Smartcart.fi

Smartcart Oy is a Finnish retail technology company founded in 2014 by Petteri Heiman, Tobias Hannus, and Mikael Hirn. The company provides a solution to digitize the in-store shopping experience for customers of brick-and-mortar supermarkets and a direct communication and data channel for retailers and advertisers. Smartcart's business model revolves around its intelligent shopping cart and being a service and media company, specializing in marketing and retail services. It generates revenue by providing a platform for interaction between the shopkeeper and the customer, and as a media platform for advertisers. The company serves large grocery retailers and consumer-packaged goods (CPG) brands who wish to advertise directly to consumers at the point of purchase.

The core product is a standard shopping cart retrofitted with a tablet computer, barcode scanner, and an indoor positioning system developed in partnership with Navigine. For shoppers, the system offers features like in-store navigation to products on their digital shopping lists, real-time spending tracking, personalized offers, and queue-skipping self-service checkout. For retailers, the platform functions as a communication tool and a source of valuable data on customer behavior within the store. For advertisers, it operates as a retail media network, displaying targeted ads and promotions to consumers based on their location in the store or items in their cart, reportedly achieving a high conversion rate.

Since its founding, Smartcart has secured multiple rounds of funding to fuel its growth and international expansion. This includes financing from TEKES (the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation), now part of Business Finland, and various private investors. The service concept officially rolled out in February 2017. By early 2019, the company's solution was available in over 100 supermarkets in Finland, primarily in the K-Group chain, and had expanded internationally to Paraguay. The company has also secured patents for its charging system technology across more than 150 countries.

Keywords: retail media, in-store advertising, smart shopping cart, retail technology, customer engagement platform, point of sale marketing, shopper analytics, grocery tech, digital in-store experience, self-service checkout, in-store navigation, retail data, consumer behavior analysis, CPG advertising, digital signage, interactive shopping, retail solutions, Finnish retail tech, Petteri Heiman