Pixel Inspiration passes 100 staff, details Shell forecourt and Lloyds projects
2026-11-13 · via AV Magazine
Digital signage integrator Pixel Inspiration has marked its 20th anniversary and grown past 100 employees, now standing at 115, according to co-founder and sales director Nikk Smith, speaking to AV Magazine. The milestone matters to operators because Pixel Inspiration is one of the larger specialist integrators handling at-scale in-store rollouts for retailers including Tesco, Boots, Argos and TK Maxx, and its growth tracks the wider shift of retail signage budgets toward retail media networks.
The company is owned by Bnode (formerly part of Belgian Post Group's Bpost), having been acquired first by logistics firm STACI and then folded into Bnode when that company acquired STACI. Smith says the ownership change hasn't altered day-to-day operations much but has given the business financial backing and room to expand into Benelux and France.
Two projects stand out in the interview. Pixel Inspiration upgraded Shell UK forecourts with a custom hardware and software solution, replacing an ageing system across 91 UK sites in partnership with Altavia. Each unit is integrated with its fuel dispenser, uses a proximity sensor to detect approaching vehicles, and pulls data from the pump's proprietary protocol to drive context-aware content tied to the fuelling process. The 32-inch displays sit in a protective enclosure designed to fit tight forecourt space and angled to reduce impact damage from vehicles. Smith says Shell is now extending the rollout with more than 400 screens across the Netherlands, and that the network delivers over 10 million motorist impressions a year with 193 million total impressions, figures attributed to the company.
Separately, Pixel Inspiration built a holographic display for Lloyds Bank's three UK head office sites, tied to an LED wall and ceiling installation marking the bank's 200-year history. Smith describes it as a smaller-scale but technically demanding project compared with the firm's usual estate-wide work.
On industry trends, Smith points to retail media networks as the dominant commercial driver, alongside growing retailer attention to sustainability and the early stages of AI adoption for monitoring, audience detection and content generation. He singles out Tesco's work with dunnhumby as a leading example of a retailer building a coherent retail media strategy rather than treating screens as disconnected ad inventory.
Smith's advice to retailers entering retail media: treat it as a long-term investment, not a rushed deployment, and recognise that digital signage and retail media require different commercial and technical foundations. The announcement does not specify financial terms for any of the projects mentioned. Pixel Inspiration says it has a 750-store, 3,000-display project in progress combining LED, dual-sided LCD windows and totems, plus a Paris flagship installation nearing completion.
The announcement in full
Reproduced from AV Magazine for reference. Digital Signage Magazine did not write the text below.
By AV Magazine in Digital Signage and DOOH , Retail , UK&I November 12, 2026 0
Pixel Inspiration’s Nikk Smith tells us about notable projects in forecourts and banking, current trends in retail and a focus on unglamorous, long-term support.
Nikk Smith is a co-founder and sales director at Pixel Inspiration, one of the leading digital signage integrators in Europe. Pixel Inspiration specialises in “at scale” in-store digital rollouts by providing full-service specification, design, consultation, installation, content and support.
The company recently celebrated its 20-year anniversary and surpassed the 100-employee mark. Here Smith talks to us about the company’s history, notable recent projects and current trends.
AV: What would you say has been the key to Pixel Inspiration’s longevity and success?
NS: I think it’s a combination of factors. Firstly, we were one of the first integrators to specialise purely in digital signage, rather than pro AV overall. We saw a gap in the market for a company that could help clients design in-store signage, install the design, provide the on-screen content, and also service installations both remotely and on site where required. We believe that providing a complete service, focusing heavily on the unglamourous long-term support aspects, has been one key to our success, along with the capability of our solutions.
AV: How did Belgian Post Group acquire the company and what difference has that made?
NS: It’s a multi-part story. We were initially acquired by an international logistics company, STACI, with the rationale being that they had seen a drop in their activity managing traditional in-store POS due to the increasing impact of digital. After several years under their ownership, BPOST group, now Bnode, acquired STACI and we came along with the deal. In terms of the day-to-day running of Pixel itself, it hasn’t really made a huge difference, but what it has done is provided us with the financial clout that comes with the backing of a large organisation, and also the opportunity to expand further into the Benelux countries, France and other territories.
AV: You’ve supplied a huge number of clients from Selfridges to Argos, Tesco, Boots, Volvo, TK Maxx and other big names. What has been a challenging or notable project for you?
