Caroline's Cart

What Caroline's Cart does

Caroline's Cart is a privately held, founder-owned company that designs and distributes a patented special-needs shopping cart for older children and adults with disabilities. Founded in 2011 by Drew Ann Long, the company represents a single-product hardware venture built around a novel product category — the first patented grocery cart specifically designed to safely seat individuals with special needs while caregivers shop. The cart is manufactured through a strategic OEM partnership with Wanzl, a leading global shopping cart manufacturer, and deployed across more than 15,000 retail store locations in all 50 U.S. states and 8 countries. Anchor customers include Target, Walmart, and Stop and Shop, with Walmart announcing in 2024 plans to roll out the cart across its entire store footprint.

The company's underlying technology is a mechanically specialized shopping cart with a front-mounted seat designed to accommodate older children and adults who cannot use standard cart seats, addressing an accessibility gap in retail environments. Revenue is generated through B2B hardware sales to retail chains via direct enterprise contracts with operations and procurement teams, with no direct consumer sale channel. The business operates with a single SKU and a single primary manufacturing partner, supplemented by a wholly owned subsidiary, Caroline's Cause, which awards scholarships to high school seniors with siblings with severe intellectual disabilities.

Founder Drew Ann Long serves as the public face of the brand through an active speaking career, motivational keynotes, and significant earned media coverage in outlets including the Today Show, CNN, CBS News, and HuffPost. The company holds the 2013 International da Vinci Award for Transportation & Mobility and is named to the National Retail Foundation's list of people shaping retail's future. Caroline's Cart is closely identified with its founder, with no disclosed institutional investment, external investors, or employee count available in the source material.

Name

Caroline's Cart

Legal name

Caroline's Cart (Owned by Drew Ann Long)

Website

https://drewannspeaks.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Caroline's Cart designs and distributes the first patented special-needs shopping cart for older children and adults with disabilities, manufactured by Wanzl and deployed across 15,000+ retail stores in 50 U.S. states and 8 countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Birmingham

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Personnel

Revenue model

1. Cart Sales to Retailers: Caroline's Cart generates revenue through the sale of its specialized shopping carts to retail chains. Retailers purchase the carts to offer to their customers with special needs, creating an inclusive shopping experience. The carts are manufactured by Wanzl and distributed through retail partnerships.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Caroline's Cart designs and distributes a patented special-needs shopping cart with a front-mounted seat designed to safely transport older children and adults with disabilities in retail environments. The cart is manufactured by Wanzl under an OEM partnership and is sold to retail chains including Target, Walmart, and Stop and Shop, making it available to families at the point of shopping.

Product overview

Caroline's Cart operates as a single-product company offering a specialized grocery shopping cart designed specifically for individuals with special needs. The product enables children and adults with disabilities to be seated in a cart while caregivers shop, transforming the retail experience for millions of families. The cart is manufactured and distributed through a partnership with Wanzl (a global shopping cart manufacturer), with availability across 15,000+ stores in all 50 U.S. states and 8 countries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Caroline's Cart The first patented special-needs grocery cart designed for older children and adults with disabilities. The cart features a front-mounted seat that allows individuals with disabilities to be safely seated while caregivers shop, enabling inclusive family shopping experiences in retail environments. It is sold to retail chains for deployment in their store fleets.

Quantifiable outcome

• Available at 15,000+ stores across all 50 U.S. states and 8 countries

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• WanzlcoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerWanzl is the manufacturing partner for Caroline's Cart. As a leading global provider of shopping cart and retail display solutions, Wanzl produces the specialized carts based on Drew Ann Long's patented design. Wanzl North America is led by CEO Ben Hinnen, who has publicly praised the product's impact on families.
• TargetcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTarget was one of the first major retailers to adopt Caroline's Cart, launching the product in stores nationwide in February 2016. Target has been a key strategic partner in making the carts available to consumers across the United States.
• WalmartcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorWalmart announced in 2024 plans to offer Caroline's Carts at every store. Initial rollouts began in Arizona with plans for nationwide expansion. This represents a major distribution milestone for the product.
• Stop and ShopminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorStop and Shop has added Caroline's Carts to select store locations, with community advocates helping bring the accessible shopping option to Greenville-area stores.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Wanzl: Wanzl is Caroline's Cart's manufacturing partner and a global leader in shopping cart and retail display solutions. Wanzl directly competes in the retail cart market and serves as the OEM for Caroline's Cart, making it both a critical partner and the most direct comparable in the shopping-cart category.
• Unarco Material Handling: Unarco is a major U.S. manufacturer of shopping carts, hand trucks, and material-handling equipment for retail and grocery. As a direct producer of retail shopping carts, it competes for the same retail buyer relationships and store-equipment procurement budgets that Caroline's Cart targets.
• Carts of Colorado: Carts of Colorado manufactures commercial shopping carts and retail store fixtures, including utility and specialty carts. It serves the same retail-grocery and big-box customer base that purchases Caroline's Carts, making it a direct product-category peer.
• Technibilt: Technibilt is a North American shopping cart and retail material-handling manufacturer serving grocery, mass-merchant, and specialty retail. It competes directly with Caroline's Cart for retail procurement contracts and offers overlapping cart-product categories.
• Excel Shopping Carts: Excel is a manufacturer and distributor of shopping carts, including specialized cart configurations, serving grocery and retail chains. It is comparable to Caroline's Cart as a maker of branded retail shopping carts sold B2B to large chains.

Emerging players

• Adaptive Star: Adaptive Star designs adaptive strollers and equipment for children with special needs. While not a shopping cart, it targets an overlapping customer demographic (families with special-needs children) and competes for accessibility-equipment budgets within the same community.
• EZ-Access (Homecare Products): EZ-Access manufactures accessibility products including ramps, lifts, and threshold solutions for residential and public spaces. It serves an overlapping accessibility market and competes for the same institutional and consumer accessibility-equipment spend as Caroline's Cart.
• Convaid (R82 by Etac): Convaid, now part of Etac, makes adaptive mobility equipment including wheelchairs and special-needs strollers. It serves the same special-needs community Caroline's Cart supports, with overlapping use cases for families needing accessible mobility and seating solutions.

Broad incumbents

• Permobil: Permobil is a global incumbent in advanced wheelchairs and mobility solutions for individuals with disabilities. It is comparable as a broader accessibility-mobility player serving the same end-customer demographic, though it does not specialize in retail shopping carts.
• Pride Mobility Products: Pride Mobility is an established manufacturer of mobility products including power chairs and scooters for individuals with disabilities. It overlaps with Caroline's Cart's end-user demographic and the broader accessibility-equipment category, though it does not directly compete in retail shopping carts.

Market position

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/share/1EwrSjiN3f/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/drew-ann-long-3a22a875/?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
• Instagraminstagram.com/carolinescart?igsh=MTF4eDQ1dWswajRtag==

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Caroline's Cart