Instore screens latest sales tool

Life Pharmacy's new instore advertising makes possible an old marketing wish - if only you could sell umbrellas when it's raining.

The pharmacy group is one of the first retailers to adopt a digital sign network to enhance its promotions at point-of-sale.

Customers can view advertisements for products such as fragrances and cosmetics on large plasma screens, and learn how they can best be used.

Although instore advertising is not new, digital signs differ in that the screens are networked, which means the advertisements can be timed or changed from anywhere in the world according to who is in the shop at the time.

Unlike traditional posters and static product displays, new content can be instantly uploaded to the screens, allowing for more responsive advertising.

Life marketing manager Grant Febery said each pharmacy could change the play list for its screens to suit market conditions at any time of the day. Sunscreen or sunglasses could be promoted when the sun came out.

He said the company was piloting the network in three Life stores to determine how far and how fast it would be implemented in its 21 branches.

The three stores are in Shore City and St Lukes in Auckland and Riccarton in Christchurch.

Although the investment had been "significant" it would be offset by reduced spending on posters and promotional material in the future.

"In retail it's all about the stores. The more we can do to create a better environment to interact with our customers at the point of sale, the better," Febery said.

He believes that screens will replace branding posters on all cosmetic counters in the future.

"The screens are like dynamic posters. You can tell more of a story with a screen."

John McCarthy, director of OpenEye Displays New Zealand, which installed and manages the network, said he expected digital signs to become standard in all stores.

This raised new questions for retailers as it offered more precision in customer targeting. Promotions could be tailored towards leisure shoppers in the morning, family shoppers after school, or tourists when a tour bus was due to arrive at the store.

Retailers could also be more accurate about the time-windows in which certain goods were sold.

"In the past what we knew of media in shops was watching a product demonstration on a TV set," he said.

"Now it's like all your posters are able to display content and promotions to the right audiences at the right time."