Malik Waseem Introduces the Future of Shopping With the Urbane Market App

Los Angeles-based brands are set to get a promotional boost with Urbane Society, created by entrepreneur Malik Waseem, with the release of their Urbane Market app. Urbane Market's mission is to give customers the means to find local and emerging brands in the Los Angeles area by using the app.

While the app's initial launch will shine its light on Los Angeles brands, Waseem who is a Washington, DC native, got his start in the New York City fashion industry. During his time within the fashion industry, he worked with high-profile luxury brands such as Balenciaga, Nicole Miller and Open Ceremony. After leaving the fashion industry to work at an advertising agency, Waseem knew that he needed a change to fuel his creative fire and made a literal move heading west landing in Los Angeles, where he was able to set his plan in motion.

"In 2016, I began doing multi-branded pop-up events with luxury residential properties and boutique hotels — people loved them so much and wanted to replicate them, customers constantly asked if there was a digital platform where they can keep up with all the brands from the pop-up and that’s what sparked the idea for an app to streamline the process," Waseem stated about the idea for Urbane Market. This is when I came up with the idea for a mobile app that would allow customers to access brands based on their location," he added. Wasseem had also begun to notice the decline of brick and mortar-based business models and the rise of e-commerce, which also inspired his leap into the digital marketing space.

In developing the app, Waseem began to do research within the fields of technology and computer science, connecting with the LA tech community to complement his fashion background. "As we continue to move into the future, technology is integral, just like real estate or transportation," Waseem stated. "Today’s youth must understand that no matter what you do in life, there will be a technical component to it that requires you to know computer programs, from marketing to media to healthcare. Technology is a gateway to an infinite amount of knowledge and wealth and should be used to equip our communities with resources to prosper economically," he added.

Although the app's purpose is to bring customers to the brands, the brands themselves must do the work of knowing their target audience and mission and focusing their marketing to that target audience.

Urbane Market plans to go big right out of the gate. The company has plans to onboard 1,200 companies within the first year of release. "‘Think global, shop local’ is our tagline, and that is our North Star, creating a world where people can experience local culture at their fingertips from wherever they are. " Wassem emphasized. As the company grows once the app is released, it is expected to not only focus on Los Angeles area brands, but businesses across the nation and beyond to truly change the game and elevate the future of shopping.

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