Qples Provides End-to-End Solution To Capitalize on $225 Billion Coupon Industry That Is Still 90% + Paper But Now Rapidly Moving To Digital AI 8112 Coupons Distributed By The World’s Biggest Brands And Validated In Real-Time Through The Coupon Bureau.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 27, 2021 - FOBI AI Inc. (TSXV: FOBI) (OTCQB: FOBIF:) (the "Company" or "FOBI"), a global leader in providing real-time data analytics through artificial intelligence to drive customer activation and engagement is pleased to announce the signing of a Binding Letter Of Intent (“LOI”) to acquire Qples, a key player in the Coupon Industry with relationships to leading CPG brands and full support of the new AI (8112) Digital Standard for coupons. Qples is a cash flow positive business that is expected to generate approximately $USD 1,000,000 in revenues for 2021 and $2,000,00 for 2022 prior to any impact from this acquisition, which is expected to be completed in August, subject to customary due diligence and Exchange approvals.
QPLES AN ESTABLISHED DIGITAL COUPON LEADER
Qples is a next generation provider of digital coupons, and the first coupon provider to sign on to The Coupon Bureau’s universal digital coupon AI 8112 project. Qples recently announced the launch of the Grocery Coupon Network mobile application, the first IOS and Android app to allow consumers to discover, save and redeem both print@home and universal digital coupons in one place.
As a result, for the first time, global Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands are able to deliver manufacturer-level digital coupons into any digital platform and track the performance via detailed data and analytics. Through its proprietary coupon delivery platform, Qples provides brands with data about the offers and the consumers such as name, gender, location, point of origin and much more. Qples provides a disruptive and cost-effective way for brands and businesses to accurately market to consumers across social, local, and mobile channels.
The new coupons are similar to, but notably different from, current load-to-card digital grocery coupons. Specifically, unlike load-to-card coupons that must be clipped and used at a specific retailer, universal digital coupons can be used anywhere. Moreover, and very importantly, they include unprecedented fraud prevention features that solve issues such as counterfeit coupons and glitching, where coupon users use high-value coupons on lower-priced items for which they’re not intended.
QPLES ACQUISITION PLAYS IMPORTANT ROLE IN CONNECTING CPG BRANDS AND RETAILERS THROUGH FOBI WALLET PASS AND PILOTS
The acquisition of Qples is an important next step in Fobi’s strategy to connect CPG brands and retailers, as well as become leaders in the key retail verticals of Grocery, Convenience and Pharmacy, where the Company has announced major pilots, including Canada’s 2nd largest grocer with over $26 Billion in revenue. The benefits of this acquisition are as follows:
- With the recent integration of Fobi’s Wallet pass and The Coupon Bureau’s new Universal Digital Coupon standard AI (8112), the acquisition of Qples is a great fit to enable a coupon service and another activation channel for grocery and convenience retailers and CPGs.
- With Fobi’s receipt marketing and e-receipt capabilities, it enables a platform for coupons to be printed at the till or delivered digitally through email or Fobi’s Wallet pass.
- Fobi’s segmentation & personalization capabilities will enhance the delivery of targeted coupons and offers to the right customers at the right time.
- This is the final piece of the puzzle that enables a new revenue stream for Fobi, selling coupons to CPGs, which is complementary to Fobi’s core SAAS business.
Qples 4.0 is the latest generation of the coupon management platform built to support the new AI (8112), retailer agnostic mobile coupons. It is connected to The Coupon Bureau as one of the first-to-market providers and utilizes all features available to distribution providers making it ready for digital deployment and positioned to disrupt the digital coupon space.
With a forecast of approximately $USD 2,000,000 in 2022 revenue prior to any impact from this acquisition, the combined synergies of Fobi & Qples create significant growth potential.
