A recent piece on the Investor's Business Daily (IBD) website pointed out that Walmart's new Smart digital signage Network enables the retailer to tailor messages at the shelf to provide consumers with content that both informs and drives purchases.
The ability to alter messages based on store location, time of day/year, and other factors that influence purchases is a critical upgrade for Walmart over traditional signage and even its previous in-store network.
"It's the customization that makes this key," Linda Blakley, a spokesperson for Walmart, told IBD.
Eventually, Walmart's network will allow consumers to engage the network in two-way communication. "Shoppers will be able to react to the information and the network will be able to adjust the messaging to ensure it is as effective as possible," Ms. Blakley said.
Retailers are jumping on the digital signage bandwagon, seeing that it can generate revenues in a variety of ways from ad sales to the lift associated with promotional announcements. Proponents see other benefits, as well.
Mike Abbott, president of ADFLOW Networks, told RetailWire, "It helps you achieve a greater level of compliance in stores because all the displays are managed on a network basis. You've also got great analytics. Retailers get analytics showing where the customer is spending time on a touchscreen, for example. So, they can identify where customers may be confused; where the content is particularly effective. They can compare the keystrokes or the touches on these screens with the point-of-sale data to see what screens and what types of promotions were delivering lift."
The current economy has many retailers using in-store networks to promote store brand programs.
"If I go to (top 10 grocery chain) and pitch that they should invest in media for promoting a national brand soft drink, they're going to tell me I can go pound sand. They'd say the brand can pay for it," Chris Riegel, chief executive officer of STRATACACHE, told RetailWire. "If I go to them and say they should focus their message on their store brand soda and tell them that we can increase their sales by $200 a day; knowing what their margin is, they'd see that they'd be able to pay for investment in just a few days."
Discussion Questions: What do you see as the major benefits of in-store digital signage networks? Do you expect retailers and suppliers to remain financially committed to the technology in 2009 in light of the industry emphasis on shopper marketing?