Why You Won't Be Seeing "Smart Luggage" Anymore
About the author Elizabeth Segran, Ph.D., is a staff writer at Fast Company. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. More

Smart luggage seems like a really smart idea, right? Josh Udashkin certainly thought so and so he launched a smart luggage company called Raden. Raden offered sleek hardshell cases equipped with phone chargers, weight-measuring tools, and an app that tracked the location of your bag. All of these functional features relied on a built-in battery. Unfortunately, last December, airlines announced that they would no longer allow battery-equipped carry-ons on board. The new restriction essentially shuttered Raden's doors, along with another smart luggage company, Bluesmart. While Raden's batteries were removable, without them, the suitcase was just a normal suitcase.

In a recent Fast Company article, Udashkin admits he sees a deep, fundamental problem with selling luggage online: companies must spend massive amounts of money to acquire customers that are making an infrequent purchase. Unlike clothing and shoe brands that can sell new items to customers each season, people typically don't buy luggage very often. The value of each customer is relatively small. This problem hasn't seemed to stop other luggage start-ups from entering the market though, so we'll have to wait and see how these companies manage to survive.

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