Fobi Signs Wallet Pass Deal with S4S, One of Iceland’s Largest Retailers, To Digitize Traditional Plastic Gift Cards

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fobi AI Inc. (FOBI: TSXV FOBIF: OTCQB) (the “Company” or “FOBI”), a leader in providing real-time data analytics through artificial intelligence to drive operational efficiencies and profitability, is pleased to announce the signing of a national Passcreator Wallet pass deal with S4S, Iceland’s largest shoe retailer. The deal involves the digitization of plastic gift cards and paper-based credit notes from S4S that will now be managed and redeemed utilizing Fobi’s Passcreator Wallet pass. S4S is one of the largest retailers in Iceland, and Fobi expects to generate immediate revenue through the licensing of Wallet passes to S4S through Leikbreytir.

S4S, ONE OF THE LARGEST NON-GROCERY RETAILERS IN ICELAND, FOCUSED ON ENVIRONMENT, COST REDUCTIONS AND CUSTOMER DATA & EXPERIENCE

S4S is Iceland’s largest non-grocery retail company with 14 stores, 4 online shops, carrying brands such as Ecco, Sketchers and Nike Air.  

S4S also owns Ellingsen, the most famous outdoor sports store in Iceland and founded in 1906.  S4S were a pioneer in the plastic gift card space and also have a return policy which gives their customers a paper-based credit note that can be redeemed in-store.

S4S had 4 key reasons for wanting to digitize their plastic gift cards and paper-based credit notes.

• To become even more environmentally friendly. Plastic gift cards are not good for the environment, so digitizing them creates a fast, easy and large impact on reducing their environmental footprint.
  
  
• Cost Savings. Digital wallet passes cost less than physical gift cards to produce and manage. The integration of Fobi’s Passcreator Wallet pass has already achieved significant operating cost reductions.
  
  
• The third is the ability to turn unknown customers into known customers for the purposes of superior marketing and engagement opportunities. Customers purchasing gift cards loaded onto Fobi’s Wallet pass provides S4S with the ability to track customer purchase habits and brand preferences to optimize both marketing and internal operations.
  
  
• The final and most important reason was to improve their customers' experiences and ensure they receive full value for their gift card purchases. Specifically, one of the major pitfalls of the physical gift card industry is the inordinate amount of profit made by issuers from unused gift cards that are lost or forgotten. S4S is on a mission to make it easier for their customers to manage and redeem their gift cards more easily, including sending messages via Fobi’s Wallet pass to customers with unused balances or in store credits when they are near an S4S store. This leads to significantly higher redemption rates and translates into significantly higher customer satisfaction.
  

As a result of these 4 benefits, S4S believes adoption of Fobi’s Passcreator Wallet pass will give them a significant advantage in Iceland’s very competitive gift card market, where corporations and the government often give gift cards to their employees, generating a significant amount of revenue for retailers. S4S believes they can capture a larger share of this market using Fobi’s Wallet pass based digital gift cards.

Petur Thor Halldorsson, CEO of S4S stated: “The Wallet pass gift card solution that Fobi and Leikbreytir have developed for us is truly revolutionary as it enables us to immediately become more environmentally friendly, reduce costs, increase profits and improve our customer experience when it comes to managing and redeeming their gift cards. And their ability to deliver this solution so quickly to meet our very tight deadline for our advertising campaign showed incredible agility and justified our decision to work with them.”

FOBI, WORKING IN COLLABORATION WITH LEIKBREYTIR, WAS ABLE TO DELIVER A NEW INTEGRATION OF WALLET PASSES FOR S4S IN ONE DAY

S4S and Leikbreytir were originally working with another Wallet pass provider to try and deliver the solution in time for a massive upcoming advertising campaign for their new digital gift card program. Unfortunately, that solution was not robust enough for their needs, so they turned to Fobi to help them deliver the full solution. The first email came in to Fobi on a Friday evening and the solution was delivered on Monday, taking just one day of development to integrate Fobi’s Wallet pass platform into the existing S4S environment that Leikbreytir had developed. The new S4S Wallet pass digital gift card program launched successfully just 4 days later, together with a large advertising campaign which corresponded with the national election.

Rob Anson, Fobi CEO stated: “The solution for S4S is a perfect example of a win-win deal for Fobi’s Wallet pass solution. Helping companies with their digital transformation is what we are all about and replacing plastic gift cards with Wallet pass digital gift cards makes enormous sense. Wallet passes are also a green and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional plastic gift cards. Working with Leikbreytir we were able to deliver a custom solution for S4S that solved their pain point in a remarkably fast time frame, which further supports the innovation and agility that the Fobi team bring to every project we work on.”

To this end, Fobi and S4S have commenced discussions on expanding their relationship through integration of Fobi’s loyalty program capabilities.

GIFT CARD MARKET GROWING FAST, EXPECTED TO GROW EVEN FASTER AND PRESENTS THE PERFECT USE CASE FOR FOBI WALLET PASSES

According to a report by Persistence Market Research, during the 2016 - 2020 period, the gift card market grew at a CAGR of 8.3% - but is expected to grow even faster from 2021 to 2031 due to the advent of digital gift cards creating a paradigm shift in the sector. Fobi is perfectly positioned to take advantage of this growing market with our Wallet pass technology providing analytics, marketing and engagement benefits far beyond the simple digital gift card solutions of our competitors.

This Press Release Is available on the Fobi Website and the FOBI Verified Forum On AGORACOM For Shareholder Discussion And Management Engagement.

About S4S
S4S are one of Iceland’s largest retail companies with 14 stores and 4 online shops.   They are a leading shoe retailer in Iceland, and carry brands such as Ecco, Sketchers and Nike Air. They also own a famous outdoor sports store in Iceland called Ellingsen founded in 1906.  

About Leikbreytir
Leikbreytir, which is Icelandic for “game changer” has decades of experience in digital development and IT services. We help companies provide their customers an excellent service experience. To this end, we utilize all the technology and knowledge available and maximize efficiency in service. We believe that sales is a service and that excellent service increases sales. We want to use technology and knowledge to achieve business-oriented goals for companies with increased sales, improved service and efficiency.

About Fobi
Fobi is a cutting-edge data intelligence company that helps our clients turn real-time data into actionable insights and personalized customer engagement to generate increased profits. Fobi's unique IoT device has the ability to integrate seamlessly into existing infrastructure to enable data connectivity across online and on-premise platforms creating highly scalable solutions for our global clients. Fobi partners with some of the largest companies in the world to deliver best-in-class solutions and operates globally in the retail, telecom, sports & entertainment, casino gaming, and hospitality & tourism industries.

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