S4M start-up innovates in drive-to-store strategy

S4M has created a unique advertising technology in the world, allowing to generate, measure and optimize in real-time incremental visits in physical and online points of sale.

Our mission is to connect brands and shoppers while reconciling the digital and physical world.

This approach is based on five pillars:

• A complete technology that reconciles the physical and digital world;
• A new vision of geolocated targeting;
• A reliable, verified and impartial measurement;
• An exclusive and guaranteed purchasing model;
• A respectful and engaging user experience.

FUSIO, the technology developed by S4M, makes it easy to set up traffic generation campaigns in online and physical points of sale.

These indicators have long been available to e-merchants who can easily measure the impact of their investments on their online sales. But while sales in physical stores represent 90% of the brands’ total sales, retailers do not have the same visibility on their offline conversions.

S4M, therefore, responds to a major challenge: to consolidate on and offline advertising indicators to offer retailers in physical points of sale the same visibility as e-merchants on the impact of their advertising spending.

The benefits for the company using the FUSIO solution are multiple:

• A unique and guaranteed purchasing model, the CPIV (Cost Per Incremental Visit) to pay only for concrete results: incremental visits;
• A measurement and rationalization of its digital advertising expenses based on incremental traffic in stores;
• A better definition of its catchment area thanks to new data from the geolocation of smartphones.

The end customer, on the other hand, benefits from more relevant advertising, closer to his or her interests and entertaining thanks to interactive formats.

As part of a mobile programmatic campaign, Subway used Lokall/MediaCom and S4M’s mobile technology to boost restaurant attendance.

Together, they created a mechanism that combines geolocation around points of sale, audience targeting and marketing time to reach brand-conscious mobile users at the most relevant time and in the best place to convert them into consumers. All this while offering them a unique experience thanks to the Video2Store advertising format.

• 3.27% of campaign exposures went to Subway restaurants, an increase in traffic of +46.72% compared to users not exposed to the campaign;
• The campaign also had an impact on the attendance of competing restaurants. In one case, in particular, 39.44% of competitive consumers were attracted to a Subway restaurant.

• S4M and its business model

S4M’s business model is based on the use of their technological platform, in particular via a guaranteed purchase model: the CPIV (Cost Per Incremental Visit) which allows the advertiser to pay only for concrete results, i.e. incremental visits generated at physical or online points of sale.

S4M has more than 170 employees in 10 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific. In these regions, we find similar initiatives, sometimes complementary to S4M and sometimes competing, even if no one has yet gone this far in generating incremental traffic.

• A sustainable alternative to the traditional prospectus

According to a study commissioned by Bonial, the carbon footprint of producing paper prospectuses is at least 14 times higher than that of digital prospectuses. S4M’s solution is, therefore, a sustainable alternative to the traditional prospectus while helping brands reduce their carbon footprint.

• Respect for consumer privacy

French law has long been strict in the collection of personal data. Since 2018, the DGMP has strengthened its application, particularly with regard to the responsibility of actors and, above all, the sanctions applied.

This has led to a real awareness of the eco-system today in search of a balance between the essential respect for users’ privacy and the relevance of the advertising formats that are pushed upon them.