Arcade Acquires Upduo and Launches ‘Arcade AI Sales Leader’
Arcade, a leader in sales gamification for frontline retail teams, has acquired Upduo, a company specializing in AI-powered coaching for retail sales environments. This move introduces a new product: Arcade AI Sales Leader, which blends AI coaching with proven gamification tools.
This platform targets a common challenge in retail: how to scale the skills of top-performing store managers across all locations. Many retailers invest heavily in manager training, but without ongoing reinforcement, coaching quality can drop, leading to uneven store performance and higher turnover. Arcade AI Sales Leader addresses this by providing continuous development and real-time coaching support on the sales floor.
What Arcade AI Sales Leader Means for Retailers
- Accelerate onboarding for new hires
- Speed up new product rollouts
- Lower turnover among new employees
- Boost customer and employee satisfaction
- Increase sales conversion rates in stores
For store managers, the platform offers real-time coaching guidance, AI-driven role-playing for practice, and automated scorecards that track performance and suggest action items. Store associates benefit from ongoing learning opportunities during downtime, consistent coaching, and motivation through rewards and recognition.
Leadership and Vision Behind the Innovation
David Cherrie, Arcade’s Co-Founder and CEO, explains the goal clearly: to replicate the success of the best sales leaders across all managers. By combining Arcade’s gamification with Upduo’s AI coaching, the platform helps every manager improve their coaching skills and store results.
Wei Sun, Upduo’s Co-Founder and now Arcade’s CTO, highlights the expanded reach this acquisition offers. The AI coaching technology they developed can now be scaled to impact many more retailers and frontline employees.
Investor Confidence
Adam Rogers of Next Coast Ventures supports the acquisition, noting that Arcade’s strategy to embed AI into their platform is exactly the kind of forward-thinking approach necessary for delivering more value in retail sales.
Arcade AI Sales Leader is available now. Retail sales professionals looking to learn more about improving leadership and sales coaching can visit arcade.co.
Your membership also unlocks:
