Exciting times at M-Cube – the appointment of CEO Gianluca Pasquali and CSO Markus Korn marks the beginning of a new growth phase for the €65 million revenue company. M-Cube has recently secured major retail projects, now being rolled out. The Group’s president Manlio Romanelli shared with invidis how the Italian integrator plans to expand in 2025.
2024 was another successful year for M-Cube in the digital signage industry, achieving nearly double-digit revenue growth. Its biggest success came from securing new projects, many set to launch on a large scale in 2025.
The most significant win was a global rollout of auto showrooms for a European volume car manufacturer. In partnership with Accenture, M-Cube secured its largest contract to date, with nearly 20,000 digital signage touchpoints to be installed worldwide.
In Europe, M-Cube secured two major retail media contracts, each involving thousands of displays: The company will serve as a technology partner for two supermarket chains in Italy and the UK – developing, installing, and managing their entire in-store networks. The installations will feature SoC (System on Chip) screens and M-Cube’s proprietary DXP One software platform, integrated with key booking platforms via APIs.
The full retail media package
“For retail media installations, SoC displays are the best solution. Without external players, the screens can be quickly and cleanly installed in stores,” explains Manlio Romanelli, Executive Group President and Founder of M-Cube, in his invidis interview. M-Cube handles project management, and for the installation, M-Cube relies on the supermarket’s in-house electricians. “No one knows the store better than the on-site technician. And the customers are highly satisfied.”
The retail media networks are designed to be highly robust, with no additional retail analytics required on the screens. “We integrate data from the existing people counters at the entrance into the booking platform. Supermarkets are looking for mature, stable digital signage solutions for operational reliability,” Romanelli adds.
However, “robust” does not mean “unsmart” – M-Cube also integrates existing queue management solutions, scales, and in-store radio systems into the retail media networks.
More acquisitions in sight
In 2024, M-Cube also won additional automotive clients and a global travel retail customer. The company’s leadership also reports being at the forefront in several other tenders.
On the acquisition front, prospects are said to look equally strong, which proves once again that Europe’s market leaders are able to navigate economically uncertain times much better than smaller integrators – and are gaining market share at their expense.
As part of these growth plans, M-Cube has also strengthened its leadership: Gianluca Pasquali was appointed as the new CEO, joining from Vodafone, and replacing Bernd Hofstetter, who left the company at the end of March. On the sales side, M-Cube has also reorganized, with Markus Korn taking on the role of Group CSO, overseeing global sales activities.
Manlio Romanelli looks to the future with great optimism: “We expect 2025 to be a fantastic year, we’ve done our homework.”
