Former Delhaize CEO Beckers leads start-up Amoobi to US

Belgian startup Amoobi, specialised in the analysis of shopper behaviour, opens an office in New York. To conquer the American market, the company has called upon the experience of a number of former Delhaize CEOs.

Identify shopper behaviour

Amoobi studies customer behaviour in physical stores, based on optical 3D sensors that detect shoppers’ and employees’ movements on the floor and convert them into data. The company already works for a great number of large retailers and is now taking a new step in its international expansion with the opening of an office in New York. Amoobi does this with the support of considerable retail management experience, writes Belgian newspaper L’Echo.

Shareholder and chairman of the board of directors is former CEO of Delhaize Group Pierre-Olivier Beckers. He recruited some old acquaintances to assist Amoobi in the huge American market: Ronald Hodge (former Delhaize America CEO) and Craig Owens (former Campbell Soup and Delhaize America CFO) will form the advisory board of Amoobi in the United States together with Beckers.

For retailers en manufacturers

Amoobi’s data provide insights into shopper behaviour that can be used at store level or company level: retailers can optimise the customer route in their stores, manufacturers learn to understand why shoppers prefer a certain product over another and how they respond to promotions.

Four of the world’s top ten retailers already work with this solution, says the company, which operates in ten countries on four continents and has already analysed more than 200 stores and millions of customer visits. In the United Kingdom, the company works with three of the four largest retailers: Tesco, Morrison and Asda. Last year Amoobi reached a turnover of a million euro, this year that should reach 1.5 million, says CEO Olivier Delangre.