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Fishers-based Vibenomics Inc. has signed a deal with the home improvement chain Lowe’s Cos. Inc. that will bring Vibenomics’ in-store digital marketing technology to all of the retailer’s 1,700-plus store locations.
Vibenomics, which launched in 2016, uses cloud-based technology, data-integration capabilities, a licensed library of background music and on-demand professional voice talent to deliver music, audio advertising and messaging to in-store customers. The company was acquired last year by Austin, Texas-based Mood Media and now does business as Vibenomics, a Mood Media Company.
The deal, which Vibenomics announced Tuesday morning, gives Lowe’s the ability to play audio advertising that’s targeted to the type of shoppers likely to be in a given store at a given time. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We have a sense of who’s in the store when we’re playing messages, so [the advertising] might have a little bit more impact for the people who are there,” said Vibenomics President Brent Oakley.
For instance, early-morning messages might target contractors who are stopping by Lowe’s to get supplies on the way to a construction site. Weekend and evening messages might focus on products more popular with do-it-yourselfers. Or, a store in an affluent area might sell a lot of high-end fixtures to contractors doing home renovations for local residents—and messaging could be targeted in that way, too.
Lowe’s and Vibenomics tested the technology this spring, Oakley said, and it is already in use at the vast majority of Lowe’s locations. Another handful of stores should be coming online by year’s end once they receive the necessary in-store upgrades to support the technology, Oakley said. As of February, Lowe’s operated 1,746 stores nationwide.
Oakley said Vibenomics also expects to work with Lowe’s on other in-store messaging, such as digital signage.
Currently, Vibenomics’ audio messaging is heard at nearly 25,000 locations—mostly grocery stores, including Cincinnati-based Kroger, with about 2,300 locations, and Iowa-based Hy-Vee, which operates more than 400 grocery and convenience store locations.
Lowe’s represents Vibenomics’ first home-improvement retail client.
Oakley said Vibenomics expects more contracts to come, as retailers work to bring the data and ad-targeting capabilities of online retail into the physical store.
“All of these people are figuring out how to take the virtual world and also put it into the physical world. And how we’re blending that together right now is going to be a shift that consumers should be excited about, not fearful of,” Oakley said.
Vibenomics has about 50 employees, with 60% of based in the Indianapolis area.
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