Imagine walking through a grocery aisle, suddenly, the juice bottle waves at you. The cereal box whispers a joke. The detergent sings a jingle.
This is Tokinomo: an in-store marketing innovation that turns ordinary shelves into story-living stages.
WHAT IT IS?
Tokinomo (a.k.a Shelfobot) is a smart robotic device placed on store shelves. Using motion sensors, lights, sound and movement, it literally makes products come alive. But the magic is in how it connects to digital campaigns:
- A soda brand can make its bottle speak with the voice of a TikTok Influencer
- A snack package can move and react when you approach
- The same content runs across social media ads + physical shelves, creating a 360-degree loyalty loop
WHY IT´S COOL?
- Voice-Activated Storytelling: Products literally “speak”, delivering brand messages in real time
- Agentic AI: autonomous devices decide when and how to engage with shoppers
- The digital loyalty loop: posting or interacting earns rewards, turning curiosity into retention
- Micro-moments of Surprise: Small but powerful interactions create sticky memories
- Connected Influence: Influencer marketing leaves the screen ad lives in the physical store.
DATA-DRIVEN By Design
Tokinomo is not just playful – It is measurable. Every sensor-triggered interaction is tracker as an activation, while engagement show how many shoppers stop, look or pick up the product. Attention time reveals how long they interact, serving as a proxy for real interest. Most importantly, sale uplift is captured through integration with POS systems, often showing average increases of +200%. Brands can even run comparative A/B testing with real-time dashboards across stores and products.
WHY IT HAS FUTURE GROWTH POTENTIAL?
Tokinomo is a glimpse of how the future of digital marketing in hospitality and retail will look: interactive, data-driven, and story-rich. By blending AI, automation and connected influence, it transforms passive products into active brand agents, able to entertain, inform, and convert at the same time. As consumers demand micro-moments of surprise, seamless journeys, and purposeful engagement, solutions like Tokinomo can be scalable into restaurants, coworkings, cultural hubs, and experiential stores. It’s not just innovation in retail: it’s the foundation of new experience economy, where every object becomes part of the story.
Links:
https://www.retailtimes.co.uk/tokinomo-shelfobot-boosts-in-store-engagement
https://retailwire.com/discussion/can-tokinomo-robots-make-grocery-shopping-more-fun
Science of the Time
anamay shah
Sheima El Boutaybi
Milana Moldovanov
Gourav Makam
Thaleia Bamiha
Eva Jannat
Sebastian Duran Otaola
Glauco Rivera
Camilla ALTIERI