QSIC

QSIC is an AI-powered in-store audio platform designed to help retailers, brands, and agencies transform in-store sound into a measurable revenue channel. Operating in over 30,000 stores across multiple markets and growing at nearly 200% year on year, the company delivers intelligent audio experiences that combine curated music, targeted advertising, and real-time performance analytics within a single managed platform.

At its core, QSIC functions as a retail media network built around audio. Its ad platform enables brands and agencies to deliver contextual audio advertisements aligned with peak shopping hours, seasonal trends, inventory shifts, and store-level demand signals. Campaigns are optimized in real time using location and time data, and measured through closed-loop attribution backed by first-party transactional data. This approach gives brands verifiable sales lift data rather than estimated impressions, a significant differentiator in the crowded retail media landscape. One documented case study showed an 8% unit volume lift for a milk brand through contextual audio ad serving.

Beyond advertising, QSIC provides a fully managed in-store music experience. Custom curated playlists are tailored to match each retailer's brand identity and are managed by an in-house music curation team. Patented hardware with automatic volume control adjusts audio levels based on ambient noise conditions, ensuring consistent sound quality across all locations. A centralized management dashboard allows retailers to control music, messaging, volume, and alerts across their entire store network from a single interface.

The platform is particularly well-suited for quick service restaurant (QSR) environments and large-format retail, where audio consistency across many locations is operationally complex. Early research conducted by the founders demonstrated that audio tempo adjustments could reduce drive-thru service times by two seconds per order at peak periods — a meaningful efficiency gain at scale.

QSIC was co-founded by Matt Elsley (CEO) and Nick Larkins (Chief Product Officer), who brought backgrounds in point-of-sale networking and smart home automation before pivoting to retail audio intelligence. The company weathered significant disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic, using forced downtime to rebuild its experimentation and demand-sensing infrastructure to support scaling to 100,000 stores. AI now underpins IoT fleet monitoring across tens of thousands of devices, including self-healing code, anomaly detection, and automated alerting.

Recognition includes placement at #8 on Deloitte's Tech Fast 50 in 2025, multiple Retail Media Awards, and a New Technology Solution of the Year designation. QSIC's AI voice tool also enables brands to generate ad copy and natural-sounding voiceovers in minutes without studio production, lowering the barrier to entry for audio advertising at scale.