20 to 80 per cent sales jump from "infoverts"

March 9, 2006 by Dave Haynes

Spotted this in the UK-based Retail Bulletin:

“The (Mid-Counties) Co-op also makes extensive use of digital signage with 700 screens – soon to increase to 1,200 – across the estate. These range from large aisle end screens to small 7 inch on-shelf units showing “infoverts” – short snappy product focused sequences very different from the cut-down TV ads used in many in-store TV schemes.

According to research by the Co-op, 94% of shoppers have noticed the screens – which also give information about the Co-op’s ethical stance and community services – while sales of products promoted by the shelf units have increased by around 20-80%

“In trials four lines we promoted using ‘infoverts’ increased by 41%, 23%, 79% and 14%,” says Don Sloan, managing partner at Screenplay, which developed the system. “Producing short 10-15 second infoverts is not as profitable for advertising agencies so there has been little interest in this sort of promotion – but we know it works.”

As well as community information and promotional material, the digital screens also take news feeds from Reuters and run sports headlines. The Co-op is starting to experiment with cross-marketing promotions – such as featuring cars sold by its motor dealership division – and is also using “through the glass” touch screens in store windows to promote holiday packages out of hours.

“At the moment revenue from the infoverts is a trickle rather than a flood,” says Bill Laird, “It takes time to build interest from suppliers but we expect that the revenue stream will start to build significantly during 2006.”

I don’t know a thing about this group, but they definitely seem to have their act together. A sales lift of 2 per cent, never  mind 20, would be enough to make most retailers tingle.