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“Brands want to be able to measure what’s happening when they’re with people. “We haven’t met a retailer who isn’t actively using data like this, or are actively in the process of seeking out data like this,” Chernofsky said.Ĭooler Screens’ Bennettt argued that in the post-Covid era, as more people are going back to stores, there’s a greater need to grow retail media specifically in stores, since that’s where people are at. “And all of a sudden, your digital activities, your activities in the physical retail world are all working together to create something much better for the end consumer.” “The more they can measure it, the more they can understand those impacts, the more they can create a better omnichannel experience,” Chernofsky added. Placer.Ai charges companies on a subscription basis, and says on its website that it customizes its subscription packages on a client-by-client basis. “But retailers are recognizing that it’s a part of a journey and an experience.” Placer.AI is a location data vendor that helps retailers measure foot traffic counts and dwell time, among other analytics. “We used to view retail locations as purely a conduit for sales,” Ethan Chernofsky, senior vice president of marketing at Placer.ai said in an interview with Modern Retail. These companies help retailers answer questions like: ‘Where do I want to put a store?’ ‘Which products do I want in which locations?’ ‘How to sell more of this different set of items across the store?’ or ‘How to draw people to the over-the-counter and pharmacy area of the store?’ among others.

In-store visits to malls rose 40.3% in December last year compared to November, according to data from Placer.AI.

The company grew to 20 stores in North America before the pandemic, but shuttered in March 2022 after foot traffic took a nose dive, and the company failed to reach a deal with landlords that would allow it to stay afloat.īut now, there’s a renewed interest in these types of services as more people have resumed in-store shopping as Covid cases have subsided.

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B8ta took a software approach to retail, charging brands a monthly fee to display their goods at a B8ta store, and offered access to its software which collected data like how much time customers spent demoing a product.

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For example, retail-as-a-service platform B8ta attracted a lot of interest before the pandemic from retailers like Macy’s, which led a $19 million Series B in the company back in 2018.

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As some retailers had to close their stores to in-person shopping for months at a time, they weren’t as interested in making heavy investments to upgrade their in-store experience. While tech companies like Cooler Screens are not new, many of them ran into challenges expanding during the pandemic. Second, these solutions - particularly in-store advertising displays like Cooler Screens - are helping companies grow their burgeoning retail media businesses. As the coronavirus pandemic has altered shopping behavior, retailers are finding that they want more data on how their customers are behaving in stores to make the physical retail experience more compelling and efficient. There are a few industry factors that are driving more retailers to pursue partnerships with retail tech vendors like Cooler Screens and Placer.ai.

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