By Amanda Ferrante, Assistant Editor
Online search has become an integral part of the way consumers shop. The same concept is coming to life for brick-and-mortar retail stores with new and innovative ways to search and navigate. With the buzz centered on the customer experience, it’s become increasingly important for retailers to provide consumers with simple convenience and assistance.
In-Store Navigation Creates More Focused Shopping
For some retailers with complex environments, in-store search kiosks are helping consumers navigate their way through the store to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. “Customers are increasingly time poor,” says Jim Dion, founder and president of Dionco Inc.. “They don’t have time to wonder through a store; they are targeted. Looking at this consumer need and behavior, in-store search clearly plays in.”
In 135 Longs Drugs Stores, Evincii’s PHARMAssist, a first-of-its-kind technology, is designed to guide and advise shoppers in the over-the-counter medicine category by engaging customers. The kiosk is said to have boosted overall category sales by 3-6%. Advertisers also have seen a boost in overall brand sales as the kiosk allows advertising to engage consumers at the point of sale, with a 7-18% increase. “The search engine can be used in many forms of retail,” says Charles Koo, CEO of Evincii. “What prompted me to do this was my frustration with entering keywords and receiving so many results.”
Many items are competing together on the same shelf. So marketers want to influence consumers at the point of decision. PHARMAssist caters to non-tech savvy users by offering simplicity and ease of use. “Our GPS system is always one or two steps ahead of you, getting you straight to your destination,” says Koo.
PHARMAssist and other products like it will help marketers improve their brand image and loyalty. “There’s a huge opportunity for brands to get involved in educating the customer,” says Dion. “That’s a win-win for everybody...Smart brands will get involved in that.”
Guided Navigation Leads Shoppers to Specific Products
Similar to shopping on the Internet, consumers can get help finding the right product via in-store guided navigation solutions. Endeca’s Guided Navigation solution is designed to help customers in multiple ways. “Guided Navigation is a complement to search – and works in tandem – but is really designed to facilitate exploration and discovery while search is more designed for fact finding,” says Jesse Goldman, Global Retail Industry Lead at Endeca. Rather than confuse or frustrate customers by the plethora of choices during a shopping trip, the solution is designed to ask target questions to further assist. “Guided Navigation does this by revealing next step questions using criteria like price, make, model, features, shopper reviews/rating, etc. So you can fine tune a search or simply browse products by the criteria that matters most to your buying decision,” says Goldman.
In-store search and navigation solutions also can provide retailers with traffic and usage information. Then retailers can tailor their strategies and tactics accordingly. “Reports provide detailed business intelligence to merchants, telling them popular search and browse pathways, effective merchandising options, common ‘drop out’ spots, and missed searches,” says Goldman. “Reporting helps businesses keep in step with their constantly changing customers by suggesting where to tune merchandising or configure search and navigation options.”
Technology Creates In-Store Changes
New technology typically means a new shift for the in-store environment. With a technology designed to help customers, there’s speculation about how the store associate’s role will change.
“Ultimately, [the technology is] doing the job that a sales associate in the past would have done,” says Dion. “If the business model is designed to eliminate sales associates, then those people must be replaced with some sort of technology. This is a good way of doing that.”
While the technology may cut down on the number of sales associates needed, it will likely never completely replace them. So, the remaining store associates can use the technology to make their jobs easier, says Dion. “They no longer have to know where every item is located, and it will help improve their search with customers – almost like a cheat sheet.”
Some industry executives are hesitant to predict the technology will cut down on the need for store associates. “It's doubtful that search technology will have any impact upon store staffing, since most retailers already use the fewest possible payroll hours,” says Mark Lilien, consultant with Retail Technology Group. “American shoppers are self-service habitués who get their in-store information by glancing at labels. Shoppers who really value research do Internet queries at home, or talk to their doctors and friends.”
Monday, May 12, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Digital Signage Category Steps In To Spotlight With New Alliances, Measurement Tools
By Andrew Gaffney, Editor
The sophistication and maturity of digital signage technologies and media networks continues to advance at retail. New solutions and strategic partnerships debuted at the recent Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas, which are expected to make the in-store media channel easier to validate and manage for media buyers, who are looking for alternatives to standard broadcast buys.
