Point-of-sale gets positive touch

28 October 2009 | By Maeve Hosea

The point-of-sale market was once synonymous with cardboard displays at tills, but these days it’s more about movement-activated images or touch-sensitive product displays. There may be a recession on but that doesn’t mean consumers want their retailing experiences to be basic. Consumers used to having iPhone apps at their fingertips are looking for retail experiences to give them real interactivity.

Through its Digital Innovation Labs, advertising giant Ogilvy wants to help retailers use technology to help a consumer’s path to purchase and deliver return on investment.

A new lab in New York joins an existing one in London and a forerunner in Singapore to provide retailers with a showcase of core and innovative PoS technology that makes the most of image recognition, QR codes and Bluetooth technology.

While the labs aim to show off groundbreaking technology, Ogilvy stresses that its main aims are to show clients the way technology can improve a brand’s bottom line.

Nicole Yershon, director of innovative solutions at Ogilvy Group, explains: “We have not really touched the beginnings of what is possible with digital out-of-home or got deep into the possibilities of interactivity.

“Clients shouldn’t use technology for technology’s sake but to fix problems and, following the famous McKinsey 80/20 rule of investment, it is worth spending 20% of your marketing budget on something innovative.”

Creative content
While the first generation of digital media solutions consisted of screens on stands along with a DVD player or PC, the technology now allows more creative content to be used and greater management control. Yershon claims technology-centred PoS solutions can also deliver in terms of return on investment because they are more measurable than traditional tools.

Kenneth Siber, co-founder at interactive services provider Mindstorm, argues that digital innovation helps boost the softer values of consumer engagement.

“Interactivity and integrated design allow people to touch and experience information. This lets them immerse themselves in the experience the retailer wants to create, take control of the information, share it and have fun,” he says. “This adds up to a very different experience than looking at a plasma screen hanging on a wall showing an advert.”

At Oriental fusion restaurant Inamo, which has a branch in London, the founders are hoping that using digital innovations to let customers purchase their meals will help attract new business. Diners use the tabletops as large touchscreens to select their food and drink and can also look up local information or services such as cinemas, play games and change the ambience and design of their individual tables while they are waiting for their food to be served.

“A huge amount of customisation is possible,” says Inamo co-founder Noel Hunwick. “One guy wanted to propose to his fiancé in a novel way, so we put a ‘Will You Marry Me?’ dessert on the menu.”

Digital ads that allow consumers to interact directly with advertising at PoS are also becoming more common. In a pilot project with shopping centre Westfield and CBS Outdoor this summer, agency Clusta set up LCD display screens that connected to iPhones through WiFi or the 3G network.

The consumer could then interact with the ad at the shopping centre through their smartphone. Russell Townsend, managing director and co-founder of Clusta, says: “The proliferation of smartphones and the applications culture is driving this – everyone uses the web and knows they can find out more about something there. Doing it when out and about is a progression from that.”

Josh Kampel, vice-president of technology provider YCD Multimedia, says this consumer familiarity with technology is why PoS activity needs to keep evolving. “Consumers have become accustomed to using digital platforms like the internet and mobile devices to gather information,” he says. “These same platforms return targeted promotions based on search and segmentation data.”

YCD uses technology for demographic targeting via facial recognition and SMS/mobile integration with digital screens. A recent PoS installation for make-up brand Bobbi Brown attempted to address many of the challenges facing a retail brand by creating an engaging digital customer experience featuring information about new products.

Marker code
Similarly, a new concept launched in June 2009 by technology developer Holition within Holt’s jewellery store in the Hatton Garden area of London takes the form of a marker code seen as a logo printed on paper or cheap plastic.

It is placed on the wrist or finger of a customer and appears to show a 3D image of the item of jewellery being worn when viewed on a computer screen. This requires a camera to be focused on the code, superimposing on it an item of jewellery. The technology has many potential applications, but here it allows expensive items to be “tried on” without having to hold stock.

Howard Saunders, creative director of retail consultancy Echo Chamber, has been observing the increased use of digital in retail for some time. “We call it ‘gentletech’. As our lives become more complex, technology needs to make things easier and not to add to the burden,” he says. “The five remotes on the coffee table illustrate this issue – good technology should integrate, inspire, educate and inform.”

However, Simon Ainslie, vice-president of retail and customer marketing at Nokia, warns that brands using digital solutions in the retail environment need to ensure they are offering relevant personalised experiences, rather than getting blinded by the space-age technologies.

Interactivity and integrated design allow people to touch and experience information. This lets them immerse themselves in the experience the retailer wants to create. Kenneth Siber, Mindstorm

When the Nokia store in London opened last year, the brand installed 46-inch LCD screens that allowed campaign, messaging or ambient content to flow across all the screens in what Ainslie describes as a “digital ribbon”.

However, this PoS display has been tweaked and Nokia now relies more on tabletop 19-inch screens where customers go through an interactive journey with the screen.

Kate Ancketill, managing director of trend forecaster GDR Creative Intelligence, agrees that digital technology must be used with consumers in mind. “Interactive PoS is set to expand its presence on our high streets, but retailers need it to be robust and idiot-proof,” she says. “Consumers need it to be intuitive to use, entertaining and/or informative, with seamless integration into their shopping experience.”

Whether it’s soft-drink posters giving off the sound of a can of fizzy drink being opened as consumers walk by or touch-sensitive displays, any digital media technology that informs consumers or encourages a purchase can only benefit a brand.

But brands must remember to humanise the technology to ensure it is both entertaining and appropriate. If they can do this, consumer shopping experiences may be set to benefit from a little science fiction becoming reality.