Every single day, more and more consumers are buying Black for many reasons — social justice, wealth-building within the Black community, and more. However, no matter the reasoning for purchasing from Black-owned businesses, Bold Xchange wants to simplify the “Buy Black” experience.
Co-founded by Danielle Deavens and Doug Spencer, Bold Xchange is an online marketplace that features a curated collection of quality products from Black-owned brands. The e-store, which launched in 2018, offers home goods, apparel, and skincare, including Historic Noir Coffee, ElonWick candles, Golde superfoods, and most recently, masks by DIOP.
The idea first came to Deavens and Spencer while shopping for Christmas gifts in 2016, and in 2018, they launched Bold Xchange. Though the marketplace allows consumers to buy products much like other online stores committed to the Buy Black movement, Xchange guarantees a three-day delivery. Its founders also promise on-camera unboxing reviews and thoughtful rewards for consumers.
“We saw that the marketplace model just wasn’t working,” Spencer said. “Our goal from the beginning was to make it easier for people to find black-owned brands and have a great shopping experience. And we realized that in order to do that, we needed to hold inventory and be able to offer consistency in shipping and customer service.”
In February 2020, Deavens and Spencer launched a Kickstarter to expand their marketplace inventory and provide the best-in-class online shopping experience for their customers. As a result, many Black business owners will gain an additional platform to help grow their companies. They’ve reached their goal of $10,000 but are still inviting supporters to donate.
“We’ve been working toward this very methodically, just making sure we put in the effort and do it the right way,” Deavens said. “This project has been nearly four incredible years in the making, and we’re proud of everything we’re doing to make buying black better and easier.”
