Walkbase Says Saw Surging Growth In 2015

    Russian-backed startup tapping into birth of in-store location analytics market.

    Finnish in-store analytics firm Walkbase saw last year the value of its customer contract base grow ten-fold with its platform now installed in more than 500 stores and airports.

    Using radio signals from consumers cellphones it has analysed the in-store habits of over 100 million shoppers to date.

    The Walkbase technology together with Samsung’s digital in-store helps retailers, particularly supermarkets and shopping centres, monetise in-store advertising and sell it to retail brands.

    Insights including the paths customers take, what they look at and when they arrive form the basis of behaviour-based shopper profiles.

    “We have seen in-store analytics grow into a category in its own right and as a result more retailers than ever before are taking advantage of it. Wi-Fi is the technology to use for anonymous in-store analytics that can help improve sales and optimise the customer experiences, and also to better manage assets and employees in-store,” Walkbase CEO Tuomas Wuoti said in a statement.

    In late 2013 the firm raised 3 million euro investment in a round led by Russia’s SBT Venture Capital, and Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, the former CEO of Nokia.