News

Interactive digital signs point wine fans in right direction

January 9, 2008

LONDON — Retec Digital announced that it has developed a touch-enabled digital sign used for wine retailing. Retec says the touchscreen is designed to impact the customer's enjoyment and knowledge of wine, increase sales, reduce dependency on staff and make a positive impact on the retailer's bottom line. The company, which already has partnered with Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, IBM UK Ltd., Boots and Argos, is currently in talks with a number of large retailers for deployments in 2008.

 

A screen shot of Retec Digital's Wine Selector.

The units have been designed to help shoppers make the best purchasing decision based on what they look for in a wine, be it taste, price or occasion. Recommendations of which foods accompany and compliment each wine also are incorporated into the solution.

 

"Wine is very personal," said Matthew Stubbs, a master of wine who helped design the solution. "Each batch is unique in quality, price and most importantly of all flavor, and it can be extremely difficult for retailers to train staff adequately and consumers to ensure their purchase suits their personal palate or, indeed, occasion."