Swiftly Launches SmartCircular™, Transforming the Weekly Grocery Circular into an AI-Powered Precision Revenue Engine

SmartCircular™ leverages AI to quickly convert static circular PDFs into an interactive digital experience that drives measurable engagement and supports closed-loop performance

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Swiftly®, a leading retail technology platform, today announced the launch of SmartCircular™, a new AI-powered digital circular experience that helps grocers turn their weekly circular into a measurable performance marketing channel. SmartCircular™ makes it easy to convert existing circular PDFs into an interactive shopper experience that drives engagement, builds the shopping list, and helps connect promotions to outcomes.

The circular has long served as the commercial heartbeat of grocery retail, anchoring merchandising decisions, vendor negotiations, and weekly shopper planning. But shopper expectations have evolved: research shows that 70% of grocery shoppers now expect digital promotions to feel personalized and relevant to them. Yet most circulars remain static, non-personalized, and one size fits all, limiting shopper engagement and making it difficult for retailers to tie promotions to real performance.

SmartCircular™ modernizes the circular from a static weekly ad into a rich, interactive planning experience - where shoppers can tap, zoom, browse offers, and add items directly to their list to plan upcoming grocery trips with ease. As shoppers engage, SmartCircular™ captures valuable interaction signals that help retailers understand which promotions are resonating and influencing trip planning. By evolving a core asset that retailers already rely on, SmartCircular™ unlocks the circular’s potential as a precision revenue engine built for today’s digital shopper.

“The grocery circular has always been one of the most influential levers in retail, but it has remained largely unchanged for decades,” said Henry Kim, Co-Founder and CEO of Swiftly. “SmartCircular reimagines this core asset for the digital era by eliminating long-standing limitations and giving retailers real-time control over a fully interactive digital circular experience, turning weekly promotions into a performance-driven channel that delivers real engagement, measurable traffic, and incremental sales.”

With SmartCircular, retailers can:

• Turn a static PDF circular into an interactive digital experience fast: Upload existing circular PDFs and use AI to make items clickable in minutes, reducing manual work and speeding time to launch.
• Make it easier for shoppers to browse and plan: Let shoppers tap into deals, zoom in for details, and add items directly to their shopping list.
• Update promotions with more control: Make quick edits so the digital circular stays aligned with current promotions and merchandising priorities.
• See what shoppers engage with most: Understand which deals and products are getting attention to help evaluate promotion performance.
• Help shoppers find what they want: Support verified, UPC-level promotion data to help ensure that shoppers can see all the SKU’s on promotion and find exactly the right size or flavor they’re looking for.

"We are excited to begin the progression toward a more interactive approach with our weekly circulars. Swiftly’s AI automatically generates accurate tap targets in minutes, transforming what would be a lengthy, manual review process into a fully automated workflow. It's allowed for our team to maintain focus on execution while enhancing our ability to retrieve data from our customer's experience." - Matt Jamison, Director of Field Support & Media at Save a Lot.

SmartCircular™ is powered by Swiftly’s proprietary AI technology, helping retailers streamline how they build and maintain interactive digital circulars, reduce reliance on third-party circular vendors, and save teams hours every week.

When paired with Swiftly’s Audience Optimizer™, SmartCircular™ becomes part of a connected performance system that links promotions to digital media activation and measurement. Retailers publish promotions through SmartCircular™, shoppers engage as they browse, tap, zoom, and add items to their lists, and Audience Optimizer™ uses those insights to activate targeted onsite and offsite media tied to real offers, driving qualified traffic back to the circular and improving campaign effectiveness over time.

“SmartCircular™ is designed to connect promotion data, shopper intent, and media activation into a single system,” said Sean Turner, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Swiftly. “By pairing SmartCircular™ with Audience Optimizer™, retailers can activate real promotions across digital channels and measure impact all the way through to the basket, creating a closed-loop engine where every interaction makes the next campaign smarter and more effective.”

As print circular distribution continues to decline, retailers face growing pressure to modernize without giving up control of their customer relationships. Built on Swiftly’s retailer-first model, SmartCircular™ ensures retailers retain ownership of their data, brand, and shopper experience, while delivering the performance and measurement required in today’s digital landscape.

To learn more about how Swiftly is transforming retail media, visit www.swiftly.com.

About Swiftly

Swiftly is a leading provider of technology and retail media and technology solutions for retailers worldwide. Founded in 2018, Swiftly empowers brick-and-mortar retailers to build stronger relationships with their shoppers and the brands they carry. With Swiftly’s digital suite, retailers can drive engagement, loyalty, and incremental revenue, while enabling brands to reach the right shoppers at the right time with personalized, measurable promotions. Trusted by hundreds of iconic brands and over 70 retail partners, Swiftly is leveling the playing field and giving retailers the tools they need to compete in today’s marketplace. For more information, visit www.swiftly.com.