Upshop and Swish Brand Experiences Announce Strategic Partnership to Surprise and Delight eCommerce Shoppers

Technology integration revolutionizes retail media and product sampling

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Upshop, a leading store operations technology provider, and Swish Brand Experiences, the data-led, programmatic, Sponsored Product Sampling platform, announced today a strategic partnership that will revolutionize product sampling as a retail media experience.

This collaboration continues Upshop’s track record for adding value on its platform for retailers such as Giant Eagle, Hy-Vee, SpartanNash, and Lowes Foods. By integrating Sponsored Product Sampling capabilities to the platform, retailers can surprise and delight shoppers while generating new revenue streams. Swish’s Sponsored Product Sampling platform empowers retailers with a seamless, measurable, data-led capability for experiential sampling campaigns in their retail media offering to CPG brands.

According to FMI’s report, The Food Retailing Industry Speaks 2024, more than 80% of food retailers have been investing in new technologies that improve the customer experience. Most retailers (92%) continue to use technology to personalize or customize the marketing or shopping experience, both online and in-store. Personalized product recommendations tied to in-home sampling offer first-hand experiences that can help people feel more confident in purchases.

Key Highlights of the Partnership:

• Seamless integration of Swish's platform with Upshop's eCommerce order management technology
• Enables retailers to launch data-driven sampling campaigns with CPG brand partners
• Offers a frictionless solution that empowers retailers to unlock new revenue streams and deliver impactful brand experiences to shoppers
• Bridges the gap between digital and physical shopper engagement, driving trial, repeat purchases, and enhanced customer experiences

"Largely, eCommerce has been defined by costs with operators focused on efficiencies. This partnership adds real value to the shopper experience without any additional work for the store team. The opportunities within our eCommerce marketplace are limitless – from creating an omnichannel perpetual inventory to leveraging workforce labor agreements for adding order capacity, Upshop is rapidly elevating eCommerce operations,” said Mike Weber, CMO of Upshop.

Adam Stave, CEO of Swish Brand Experiences, shared, "Our integration with Upshop will make it easy for retailers to launch and grow Sponsored Product Sampling. This partnership removes technical barriers and expands the Swish network, giving CPG brands a seamless way to reach their next best customers through measurable, programmatic sampling at scale. This is a big step in creating value for all parties—helping retailers move faster, innovate, and collaborate with CPG brands to convert incremental shoppers and create long-term customer value.”

The partnership expands Upshop's eCommerce marketplace, providing retailers with a frictionless solution that delivers customer satisfaction and impactful brand experiences with minimal capital expenditures. In a recent “Retail Media Forecast Report Update,” eMarketer forecasted that more than $10 billion in incremental ad spending will flow into US retail media this year, with spending increasing by 88.5%, reaching $97.91 billion by 2028.

About Upshop

Upshop is the foremost provider of a SaaS platform designed to streamline forecasting, ordering, production, and inventory optimization processes for food retailers. Its unified platform simplifies and enhances associate tasks, promoting smarter and more interconnected operations across Fresh, Center, DSD, and eCommerce departments. With over 450+ retailers and 50,000+ stores relying on its mission-critical operations platform globally, customers have witnessed substantial enhancements in sales, shrinkage reduction, food safety, and sustainability throughout their stores.

To learn more about the Total Store Operations Experience, visit https://upshop.com/, and watch customer testimonials at Upshop Total Store Operations Experience - YouTube.

About Swish Brand Experiences

Swish Brand Experiences is the first-ever data-led, programmatic sampling platform, designed to connect retailers and brands in a new value chain that delivers targeted, measurable, and automated Sponsored Product Sampling campaigns. By applying advanced adtech methodologies to the product sampling space, Swish creates a new standard rooted in transparency, efficiency, and innovation.