Guide · For brands
Platforms for brands activating retail staff: a Retail Activation guide
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Brands selling through retail partners have a recurring problem: the people who actually sell the product work for someone else. Several categories of software address the problem, and they are less alike than the labels suggest. Some pay store associates directly for verified sales. Some distribute product training across a network of retailers. One gives verified industry professionals discounted product in exchange for advocacy. Others are platforms a brand and a retailer operate together. Most brands, in practice, are still using a learning management system, a partner portal or something an agency built. This page describes each honestly, including where Atobi does not fit.
The options
Option | What it actually does | Suits a brand that |
|---|---|---|
ENDVR | Sell-through network. Sales incentives, consumer cashback, light digital education. The core mechanic is paying store associates directly for verified sales | Is US-focused and wants an incentive programme live fast and cheap. Free to start |
Myagi (Rallyware, since 2023) | Training network. Brands publish product education; retailers aggregate and control what their associates see. 250+ brands on the platform | Has a fragmented retail base, with many independents, and wants education distributed widely |
ExpertVoice | Pro-deal marketplace. Verified industry professionals, including retail employees, get heavily discounted product. Advocacy through ownership rather than training | Wants advocates who personally use the product, and treats discounted product as the incentive |
SellPro | Retail training and engagement. Micro-learning, gamification, incentives, surveys, reporting. Sells to brands, retailers and store personnel | Wants training plus engagement mechanics in one place |
SparkPlug | Incentive management for retail teams. Incentives, analytics, courses | Is led by an incentive programme and wants the analytics under it |
Atobi | Retail activation across the brand-retailer boundary. Training, campaign execution, visual compliance, rewards, and sales data joined to completion | Sells through large multibrand chains across several markets and languages |
And the three most brands are actually using
The incumbents are the real competition, so be straight about them.
Approach | Why brands use it | Where it runs out |
|---|---|---|
A learning management system | Already owned, already paid for | Built for employees. Store staff at a partner are not in your HR system and will not create a supplier account |
A partner portal or extranet | Total control, no licence cost | A pull channel aimed at people with no reason to pull. The common experience is very low engagement |
Something an agency built | Exactly what you specified | The build is the small cost. Every change is a billable request, and often so is publishing |
How to choose
Three questions settle it faster than a feature list.
1. Is your retail base fragmented or concentrated? Many small independents favours a network you can plug into. A handful of large chains that matter favours a platform you and the chain agree on, because reach is not the obstacle; the relationship is.
2. Is the programme one market or many? A single market tolerates almost any option. Several markets and languages put weight on localisation and per-market configuration, which most of this category does not do deeply.
3. Is the mechanic money, product, or knowledge? Paying associates directly works in North America and runs into employment and tax rules across European markets. Discounted product suits categories where staff want to own the gear. Knowledge and campaign execution suit programmes judged on sell-out rather than sign-ups.
Where Atobi fits, and where it does not
Atobi suits a brand whose important retail partners are large multibrand chains, operating across several markets, where the programme covers more than training: campaign execution, visual compliance, and completion joined to point-of-sale data.
Atobi is the wrong choice for a small, single-market incentive programme you want live next week. ENDVR is faster and cheaper to start, and free to begin. If your estate is mostly small independents, a network like Myagi gives you distribution on day one that no platform-by-platform rollout will match. And if your retail partners genuinely use the portal you already built, keep it.
One thing worth knowing about this category
The category is consolidating. Rallyware acquired Myagi in May 2023. Beekeeper, a major frontline name, is now part of LumApps. Two of the most visible products in and around this category are now owned by larger platforms. If you are shown a product plus its parent’s wider stack, ask to see both in one demo on one login, and ask whether there is one data model and one roadmap.
Frequently asked questions
What software do brands use to reach store staff at retailers they do not own?
Several categories address the problem. Sell-through networks such as ENDVR pay associates for verified sales. Training networks such as Myagi distribute product education across retailers. ExpertVoice gives verified professionals discounted product in exchange for advocacy. Retail activation platforms such as Atobi run training alongside campaign execution and sales data. Most brands, though, are still using a learning management system, a partner portal, or something an agency built for them.
Why do brands struggle to train staff at their retail partners?
Because the staff are not the brand’s. Store staff are not in the brand’s HR system, will not create an account with a supplier, and their employer decides what they are asked to do. Anything built on employment assumptions, such as mandatory completion, corporate logins and HR records, fails at that boundary. What works is an arrangement the retailer agrees to, and content that reaches staff without a separate account.
Is it better to buy a platform or use the portal we already have?
Ask one question: how many store associates opened the portal last month, and in which stores? If you can answer, the portal is working and you should keep it. If nobody measures it, that is usually the answer. Portals are pull channels aimed at people with no reason to pull.