If attendance at the Digital Signage Expo event is an indication of future investments in digital signage networks, the in-store experience is primed for a significant upgrade this year. The February show drew over 3,400 attendees, a 70% increase over the 2007 event, which was held last May.
“It really felt as though attendance was double what it has been in past years and retailers were asking intelligent questions,” said Brian Dusho, Chief Strategy Officer for BroadSign, a leading provider of hosted software for managing digital signage networks, and one of the top sponsors of the event. “The education level of attendees was very high this year, and the discussions really pointed to the market seeing the type of acceleration we’ve all been waiting for.”
PROOF OF CONCEPT
BroadSign used the event to announce several new partnerships which are expected to make digital signage more accessible to small to midsized retailers, and also make placing advertising on in-store networks easier and more appealing to media buyers.
Addressing the digital signage industry’s challenge of verifying placement and providing proof of performance, Arbitron announced that it has launched a series of tests aimed at enabling third-party audits of BroadSign’s proof of play reports, using Arbitron’s PPM technology.
The goal of the first test, conducted in December 2007, was to verify whether the PPM devices could accurately detect Arbitron’s inaudible code embedded in the loop of media files played on screens in a real store environment. The test was carried out in two convenience stores in Vermont. “The place-based media space is a growing opportunity which needs trusted third-party measurement in order to maintain credibility with the advertising community,” said Pierre Bouvard, president of sales & marketing for Arbitron.
According to Arbitron, the PPMs accurately detected the embedded code and the PPM’s times of code detection precisely matched the media file play times as shown in the BroadSign proof of play reports. The success of the first test opens the way to a series of additional tests before Arbitron’s proof of play audits can become a commercialized service that can be used by any network run on BroadSign’s software.
The digital signage industry also took steps to make the management of in-store advertising inventory more accessible to media buyers as SeeSaw Networks revealed plans to integrate its online media planning services with BroadSign’s ad server platform. The joint development of technology services is expected to provide streamlined delivery of campaign metrics and reliable reporting for national advertisers while helping to drive measurement standards for the digital out-of-home advertising marketplace.
Together SeeSaw and BroadSign will create a new open application program interface (API) to enable accurate, real-time reporting by automating inventory updates, proof-of-play reporting, and insertion order delivery. Media planners and buyers will be able to view available advertising inventory, purchase inventory, execute ad campaigns, and view proof-of-play reports, all from SeeSaw’s online media planning service.
EXPANDED REACH
Another alliance announced at the show is expected expand the availability of digital signage solutions to small to midsized retailers, as technology distributor Ingram Micro announced it will make available BroadSign’s hosted SaaS solution available to its more than 35,000 value added reseller (VAR) partners throughout the U.S. and Canada.
The new alliance marks the first time BroadSign’s SaaS solution in collaboration with SeeSaw Networks online media planning services is being offered through two-tier distribution. It also positions Ingram Micro’s North America Digital Signage Division as the IT industry’s exclusive one-stop shop for VARs looking for a comprehensive, end-to-end hosted digital signage distribution and measurement solution.
To help partners successfully sell and deploy BroadSign’s SaaS solution, Ingram Micro and BroadSign have identified several proven digital signage experts within the Ingram Micro Services Network (IMSN) that are skilled and ready to assist other VARs who are eager to build their service revenues.
One of the retailers announcing an expanded roll out of a digital signage network around the event was Virgin Megastores. Using BroadSign’s solution, media network provider eVision will operate a network of 400 digital displays of different sizes in 10 Virgin Megastores across the US. Each location will have up to 40 screens geared to the 18-44 year old demographic creating an ‘experiential environment’ by entertaining shoppers and informing them of the latest movies, music releases, games, books, electronics, apparel and fashion accessories on a playlist-style programming loop. The displays will feature an 8-hour mix of high-definition content to be updated daily while allowing customer interaction via mobile phones and Internet.
