Bucharest, April 23, 2024: Profi, Romania's retail network with the widest territorial expansion, and Footprints AI, the startup specializing in advanced data monetization technologies for retailers, announce the expansion of media campaign offerings and consumer behavior and profile data to all brands and media agencies.

During the 6-month pilot phase, only a limited number of brands and media agencies had exclusive access to an audience of over 4 million consumers from Profi's network of over 1,700 stores and its digital ecosystem.The omnichannel retail media campaigns carried out in this initial phase demonstrated a 3-4 times increase in brand investment results compared to traditional media channels such as TV, radio, search, and social media.

Personalization and Innovation for Brands and Shoppers

Retail media is the means through which an FMCG or non-FMCG brand can more effectively target its audience based on consumer data and their presence in the retail environment.

For advertising distribution, retail media utilizes available spaces and channels in physical stores and the retailer's digital environment.These include, in the case of Profi, digital screens and radio networks in stores, the mobile app, website, social media channels, and direct marketing.

Moreover, based on anonymized purchase data, brands can direct advertising campaigns to media audiences with socio-demographic and consumption behavior insights generated by Artificial Intelligence developed by Footprints AI.

Profi's retail media network involves hundreds of communities and sales points that are connected and centrally managed to provide a cohesive and efficient platform for omnichannel advertising campaigns.

"This step represents our ongoing commitment to innovate and provide our partners with advanced advertising solutions and understanding of Profi's customers and what drives their purchasing and consumption needs. Profi's retail media network, developed and operated in strategic partnership with Footprints AI, enables brands to grow and thrive in a dynamic market. We also activate the customer education aspect through educational awareness campaigns, thus bringing constructive emotional information," said Gaetan Pacton, CEO of Profi Romania.

Entering the maturity phase for Profi's retail media network marks a consolidation of infrastructure and commercial offerings. The pilot phase recorded significant results for brands in both the CPG and non-CPG sectors and across various industries. Based on the results obtained in this project, we will exponentially increase this mode of communication in Profi stores.

Over the first six months, brands that had access to retail media campaigns experienced significant increases in conversion rates, growth in the number of users on their own platforms, in-store sales, or market segment awareness.

An example is the challenge to increase market awareness and acquisition of registered users for the online platform for buying and selling second-hand cars with the help of Artificial Intelligence, instant.ro. The retail media campaign carried out in Profi's omnichannel ecosystem generated a remarkable increase of over 50,000 new users with a significant 280%improvement in ROAS (Return on Advertising Spend) over a 2-week campaign period.

Intersnack, the manufacturer of Chio Chips, BCR, YOXO, the provider of digital mobile and internet subscription services, are other examples of successful partnerships since the launch of the Profi retail media project.

Transforming Romanian Retail with Data

The year 2024 is an important year for transforming the retail industry in Romania and maturing the models for monetizing captive data now in retailer systems. Profi continues to be a market leader and becomes the first retailer in Romania to follow the global trend of automating and digitally transforming the way it makes data and media channels available to brands and media agencies directly, anonymized and in line with best practices related to legislation and technology.

By using advanced Artificial Intelligence and data technology,Footprints AI has managed to generate unique insights about consumers at a community level based on purchasing behavior in Profi's national store network.

"Based on these unique insights into who buys what and when and the socio-economic behavior of consumers in Romania, Profi's retail media initiative manages to gain a competitive advantage in Romania's retail media market, which will exceed 10 million euros in 2024. This market is separate and complementary to trade marketing budgets traditionally consumed by FMCG brands in retail networks.

The very high profit margin is the most important part of this new income type for Profi and any other retailer we partner with in Romania. These new profits can and will be used to increase investments in improving the customer experience and commercial offerings. So everyone wins: the retailer, the brand, and the consumers. A great advantage in a tough year for Romania's consumer market," said Dan Marc, CEO and co-founder of Footprints AI, the Romanian technology startup developing and commercializing one of the most advanced retail media platforms in the world.

Profi and Footprints AI have launched new commercial offerings and packages available to customers backed by a flexible pricing model, based on results and with real-time reporting for all retail media channels used in campaigns.

The personalized and flexible options, starting from budgets of up to 10,000 euros, have been designed to maximize all brands' access to omnichannel retail media.

"For brands, our retail media offering means unprecedented measurement and control over the efficiency of advertising campaigns. Brands can have direct access to consumers based on consumption behavior and can target campaigns throughout the purchase decision, focusing on the moment of purchase. And those present on our shelves can directly monitor the result in sales, allowing them to optimize their strategies and budgets. Opening this channel represents, for brands not traditionally in retail, an element of innovation and an "out of the box" association in the consumer's mind through the targeted context.

For Profi's customers, omnichannel retail media campaigns offer a more personalized and relevant experience, providing product recommendations and exclusive offers tailored to the preferences and buying behavior of each consumer segment," added Valentin Cristescu, Marketing Manager, Profi Romania.

Additionally, the retail media network is preparing to launch a publicly available platform that dynamically displays a clear, generalized picture of the Profi network's audience and purchasing insights, thus providing brands with a deep understanding of consumer behavior and market trends they can act upon with retail media campaigns managed and paid directly through the software platform provided.

About Profi

With 28,000 employees in nearly 1,720 own and partner stores in over 850 urban and rural locations, Profi is Romania's largest private employer. PROFI SUPER, PROFI CITY, PROFI GO, and PROFI LOCO, the four store formats of the network, offer a range of 5,000 products appreciated by over 1.2million customers who shop here daily. More than 94% of these products come from Romanian suppliers. The network's turnover of 11.9 billion lei places the company third in the Romanian retail sector.

About Footprints AI

Footprints AI is a Romanian technology startup developing and commercializing one of the most advanced omnichannel retail media platforms in the world, offering a simple and extremely affordable way to convert anonymous traffic into media audiences for retailers with a physical presence through advanced Artificial Intelligence technology.

A whole series of globally renowned retailers currently use Footprints AI's software solution: Rimi Baltic (the leader in retail in the Baltic countries), Lagardère (operator of the Inmedio and 1 minute brands), Majid Al Futtaim (one of the top retail owners and operators in the United Arab Emirates), Auchan, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, and others.