Retailers turn to interactive technology for in-store push

Dunnhumby, an in-house marketing consultancy for Tesco Lotus, is planning to install its cutting-edge in-store-media equipment at 170 of the retail giant’s large-scale stores across the country next year. 

Interactive media promise to bridge the gap between advertisements and promotion activities at the point of purchase by extending campaigns in and around stores. This is done via mixed-use digital and non-digital media formats to get customers to make a purchase. 

Its includes interactive displays, digital shelf-life displays and augmented-reality technology. 

Teeradet Dumrongbhalasitr, head of retail media at Dunnhumby (Thailand), said yesterday that his company had earmarked about Bt200 million on purchasing digital signage and interactive retail media technology. 

Teeradet said most of the investment would be spent on digital screens and all advanced retail media were supported by technology firm Blue Media.  

He said the installation of new retail media equipment would be subject to change based on a client’s needs. 

In-store media would cover all 1,800 Tesco Lotus stores in Thailand beginning in January – 116 hypermarkets, 14 Extra stores, 36 department stores, 187 supermarkets and 1,437 Express stores. 

Teeradet said that although advertising expenditure in the in-store-media segment was down 31.17 per cent compared with this time last year, plummeting from Bt2.24 billion to Bt1.54 billion, Dunnhumby’s earnings from the advertising at Tesco Lotus was almost double last year’s figure. 

At Tesco Lotus Express, the company has seen increases in both sales and customer traffic ranging from 7-35 per cent, he said.

“For next year, we have got advanced bookings from 60 leading brands, mainly in consumer products, to use our in-store-media service,” he said. 

“The company expects to generate Bt100 million in revenue.” 

According to Blue Media, Central Retail Corporation and Big C Supercenter were also adopting this technology with the support of Blue Media, a subsidiary of event organiser Index Creative Village.  

For example, Blue Media said a digital cooler display consisted of a digital transparent screen that enabled customers to see either advertisements or promotional videos on a fridge door. 

Digital price tags also provided other information and promotions on a screen. Both new devices were connected to a main control server via the Internet.

Last month Blue Media revealed it had installed 200 digital cooler displays and 160 digital price tags at leading retailers including Central Retail Corp’s Tops Supermarket, Big C and Tesco Lotus.