Retail Solutions Inc.

Retail Solutions Inc

Company type	Private
Industry	Software, Retail analytics, SaaS
Founded	2003 (2003)
Founder	Jonathan Golovin, Richard Swan, Peter Rieman, Shantha Mohan
Fate	Acquired by IRI Worldwide in October 2020
Headquarters	Mountain View , United States
Area served	Worldwide (including USA, China, Russia, Belgium, UK)
Products	Retail analytics software, Demand Signal Management, Vendor Pulse, Retail Execution Management platform
Parent	IRI Worldwide (since 2020)

Retail Solutions Inc (RSi), based in Mountain View, California, is a software firm delivering SaaS solutions focused on data management, reporting, business intelligence, and point of sale systems. Identified by Forbes as a prominent yet somewhat low-profile SaaS company, RSi originally concentrated on radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology before transitioning to retail analytics. In October 2020, RSi became part of IRI Worldwide through acquisition.

History

Established in 2003 under the name T3Ci by Jonathan Golovin, Richard Swan, Peter Rieman, and Shantha Mohan, the enterprise initially created software for analyzing RFID data, primarily catering to consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and retail businesses. Early financing included a $9.4 million Series A round in 2004 from Venrock, Red Rock Ventures, and SAP Ventures, followed by an $8.8 million Series B led by Bessemer Venture Partners in 2005. Growth was bolstered by strategic alliances with major retailers such as Wal-Mart and CPG leaders like Procter & Gamble, which also facilitated the establishment of an office in Bentonville, Arkansas.

By 2007, T3Ci had processed its billionth RFID tag scan and served more than thirty clients, including four of the top five CPG manufacturers, achieving annual revenue growth of 150%. Following Wal-Mart’s discontinuation of its RFID mandate in 2007, T3Ci acquired VeriSign’s Retail Data Services division and rebranded as Retail Solutions Inc., pivoting towards "demand signal repositories" and point-of-sale analytics. RSi forged essential collaborations with retailers such as CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens, and Delhaize USA.

International expansion began with the creation of a Chinese branch in Shanghai in 2008, alongside the introduction of Retail Visibility and Retail Intelligence products within the Retail Execution Management platform. Market presence was further strengthened by the 2011 acquisition of UK-based retail analytics company Retail Insight.

In 2012, RSi launched Vendor Pulse in cooperation with Delhaize Belgium, granting suppliers complimentary access to raw daily retail data alongside subscription-based web reporting services. That same year marked RSi’s entry into Russia through the opening of operations in Moscow.

Retailers

RSi aggregates point-of-sale data from more than 225 retailers, including Ahold USA, Family Dollar, Food Lion, Delhaize Belgium, Delhaize America, Safeway, and Walgreens, serving as a reliable intermediary for data exchange with suppliers. Food Lion, operating over 1,300 stores across eleven states, adopted RSi’s Demand Signal Management (DSM) system in June 2008 to share granular sales and inventory information by store location, day, and SKU. This initiative contributed to minimizing unsellable stock and optimizing promotional resource allocation, thereby improving supply chain performance.

Hannaford Supermarkets, with more than 160 outlets across the United States, implemented DSM in December 2008 to facilitate supplier access to point-of-sale data with goals of enhancing shopper satisfaction and increasing supplier engagement. By March 2009, Walgreens had incorporated 120 suppliers into its RSi-powered data-sharing network. Delhaize Belgium introduced its Vendor Pulse program utilizing RSi technology in January 2012 to provide suppliers with detailed sales and inventory insights aimed at deepening customer understanding.

Community

In September 2008, Retail Solutions became a participant in the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) Internship Foundation initiative, providing internships crucial for students to fulfill graduation requirements. The following year, RSi launched an internship program in Rhode Island aimed at business and computer science students from Brown University and Providence College. These internships concentrated on projects such as developing executive dashboards, expanding training content, and conducting customer satisfaction research. A number of these interns later secured permanent positions at RSi or moved on to prominent companies including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Morgan Stanley, and Apple.

RSi delivers ongoing support to its clients through monthly webinars focused on platform education and organizes more than ten user group meetings annually in cities like Chicago, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Charlotte, Providence, and Bentonville. These gatherings emphasize retailer-driven initiatives, case studies showcasing the application of downstream data by customers, and discussions on future product developments—enhancing customer involvement and fostering leadership in retail data strategy.