Beyond the Back-to-School Rush: How BIC Used Retail Media to Outgrow Seasonal Demand

Challenge

Back-to-School is the biggest sales opportunity of the year for stationery brands, but also one of the hardest moments to prove incremental growth. With category demand surging across retailers, almost every brand benefits from seasonal shopping. BIC needed retail media to do more than capture this natural uplift: it had to strengthen visibility during key school-shopping missions, influence purchase decisions and demonstrate measurable growth beyond what the season alone would deliver.

Solution

Together with Footprints AI's Retail Media Network, BIC activated a 28-day omnichannel campaign across Profi and Carrefour, connecting in-store digital screens and radio with retailer apps, websites, push notifications and off-site placements. The strategy focused on relevant Back-to-School shopping missions, reaching consumers during planning, stock-up and last-minute purchases. Push notifications were timed to shoppers' predicted store visits, while 309 activated stores were compared with matched control stores to measure the campaign's contribution beyond seasonal demand.

Results

The campaign demonstrated how retail media can turn seasonal demand into stronger commercial performance:

+99.64% BIC sales volume growth in Profi campaign stores, compared with just +9.34% in control stores.
+75.46% sales value growth in Profi, while control stores recorded a 6.76% decline.
+665.52% BIC volume growth in Carrefour, outperforming the +609.73% growth recorded in control stores.
11,100 additional units sold across both retailers, above the volume expected at control-store growth rates.
€23,500 in sales value above the control-store trend, demonstrating stronger commercial performance across both retail networks.

By combining omnichannel visibility, shopper-focused targeting and control-store measurement, BIC demonstrated that retail media can deliver measurable value beyond seasonal demand. The campaign strengthened both sales volume and value, showing how targeted activation can help brands capture a greater share of peak shopping opportunities.

Download the full case study to discover how BIC used retail media to outperform seasonal trends, generate approximately 11,100 additional units above control-store expectations and drive stronger sales performance across Profi and Carrefour.