The sophistication and maturity of digital signage technologies and media networks continues to advance at retail. New solutions and strategic partnerships debuted at the recent Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas, which are expected to make the in-store media channel easier to validate and manage for media buyers, who are looking for alternatives to standard broadcast buys.
If attendance at the Digital Signage Expo event is an indication of future investments in digital signage networks, the in-store experience is primed for a significant upgrade this year. The February show drew over 3,400 attendees, a 70% increase over the 2007 event, which was held last May.
“It really felt as though attendance was double what it has been in past years and retailers were asking intelligent questions,” said Brian Dusho, Chief Strategy Officer for BroadSign, a leading provider of hosted software for managing digital signage networks, and one of the top sponsors of the event. “The education level of attendees was very high this year, and the discussions really pointed to the market seeing the type of acceleration we’ve all been waiting for.”
PROOF OF CONCEPT
BroadSign used the event to announce several new partnerships which are expected to make digital signage more accessible to small to midsized retailers, and also make placing advertising on in-store networks easier and more appealing to media buyers.
Addressing the digital signage industry’s challenge of verifying placement and providing proof of performance, Arbitron announced that it has launched a series of tests aimed at enabling third-party audits of BroadSign’s proof of play reports, using Arbitron’s PPM technology.
The goal of the first test, conducted in December 2007, was to verify whether the PPM devices could accurately detect Arbitron’s inaudible code embedded in the loop of media files played on screens in a real store environment. The test was carried out in two convenience stores in Vermont. “The place-based media space is a growing opportunity which needs trusted third-party measurement in order to maintain credibility with the advertising community,” said Pierre Bouvard, president of sales & marketing for Arbitron.
According to Arbitron, the PPMs accurately detected the embedded code and the PPM’s times of code detection precisely matched the media file play times as shown in the BroadSign proof of play reports. The success of the first test opens the way to a series of additional tests before Arbitron’s proof of play audits can become a commercialized service that can be used by any network run on BroadSign’s software.
The digital signage industry also took steps to make the management of in-store advertising inventory more accessible to media buyers as SeeSaw Networks revealed plans to integrate its online media planning services with BroadSign’s ad server platform. The joint development of technology services is expected to provide streamlined delivery of campaign metrics and reliable reporting for national advertisers while helping to drive measurement standards for the digital out-of-home advertising marketplace.
Together SeeSaw and BroadSign will create a new open application program interface (API) to enable accurate, real-time reporting by automating inventory updates, proof-of-play reporting, and insertion order delivery. Media planners and buyers will be able to view available advertising inventory, purchase inventory, execute ad campaigns, and view proof-of-play reports, all from SeeSaw’s online media planning service.
EXPANDED REACH
Another alliance announced at the show is expected expand the availability of digital signage solutions to small to midsized retailers, as technology distributor Ingram Micro announced it will make available BroadSign’s hosted SaaS solution available to its more than 35,000 value added reseller (VAR) partners throughout the U.S. and Canada.
The new alliance marks the first time BroadSign’s SaaS solution in collaboration with SeeSaw Networks online media planning services is being offered through two-tier distribution. It also positions Ingram Micro’s North America Digital Signage Division as the IT industry’s exclusive one-stop shop for VARs looking for a comprehensive, end-to-end hosted digital signage distribution and measurement solution.
To help partners successfully sell and deploy BroadSign’s SaaS solution, Ingram Micro and BroadSign have identified several proven digital signage experts within the Ingram Micro Services Network (IMSN) that are skilled and ready to assist other VARs who are eager to build their service revenues.
One of the retailers announcing an expanded roll out of a digital signage network around the event was Virgin Megastores. Using BroadSign’s solution, media network provider eVision will operate a network of 400 digital displays of different sizes in 10 Virgin Megastores across the US. Each location will have up to 40 screens geared to the 18-44 year old demographic creating an ‘experiential environment’ by entertaining shoppers and informing them of the latest movies, music releases, games, books, electronics, apparel and fashion accessories on a playlist-style programming loop. The displays will feature an 8-hour mix of high-definition content to be updated daily while allowing customer interaction via mobile phones and Internet.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
