Canadian digital revolution coming to America

Revolutionary has become the most overused term in the retail industry and the latest company to apply that description to its retail offering is ironically called Retailcommon.

The Toronto-based social shopping network contends it has developed a revolutionary way for retailers to connect with their customers’ mobile devices while they are actively shopping. After raising $2 million in Series A financing, the company is prepared to extend its Canadian service to the U.S. on Nov. 1. While few details were provided on the U.S. rollout, the company did say it is the first social shopping platform designed with retailers in mind because it allows for the planning, execution and optimization of advertising and promotional campaigns in real time.

"Retailcommon has been delivering results in Canada for three years, where we introduced this new concept to change the way retailers and consumers think about social shopping," said Retailcommon CEO James Cunningham . "Then we began selling and raising capital to strengthen the balance sheet in preparation for our next phase of growth. We are encouraged by the belief investors and customers have in the power of Retailcommon to transform retail business. The new capital, with the experience of our A-list team of investors and proven track record in Canada and Europe , gives us incredible fuel and flexibility to accelerate growth."

Retailcommon's clients use adaptive, web-based administration tools to create and distribute promotional and advertising content to generate traffic, increase sales and build customer engagement. The firm believes its offering is unique because clients are able to entirely control content and distribution, with minimal impact on financial and human resources because its technology is quickly and easily integrated into existing digital assets for the most efficient implementation for centers and retailers alike. The cloud-based system permits retailers to manage their offers and track real-time results.

"We put the power of Retailcommon's technology in each retailer's hands," Cunningham said. "The intuitive design lets retailers target marketing initiatives by store and day part, track performance in real time and instantly optimize content based on the results. They're seeing data within seconds."

For shoppers, there is no app to download, which eliminates slow updates and gives the consumer full control of registering, providing personal data and location sharing. All of the promotional offers on Retailcommon are easily navigated, shared and redeemed, according to the company.

Revolutionary may be an overstatement, but the service is quite popular in Canada where more than 20 million consumers are said to now engage with their favorite merchants via Retailcommon at 128 shopping centers.