Fobi AI CEO Rob Anson states "The acquisition of Qples gives Fobi powerful abilities to offer a coupon management platform to CPGs and a seamless end-to-end solution for our customers, allowing us to attack the market from both ends. With this acquisition we gain a turn-key asset that immediately plugs into the Fobi solution stack, enabling us to leverage and add greater value to existing revenue contracts with CPGs. As a cash flow positive business on the cusp of a major breakout Qples is a perfect example of Fobi’s ideology of Partner, Build or Buy. "
Qples President Eddy Watson states “Joining with Fobi makes perfect sense for us. It creates new opportunities for Qples by coupling our industry leading coupon technology with Fobi’s vast portfolio of complementary products. With advanced personalization, multi-vertical presence, and a global footprint; we look forward to helping CPGs deliver smarter offers to their consumers in more places than ever before.”
FORMER NIELSENIQ EXECUTIVE RICHARD LEE DELIVERS ON FIRST M&A OPPORTUNITY WITH QPLES ACQUISITION. BALANCE SHEET PROVIDES OPPORTUNITY FOR FURTHER STRATEGIC ACQUISITIONS
On June 8, 2021, FOBI appointed former NielsenIQ VP of Strategic Alliances North America, Richard Lee, as SVP of Strategy & Corporate Development to help refine FOBI’s focus and further define our roadmap for mergers and acquisitions. This appointment was preceded by NielsenIQ and FOBI announcing a “Strategic Alliance to Transform The Retail Sector.” This acquisition forms an important part of the foundation that will help achieve that transformational goal.
With his deep knowledge of the market research and data & analytics industry, Richard will continue to work with Senior Management and focus on further M&A opportunities. His background at NielsenIQ is key for executing on Fobi’s Retail strategy focused on Grocery, Convenience and Pharmacy, all of which represent legacy industries with hundreds of billions of CPG dollars flowing into them in search of better and faster ways to engage retail customers. Qples gives Fobi the activation capabilities to immediately go after these verticals at scale.
FOBI SVP of Corporate Strategy & Corporate Development Richard Lee states, "This deal aligns very well with our growth strategy as we set out to work across the various retail verticals and build a collaboration model between retailers and CPG brands. The acquisition of Qples brings additional capabilities that interface with our current suite of services and strengthens our position to help connect the CPG and retail industry.”
To this end, the Company recently stated that a recent private placement and warrant exercises injected a further $10.4 million in working capital to both fund current growth and further strategic acquisitions.
$225 BILLION COUPON INDUSTRY RIPE FOR DISRUPTION WITH ONLY 4.2% DISTRIBUTED DIGITALLY
In 2020, according to TCB, there were over 1.3 billion coupons redeemed with CPG brands having spent more than $225 billion in promotional spending on coupons. However, according to Kantar, only 4.2% of all CPG coupons were distributed digitally, and digital coupons only represented 3.4% of the total value of coupons redeemed. Primarily due to the lack of a standardized digital ecosystem, this discrepancy clearly goes against what consumers are demanding both from a convenience and a safety perspective in a post-Covid world. Consumers want the ability to redeem their coupons on their mobile phones using safe, contactless redemption technologies, which is what Fobi will deliver with this acquisition of Qples, together with Fobi’s Wallet Pass integration with The Coupon Bureau.
This Press Release Is Available on the Fobi Website and the FOBI Verified Forum On AGORACOM For Shareholder Discussion And Management Engagement.
ABOUT QPLES
Qples is a next generation provider of digital coupons and the first-ever coupon platform that natively integrates with Facebook, while still functioning in other mediums or channels: website, blog, banner ads, QR codes, Twitter and more. For the first time, brands are able to deliver manufacturer-level digital coupons, including unprecedented fraud prevention features, into any digital platform and track the performance via detailed data and analytics.
Through our proprietary coupon delivery platform, Qples provides brands with data about the offers and the consumers such as name, gender, location, point of origin and much more. Qples provides a disruptive and cost-effective way for brands and businesses to accurately market to consumers across social, local and mobile channels.
Qples recently announced the launch of the Grocery Coupon Network mobile application, the first IOS and Android app to allow consumers to discover, save and redeem both print@home and universal digital coupons in one place. Additionally with the ability to bundle all digital coupons into one master barcode, lane time is preserved, and consumers can take advantage of a truly contact-less redemption of coupons.
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.