out there for them, but they might not know what's available for their baby. And they're interested in having that information. But I think our biggest opportunity is showing what exists and showing the value we bring so that we can transform what was once simply baby monitoring into this whole new infant health platform of insights that drives so much more for parents out there and for baby alike. Yeah, I think it's so important. And I see you guys also publish your own kind of white papers and clinical reports. So again, really kind of owning the space in that. And over time, it's also an always learning because the more data you're collecting, the more trends and insights that you're seeing. I know we didn't kind of talk about me asking this, is there anything that's been really surprising, but also as an opportunity as your company continues to grow and have more of that data insights and thinking about what does that mean also for the future? Yes, there is so much there. We've monitored over two million babies now. So we do have, we believe the largest set of infant health data in the world. And I could talk for hours of the potential I think this data has. Unlocking that data is challenging, is hard. How do you bring that information to life? How do you share it? How do you clinically validate all those things? So I think there is a lot that we still, like I said, at the starting line of digging through that information. Right now for us, the first step along that process has been launching our Outlet three sixty subscription, which is essentially really focused on the parts of our data that we do understand and we can surface for parents in a really compelling way. And that takes the traditional experiences, here's your baby's live readings, here's when you might need to intervene, here's how they slept. Our Owlette360 experiences, here's that trend over time, here's how that compares to other babies, your baby's age, here's how that compares to what's normal for your baby. And so it just adds that extra layer of context and information. I think that's the real power. So I think when you ask what's been surprising or impactful to us, there's so much with that. What's surprising is how hard it is to just quickly turn all of it into what we want to and know is possible, but this has been a huge first step for us. We have over a hundred thousand subscribers now to that subscription. And way we're constantly surprised by how parents actually end up using that information. You know, if we have our ideas about how we think they'll use it and what will be helpful to them, and then we hear back from them, well, I actually use it this way, and I noticed this, and they're so much smarter than we are. So, you know, we take that insight and we flip it back around into a new way of surfacing that information. But I think that's where our focus is at is just there's unlimited possibilities there. We're so excited, but parents are the key to kind of surfacing what will really be impactful in this journey. That's great that you're having that two way dialogue and you're having that information loop happening and it allows you to further that always learning mentality on both sides. I think you have to, yeah. I think that's one of the most incredible things about Liz too. So when we're in any conversation internally, she'll say, this is what we're hearing right now. This is what's important and this is where we need to put our focus future state. So it's really great, like always having that touch back to customers, to parents to say what's important to them any day. And if you buy a monitor and you have multiple kids, do you need one per each or say one is older and so now I can reprogram the data for my younger child or how would that work? We don't mandate how parents use it. I think it's very common for parents to use it across multiple children. And I certainly have as well. Right now our product is cleared for up to eighteen months. So we are working on getting that clearance to go higher up to five years. And we're expecting to do that within the next year or so, which is really exciting. But with that, so most parents do just kind of hold onto the product. And then when their second child comes along, they have that, or they're spot checking when the child gets sick or that sort of thing. I think as we continue to make our data more robust and continue to drive that value of daily use and also understanding how the shifts in that data over age and time become even more impactful and helpful to parents. My hope is that more parents would have one for each child and be able to use it longer because I do think there's I think we're going to reach a point where like your Orat Ring or something, I wouldn't just only wear it for a year and a half and hand it off to someone else. The value of the data becomes how you're tracking it over time and what's again, as adults, we're fairly static in our behaviors and our development. But as a child, there's just huge changes between zero to eighteen months and even between eighteen months to five years. So I would hope we reach a point where it becomes more normal for parents to continue that daily use of the product and use it across multiple children because I think that's when they'll really unlock the value. Yeah, I love that. And having that continuity, I do think most parents use the monitor beyond the eighteen months. And so, much more information that you could gather and learn from. Well, was really an interesting conversation. I really appreciate both of you coming on today. And I think really digging into how you really creating this robust ecosystem and very thoughtful partnerships and how you can show up in a parent's life and really be integrated again, whether they're finding you online or at the retail shelf or introduced to you through their organization, HR benefits, or through a pediatrician or at the hospital, really becoming integrated in this part of a parent's journey is so impactful. So thank you for breaking that down for us today. I'm excited to continue to watch as you continue to progress. And like you said, it goes beyond eighteen months, hopefully, and that clearance and really being more and more integrated into a parent's life of always learning, having the healthiest behaviors possible to support their children. So thank you for coming on with us today, both Liz and Jennifer. Appreciate your time. Think if you wanna leave the audience with one last thing, what would that be? I think it would come back to a few themes we've had before, which is that we believe traditional baby monitoring can be so much more than what's been in the past. We believe not only being able to see and hear your baby is important, but also knowing they're okay and having those insights to help them sleep better, be safer, be healthier, we believe that we are on that mission to provide that. And we're excited for what's to come. We have so much innovation along the way, and we're happy to be part of those lives and be able to give that peace of mind and a better night's sleep all the way around each and every day. What's the best way for the audience to continue to follow with Owlette? I mean, obviously there's the website, but any other channels that they should follow? Follow us on Instagram, follow us on TikTok. Our handle is OwletCare. We share incredible parent stories, parenting tips, everything you could possibly want and need to know in the early parts of the parenting journey are all across our social channels. So follow us, follow on what we're doing and, yeah, that's it. All right. Great. Well, thank you again, Liz and Jennifer. Appreciate your time. Appreciate learning more about the organization, and we'll continue to follow along. Thanks so for having us. It so great to meet you.