Davis-based retail pricing strategy platform Engage3 has signed up Loop Neighborhood Market as a customer for its real-time data on fuel pricing in its multiple markets.
Engage3 provides retailers data on their own and competitors’ retail prices. In the case of Loop, the data is specifically for fuel pricing, CEO Edris Bemanian told the Business Journal.
“If your competition drops gas prices by 10 cents a gallon, all of a sudden, you can lose all your traffic,” Bemanian said.
That is even more true for gas stations, which are attached to Loop stores, and which advertise fuel prices on electronic monument signs.
“We allow them to look at updated real-time pricing data to drive competitive pricing strategies,” Bemanian said.
Engage3’s pricing date can be updated as often as hourly.
“It is all about being competitive,” he said. “People don’t realize how competitive this space is. A little change in price can make a big difference.”
Loop markets feature fresh made-to-order deli food, fresh fruit, hot food, groceries, a wine selection and a “Loop wall o’ beers” selection, as well as frozen drinks and gourmet coffee. The stores also boast indoor seating and free high-bandwidth Wi-Fi for customers to use while they linger in the store, which is unusual for a convenience store, he said.
“They are going after a millennial and Gen Z audience,” Bemanian said. “They are building brand loyalty. They are legitimately trying to build a community.”
Fremont-based Loop opened its first store in Santa Clara in 2013. It now has more than 56 stores in the Bay Area, Sacramento and Southern California. All stores have propane exchanges, and most stores have an ATM. More than 40 locations have a car wash and a handful of stores are Amazon Locker locations.
Davis-based retail technology software company Engage3 in August was again named on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in the country. It was Engage3’s ninth consecutive year of making the list.
Nine of the top 10 largest retailers in the world use Engage3, up from seven of the eight largest at the end of last year, Bemanian said. Additionally, Engage3 has nine of the 10 largest convenience retailers in the U.S. and Canada as customers.
In addition to mass retailers, Engage3 customers include Paris-based international luxury brand company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
In September last year, Engage3 raised $7 million in follow-on funding to grow the company, which was on top of a $35 million funding round Engage3 raised at the end of 2021, which was led by Marina Del Rey-based Arrowroot Capital Management, a growth equity firm specializing in business-to-business software-as-a-service companies.
In August of 2022, Engage3 acquired Dexi.io, a San Francisco-based company that developed artificial intelligence-enabled web crawlers that capture data from websites. That merger doubled Engage3’s employee count to 250 and added new offices in Salt Lake City, Copenhagen, London and Tirana, Albania, to Engage3’s offices in Davis, Phoenix and Atlanta.
