Published, November 11, 2025
Interview with founder and CEO Iman Nahvi
Why is sensor technology so important in brick-and-mortar retail right now?
Nahvi: Displays paired with technology are a guarantee of success for the shop of the future. This has been repeatedly confirmed by independent studies, such as the latest one by Canadian DOOH provider Broadsign. Until now, displays have mainly been used as digital posters. Real-time signals about customers’ actual behaviour when making purchasing decisions, which are possible today, have been neglected. Only sensor technology can close this gap. We are talking about measurable, target group-oriented reach directly at the shelf instead of abstract footfall proxies. Thanks to the latest technology, it is possible to use targeted advertising at the point of decision and get closer to the product, decision and sale. In times when every penny counts in stores, this is good news for retailers. If retailers want to access upper funnel media budgets via in-store retail media, the success factors of online retail media must also be transferred to brick-and-mortar retail. Real-time segmentation of shoppers, real-time targeting on digital signage, success measurement based on both upper funnel and lower funnel metrics – all this is only possible with the use of sensor technology. Without us, in-store retail media will not be able to replicate the success of online.
What is Advertima’s approach?
Nahvi: Our audience AI combines 3D computer vision with booking platforms for trade and media campaigns as well as with the programmatic ecosystem. We deliver real-time audience signals to existing stacks without biometric data processing or image storage. This is made possible by our privacy-by-design approach. At the same time, we are strengthening the role of programmatic as a standard activation layer. This brings in-store sensory measurement methodologically closer to the possibilities of online conversions, which is the big difference compared to the past. And it’s not rocket science. All you need is our in-house player, on which our Audience AI and any digital signage CMS can be installed, plus clean integration into the customer’s tech stack, and you’re ready to go.
How do you approach such a project?
Nahvi: We take a step-by-step approach. After a pilot project in the relevant environment, either in a shop or in the retailer’s office, we move on to the field phase and then to the rollout. We use existing displays and upgrade them as needed. Where a rollout is still in the planning stage, we supply the technology right from the start. This reduces CAPEX hurdles and makes integration into existing systems painless. The step-by-step approach minimises risk and shortens the time-to-value metric. We also help retailers with financing. We provide the hardware free of charge and, like a DMP in the online world, are paid for the data after use. Since we install the digital signage CMS on our edge computer, retailers no longer need a CMS player.
Many are hesitant because of GDPR. How do you transfer real-time data in a legally compliant manner?
Nahvi: “We have removed the technology’s ability to store images. Our principle is privacy by design – or rather, privacy by default. Images containing people are personal data. We comply with legal requirements by extracting anonymised metadata from the images directly on our Edge AI player in the shop and then deleting the images immediately and irrevocably. All this happens within 70-100 milliseconds. Not even we have direct access to the images because they simply do not exist. This is the big difference to online, where personal data is collected en masse. With us, only anonymised, aggregated metadata leaves the edge computer for the cloud. This means we are in compliance with the GDPR, the Swiss DSG and all common data protection laws around the world, including the USA.
What has already been implemented in practice?
Nahvi: We have several successful projects under our belt. One example from the DACH region is the recent study conducted with Carlsberg at SPAR in Switzerland. We compared standard programmatic with our audience-based programmatic in 39 SPAR stores with 107 screens over a four-week period. Both approaches were tested for two weeks each. The sensory approach achieved an 18% increase in relevant target group impressions, with 72% fewer impressions required. Not only did we reach the target group better for the budget used, but we also only needed about a third of the inventory to do so. In addition, sales analyses showed a significant incremental growth of 12% compared to traditional programmatic DOOH. Our real-time targeting was once again significantly higher than loop bookings. With our technology, delivering an advertising message to the right target group at the right time not only attracted more attention, but also led directly to higher sales. In Germany, we are running campaigns for BeautyAlliance with our partner MEK Media. Outside of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, we have worked with Carrefour, among others.
Webinar: Sensor Technology in Retail – Harness Opportunities, Protect Privacy
Join us on November 19, 2025, 10–11 AM CET to learn how AI-driven sensorics enhance customer experience and ensure data protection.
Are AI applications a threat or an accelerator for sensor technology in retail media?
Nahvi: We definitely see the advent of AI as an accelerator for the entire industry. At the moment, there is a lot of talk and promise surrounding in-store retail media. People are resting on the success of online retail media, but they don’t understand that without sensor technology, this success cannot be replicated here. Online, data is available in real time, but in stores, data can only be obtained with sensor technology. AI is the industry’s only chance to catch up in terms of data quality. It is important to observe AI ethical principles. Our privacy-by-default approach is a strong argument. We can prevent AI from becoming a potential threat.
How does in-store fit into DOOH and omnichannel plans?
