Article

In-Store Marketing Expo 09: Bringing life to the point of purchase

Making POP more interactive and engaging was a big focus in the event's exhibit hall.

October 19, 2009 by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

As a graphic designer serving Hollywood, Jason Opat frequently gets called to build futuristic software interfaces — his creations can be seen in films like "G-Force," "G.I. Joe" and "Transformers." When the producers of "Iron Man" asked him to design a gesture-based interface, his research led him to existing gesture technology — which, in turn, led him into the retail business.

"We've taken that technology and brought it to the street, so to speak," said Opat, in a conversation on the show floor of last week's In-Store Marketing Expo (ISME) in Chicago. "We've generated a virtual sales assistant that will help retailers sell products and, hopefully, entertain people."

Opat is founder and chief executive of Integrated Media Group, a 12-person Kansas-based company that divides its time between the movies and its new retail initiative. This was the company's first retail trade show.

Using rear projection and tiny infrared cameras mounted at the top of a plate of glass, the Autonomous Sales Kiosk (ASK) turns any window into an interactive sales tool. True to the company's Hollywood heritage, the interface is sleek and futuristic; full-motion video of a female concierge invites visitors to explore product information by touching the window. And the experience is designed to be a fun one — for instance, touch your on-screen guide on the nose and she will giggle and chastise you for being naughty.

"The point is to keep the audience engaged, to make them realize that this store window can interact with them," Opat said. "It's a whole new environment for the retailer to work with."

Elsewhere on the show floor

IMG wasn't the only company using ISME as its retail debut. Also present was Florida-based Learn Something, an e-learning company that has provided interactive employee training materials for 10 years. Now, according to chief operating officer Rick Fuelling, the company is bringing its technologies to the point of purchase.

Learn Something offers 39 different categories of interactive POP content, delivered through shelf-mounted interactive displays. Fuelling said he has units going into nine different retail chains in the next two months, with 10 test locations per retailer. The company is also shipping 15,000 of its "Life Clinic" units to retailers, which bring interactive content to existing blood pressure monitors.

DUCO Technologies is a 22-year-old company that designs and manufactures electronic advertising products. Most of its products are sold through integrators, but the company was on hand with a large booth to give retailers an idea of the merchandising potential for its line of small-format touchscreens, audio boxes and LED light strips. Data Display Systems had a similar range of products, including battery-powered screens that can be deployed anywhere.

Winntech, a 15-year-old company with its roots in car audio merchandising, showed a recreation of its in-store design for Sony's Altus Air product. Winntech, which business developer Greg Gorman calls a "design-sensitive fixture manufacturer," was tasked with building an interactive merchandising solution for the Sony multiroom music system. That solution includes an interactive touchscreen and lighted bases that tell shoppers where to look for products.

Ecastused the show to announce a new partnership with ShopLocal, which allows the company to bring hyper-customized local content to in-store touchscreens, as well as to mobile phones. The application allows users to browse a virtual edition of a store circular on a giant screen, which contains real-time product availability and pricing information. A few quick touches of the screen add products to a customized shopping list; a few more touches send that list to a mobile phone.

"It's a way of bridging the gap between the online world and the offline world, and bringing all that information that's available on the Web," said vice president Bob Cooney.

Also notable:

• New Jersey-based Media Graphics showed a number of innovative uses for the low-cost Pandigital digital photo frames, integrating them into larger POP units.
• Executives from Retail Path Networks were on hand to demonstrate their five models of digital media players, as well as to discuss their work on the recent Western Union "smart store" in Times Square.
• Digital Aisle had three different models of its interactive POP solution on display, the "Virtual Bartender," "Virtual Veterinarian" and "Virtual Chef," each aimed at specific retail segments.
• Australian media company MusicM8 used the show to introduce its media playback and music licensing services to the U.S. retail market.

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