Interactive Merchandising Part of Future Retail Panel At DSE2013

February 13, 2013 by Dave Haynes

The keynote breakfast panel on the second day of Digital Signage Expo 2013 is all about future tech and one of the guys who’ll be there talking about his company’s cool pots and pans is Jared Schiffman, co-founder and CEO of NYC-based PERCH Interactive.

Speaking with Curt Bailey (Sundberg-Ferar), Tim Huckaby (InterKnowlogy), and Christine Outram (Re:Imagine Group) at the Samsung-sponsored session on Digital Signage 2020: Eyes on the Future, Schiffman will walk through his interactive spinoff’s experiences working with retailers like Cole Haan, treasure&bond and Kiehl’s Since 1851.

What’s interesting here is that the company uses short-throw projection systems to create interactive experiences on merchandising tabletops in retail environments, like the one in the video for Kiehl’s.

“My take is that technology should not be the experience. In-store engagement should be centered on the shopper and their connection with a product,” says Schiffman. “Display technology should enable and enhance that interaction, not replace it. When a customer picks up a product on a PERCH display, that’s the beginning of the experience, and it’s also the moment that they are most receptive to receiving information. PERCH makes the product the interface to the experience.”

There is nothing overly groundbreaking about what PERCH is doing. It’s essentially the same tech you have seen for years on shopping mall interactive floor projections. But this is very, very nicely executed.

The Kiehl’s Since 1851 program was designed to create a fun, memorable in-store customer experience for the launch of the Aromatic Blends fragrances. Each fragrance, says PERCH, is associated with an exotic travel destination, and entices customers to pick up the bottles to reveal more information about the origins and ingredients of each scent.

The campaign tried to emphasize the special location of each fragrance and the two special ingredients after which the products are named. When the customer picks up a fragrance, a small biplane flies across the table, from the place where the fragrance was resting to the associated country on the map. This is followed by an animation featuring flowers, fruits and other ingredients in the perfume.

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