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Much
hype has surrounded the introduction of digital screens
into retailers’ stores, driven by the expectation
that a variety of large plasmas would provide a TV-style
platform from which juicy third-party advertising
revenue could be derived.
Things have not worked out quite like that because
of the failure by retailers to attract advertising
revenue from the large FMCG brand owners. This has
led retailers to increasingly focus on using screens
for the likes of providing customers with useful information
and highlighting in-store promotions.
This puts digital signage firmly in the same camp
as traditional point-of-sale promotional materials
such as posters and banners. Simon Birkenhead, head
of UK sales and marketing at 3M Digital Signage, believes
this is a sensible evolvement of digital signage.
“In the US, where screens have been used longer,
we find they are used more for promos and brand messaging
than advertising. This is possibly why the use of
digital screens is not growing as fast in the UK –
it is still thought of as TV rather than digital signage,”
he says.
Rather than attempting to show a complex mixture of
programming content interspersed with advertisements,
he suggests that retailers should concentrate more
on simply providing shoppers with both impact and
a reason to look at
the screens.
To achieve this in the US, 3M has frequently used
rows of large format LCDs linked together (for the
impact) that show both moving images and informational
text that scrolls across the screens (the reason to
view).
Flooring
the opposition
The interactive floor display at the Virgin Megastore
in Times Square, New York is making a big impact.
Using projection technology from Epson and software
from GestureTek, whenever a customer comes into contact
with the display, images are displayed moving across
the floor in time with music.
As well as promoting specific music recordings the
moving images are used to lead customers into under-visited
areas of the store where sales could enjoy a boost.
“Retailers now have a compelling new avenue
for in-store advertising,” says Bill Leckonby,
chief executive of GestureTek. “It elevates
it to a new level, and retailers like Virgin have
the potential for a very healthy return on investment.”
Another innovative use of digital screens has been
undertaken by IKEA. It installed 42 inch Sony plasma
screens within a number of its stores to show films
for children. Located near the restaurant areas they
are designed to entertain children while their parents
take a break and relax - and ultimately spend more
time in the store.
Such innovative use of the technology is an indication
of how much digital signage can be moved away from
original in-store TV channel model that has been skewed
too heavily towards showing third-party advertising.
Innovation is also being seen in the production of
new display technology. Among the recent launches
is a rear-projection solution from 3M, which Birkenhead
says will provide retailers with the ability to display
images on conventional glass, including windows.
Unlike other such display solutions he says it benefits
from having a high contrast, which makes it significantly
clearer to view as it only lets a certain amount of
light through the image. It also provides the viewer
with 180 degree visibility, which is a significant
advantage over conventional screens that may only
have a 100 degree viewing angle.
The ability for customers to actually view the screens
in-store is clearly of vital importance, but according
to Nigel Rix, commercial director at Episys, it often
seems to be overlooked by some retailers. Certainly
the supermarkets have trialled screens in various
locations – including hanging them high over
the aisles and above the shelves – that has
frequently made them hard to view.
Golden
touch
Thankfully, retailers have more recently been experimenting
with screens located on the shelves. Among them is
Asda, which has installed interactive touchscreens
on the shelves in a number of its garden product areas.
They act as an informational resource, rather like
a doctor, providing customers with product comparisons
based on their specific gardening problems and requirements.
“Asda has brought the screens onto the shelf
which loses it some shelf space it gains from having
greater visibility. And they are using touchscreens,
which we believe are necessary for any information
[provision in-store], because you can’t do it
as well on a loop,” suggests Rix.
He believes that such proximity to the shelf edge
is taking retailers ever closer to using digital screens
to implement ‘responsive pricing’. Using
compact screens measuring around two inches by three
inches (similar to a PDA display) that are linked
to central pricing databases, retailers have the opportunity
to change pricing electronically. The screens allow
them to change prices based on the time of day and
for short-length promotions.
Such screens have been implemented on a test basis
in the camera department of the John Lewis-owned Peter
Jones store in London. The company had found it difficult
to change the price and product information on its
products located within glass cabinets. But by using
radio transmission technology from a back-office transmitter
to battery operated screens from ZBD, it has been
able to electronically change the price as well as
the specifications of specific products. The company
is currently considering which other departments the
technology could be used within.
DSG have also been testing the technology at its Warehouse
format store near Birmingham, where its prices match
the best deals available on the internet.
The ZBD technology is a crucial piece of kit as it
enables Dixons to electronically change its prices
instantly, to match the online competition.
It had implemented small screens for items such as
kettles, which required few features to be displayed
on-screen and slightly larger format displays for
more complex electrical goods that needed more detailed
product information and warranty details to be shown.
For those products that required few changes, Dixons
continued to use paper signage.
Rix believes that this increased use of new media
by retailers – including shelf edge screens,
the internet and large plasma screens – combined
with traditional paper-based PoS materials, will make
it increasingly necessary for them to implement systems
that bring together the data used by each medium at
a central point. This will not only improve the consistency
of the information that they use but also help them
reduce costs by eradicating duplicated tasks.
With such developments on the horizon and digital
signage continuing to be used in an ever wider variety
of ways in-store, the hype that the technology has
initially attracted will increasingly become subsumed
by successful and profitable implementations.
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