Brisbane marketing startup Norbit raises $400,000 to help lure customers back to bricks-and-mortar retail stores

Brisbane-based marketing tech startup Norbit has raised $400,000 in seed funding to take its retail loyalty app nationwide and help more retailers keep customers coming through their doors.

The injection of funds has come from McVay Real Estate’s Sam McVay and Premium Funding’s Hayward Family, and Norbit co-founder Gerry Mezzina says the funding will allow the startup to bolster the number of features in the app, while also take it beyond Queensland’s borders.

Mezzina launched the platform in 2015, having built it as a product within Follow digital agency, where Mezzina is general manager.

The app was developed as a way to address the growing need for retailers to generate authentic customer loyalty. By leveraging aspects of the customer’s experience in bricks-and-mortar stores in an engaging and gamified way, Norbit allows retailers to attract, reward and retain customers from within the platform.

“We worked with shopping centres for five years and saw the foot traffic decreasing,” Mezzina tells StartupSmart, noting he was observing more and more people “shopping online rather than going in to a shopping centre.”

Mezzina believes “people were expecting a bit more from the shopping centre experience,” which is why Norbit features built-in augmented reality features, which have already been run in a campaign with Queensland Rugby League that saw players brought to life through the app. Read more

Angela Castles - Smart Company - 4 Aug 2017