SAN FRANCISCO — Skupos, a technology solution for the convenience-store industry, and the maker of 5-Hour Energy shots are running the brand's first consumer promotion on the Skupos Engage platform.
Introduced in 2004 by Farmington Hills, Mich.-based Living Essentials, 5-Hour Energy shots are a less-than-2-ounce energy shot that offers a blend of B-vitamins, amino acids and essential nutrients without added sugar.
Skupos Engage enables brands to run, measure and test promotions in a base of more than 1 million consumers across thousands of stores within its network of independent and small-format convenience retailers across the country.
With Skupos Engage, brands can expand their addressable markets by offering targeted discount promotions at scale across the small-chain and independent retailer market, which Skupos said was “previously inaccessible [and] unmeasurable.” Run directly from each store's point-of-sale (POS) system, brands can measure compliance, performance and take rates in ways it couldn't before, the company said.
"Skupos Engage provides the key for unlocking a hugely underserved portion of our target market," said Steve Ramsey, vice president of sales for convenience with Living Essentials LLC, the maker of 5-Hour Energy shots. "Through Skupos Engage, we can create, execute and measure the promotions, which gives us complete visibility into each promotion's effectiveness in order to have the most positive impact on key metrics like sales velocity and volume."
Skupos Engage bridges traditional gaps between brands and their retailers by managing operations across everything from enrolling retailers in the program through deploying the promotion and clearing and reimbursing the retailers for their transaction, the company said. The streamlined execution allows retailers to increase foot traffic, sales and repeat business through brand-funded promotions while delivering the visibility and insights brands need, it said.
The deal “underscores the challenges even the most successful manufacturers have with sales and marketing outside large-format retailers," said Jake Bolling, Skupos's co-founder and CEO. "Skupos Engage is the only platform in the market intended specifically to help independent retailers compete with national chains, and to empower brands of all sizes to measure and optimize promotions at scale in a lucrative market segment that has historically been a black hole of visibility."
San Francisco-based Skupos, founded in 2016, has a network of more than 14,000 customers nationwide.
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