Nahvi: In-store has long since moved beyond the lower funnel and is now also focusing on the upper funnel. That’s the key point: we’re not just talking about shoppers who make a purchase decision at the point of sale. In physical stores, we’re dealing with enormous reach and an environment where advertising – both endemic and non-endemic – is well accepted. Consumers are in shopping mode, which makes the in-store channel an ideal full-funnel channel. It is important to structure the offering and technology in such a way that all advertisers – regardless of whether they have upper or lower funnel goals – get exactly what they want. For the lower funnel, we generate impulses that lead to sales. For the upper funnel, we offer precise targeting and deliver measurability. Thanks to our sensor technology, we show exactly what impressions, view time, dwell time and engagement look like. In-store is not just a place for the moment of purchase. It is an integral part of the overall funnel strategy – and this is a real game changer, especially in the digital out-of-home context. Precisely because loyalty cards are so often shown in shops, we can connect the in-store journey with the online world. We create a truly closed loop: not only do we see what is happening in the shop, but we can also use this data online to run truly cross-channel campaigns. With us, in-store is not just an isolated touchpoint, but part of a genuine omnichannel strategy in which the physical shop and the digital world interact seamlessly.
What role does retailers’ first-party data play?
Nahvi: First-party data is the retailer’s unfair advantage. At its core, retail media is all about using retailer data – whether it’s POS data, loyalty cards or online behaviour. In physical stores, we’ve only been able to see what happens at the end, post mortem, so to speak. Online retail media is already further ahead because you can use data in real time. Our goal is to bring this real-time advantage to physical stores. Retailers sit on a treasure trove of data that no one else has. But the trick is to activate this advantage in the shop – and we do that with sensor technology and AdTech. Only the right real-time activation turns retailers’ data into a powerful marketing tool – because it brings the online retail media effect into the physical space.
What is still holding back the technology?
Nahvi: We see challenges on three levels. On the one hand, there are still fragmented tech stacks on the customer side, which can lead to delays in decision-making processes before all the consequences have been understood. Secondly, some interested parties are still concerned about how data is handled, and we are constantly working to educate them on this issue. Finally, there is a lack of standardisation in measurements. This undermines validity and comparability. Open integrations into existing adtech landscapes, privacy by design and standardised measurement concepts with clear reporting of results are the approaches that point the way forward. We will be hosting a webinar on this topic in November and will address all relevant questions transparently.
If you are interested, how should you get started?
Nahvi: We always recommend starting with a handful of pilot stores. This allows you to familiarise yourself with the technology and use the limited scope to refine the KPI target with real data. Which audience do I want to address, what should the CPM efficiency look like and, last but not least, what sales uplift do we envisage? These are key questions for a successful campaign. This also includes setting up creative content optimisation (DCO) at an early stage and establishing data protection and privacy parameters early on. Once these prerequisites are met, which we call operational hygiene, it scales very quickly.
What’s next for Advertima?
Nahvi: “For us, it’s now a matter of capitalising on the momentum in the market. Retail media in physical spaces is still in its infancy – demand for data-driven, measurable solutions is growing rapidly. This is exactly where we are well positioned with our Audience AI technology. We started in Switzerland, then expanded into Europe and the Gulf States, and are now also active in North America and Southeast Asia. In both regions, we have signed contracts that will start rolling out in 2026. Technologically, all the foundations are in place – now it’s all about rollout speed, partner networks and operational excellence. Our global push is in full swing. By 2030, we aim to have 90 per cent of all global in-store retail media bookings unified omnichannel and audience-based. It doesn’t matter whether this is done directly or programmatically. With our technology, we are setting the standard for in-store retail media worldwide to not only be digitally connected, but to become as intelligent as online retail media. And that’s exactly what we’re working on now – step by step, market by market.”
Advertima – how the technology works
In-store retail media leads to a seamlessly integrated and unified omnichannel media channel. The Advertima Player is half the size of a standard digital signage player and comes with sustainable minimal power consumption. It is powerful enough to run Audience AI while hosting a complete digital signage CMS. The player recognises and digitises 100+ shoppers in the store and transforms them into addressable retail media audiences in real time. It runs privacy-by-design algorithms and deletes all personal or identifiable data within milliseconds directly on the local edge computer. Everything in 3D beyond 30 metres is captured, e.g. spatial position, head posture, body posture – while enabling multi-3D zoning. The data predicts anonymous audience attributes for each individual shopper (100+ at a time) in the sensor’s field of view, enabling real-time segmentation and audience targeting in <100 ms. At the same time, the software notifies the monetisation ecosystem about segmented target groups for the next available digital signage spot. From CMS to ad servers and ad orchestration layers to SSPs and DSPs, it is a holistic approach overall.