NS: We recently upgraded Shell UK forecourts with an all-in-one solution that needed to stand up to everything from extreme weather to being hit by a wing mirror. The previous solution for this was getting old and not hugely reliable. We were invited to tender with a partner, Altavia. After a very successful rollout in the UK across 91 forecourts, they are now migrating the incumbent solution to our service and rolling out another 400+ screens across the Netherlands. This is a great example of a dynamic retail media network, reaching over 10 million motorists annually with 193 million impressions.
AV: What made this project so challenging?
NS: The project was challenging for technical, operational, and commercial reasons.
Shell’s objective was to re-launch a dynamic national digital retail media network, to provide an additional revenue stream, enhance customer engagement, turn dwell time into brand time and improve customer communication at forecourts.
The brief was to replace and upgrade the legacy system with a robust, future-proof solution. The complexities were around the space and environmental constraints, together with system integration between the fuel pumps and the displays. The new installation demanded innovative hardware engineering and dynamic, context-aware content delivery.
All hardware and software were custom-designed to suit Shell’s requirements. Each unit was integrated directly with its fuel dispenser and includes a proximity sensor to detect when a vehicle approaches. The screens use the pump’s proprietary protocol to deliver real-time, context-aware content. The unit’s display dispenses data alongside targeted marketing messages, dynamically responding to each stage of the fuelling process for a seamless and engaging customer journey.
The protective enclosure was designed to allow a 32” display to fit into the very tight space available, using an offset angle to minimise the potential for damage by impact from passing vehicles.
AV: Have other projects also required a high degree of technology expertise?.
NS: We approach all our projects by first understanding what the client is looking for and wanting to achieve. Lloyds Bank has been a long-time customer. We had already supplied in-store digital solutions to its UK network of bank branches. However, to celebrate its 200-year history, Lloyds wanted to create something that would allow visitors to its three main UK HQ sites to be educated about its history. We recently completed an installation in those sites that included a holographic display that could be controlled by the user, dynamically linked to the content on an LED wall and ceiling behind. The results were really impressive and engaging. Lloyds were thrilled with the results. This was an unusual project for us, as most of our work tends to be at a much larger estate-wide scale, but this and the Shell project I feel demonstrate our ability to provide highly technical and effective solutions, at any scale.
AV: More generally, what trends are you now seeing in digital signage?
Retail media networks (RMNs) offer a lucrative new revenue stream and retail first-party data is the foundation. Monetised retail media and retail media as a service are now a top strategic priority for retailers and our background and experience in managing large, estate-wide digital deployments really sets us apart.
Sustainability – this has been a hot topic for a while, but we’re seeing evidence that retailers are now starting to take into account more than the spec sheets and supplier accreditations, really thinking about the long-term costs and impacts of their technology choices
AI’s impact on the signage market for monitoring, management, audience detection, content generation, etc… With all the investment and improvement in capability and performance over the last few years, it’s inevitable that we’ll see more integration into our core services and activities.
AV: What’s your advice to retailers seeking to install a retail media network?
NS: My advice would be look at digital as a long-term investment rather than rushing to deploy a solution just to be part of the current goldrush. You need so much more than a screen to make a retail media network viable. What’s often missed is an understanding of the differences between digital signage and in-store retail media. They both use screens as the canvas of communication, but the commercial, administrative and technological details that underpin them can be very different. Failing to consider these differences and deploying at breakneck speed, without a well-researched and viable commercial model behind it, can lead to missed expectations.
AV: Which retailers are really leading the field, would you say?
NS: Tesco is leading the way in terms of creating a cohesive strategy. The partnership with dunnhumby, the global customer data science giant, is playing a vital role in this market-leading approach, but I also think that they’re really considering the impact on the store environment, too. That’s in contrast to quite a few other examples where the digital inventory feels pretty disconnected from the wider interior design.
AV: So what’s next for Pixel Inspiration?
NS: We recently expanded to over 100 employees, or 115 to be precise. That is to ensure we can continue to support all the projects we have already deployed and some of the ones we’ve most recently won. We’ve always proactively invested to ensure we can service the client base and kept as much as possible in-house – it’s the only way you can offer the agility and flexibility required by retailers.
AV: Are you able to talk about some of the future projects you have in the pipeline?
NS: We have some really exciting projects in progress and in the pipeline. One of our biggest is a project we’ve just won, which will be across 750 stores, with over 3,000 displays encompassing LED, dual-sided LCD window displays and D6 totems, as well as audience sensing and a retail media focused CMS. There’s a large flagship install in Paris that will be finished soon, too, along with our constant business as usual support, refresh and network expansion for our existing client base.
Nikk Smith is a cofounder and sales director at Pixel Inspiration .