Projects: Pilot Confirms Screens Boost Sales At Outlet Retailer Last Call

October 29, 2014 by Dave Haynes

Here’s one of those still fairly rare instances of a retailer sharing some of the data from an in-store digital test.

Fashion retailer Last Call, the outlet for Neiman Marcus,  did a test with software vendor Scala at one of its stores to collect and track incoming sales impacts. The installed screen network involved three sets of three displays in dresses, shoes and handbags. Detailed, time-stamped sales and customer traffic data was recorded, along with comments and information from sales associates and customers.

“The use of in-store digital displays matched with Scala Advanced Analytics provided us the opportunity to dig deeper into targeted merchandise categories in a way we have never been able to. This allowed us to align inventory with digital messaging at peak shopping times, creating a more engaging experience between us and our customers,” Ignaz Gorischek, vice president, Store Development at Last Call.

The analytics found that the conversion rate for dresses and shoes went up substantially, says a news release.

Sales staff and customers who were interviewed said the digital ads inspired store visitors to browse the merchandise, try things on and often buy targeted items. On the other hand, handbag conversions declined. In a revisit of digital media, Scala found that handbags were only featured in three of the 15 advertising clips. While lack of customer exposure might explain a neutral reaction, it didn’t explain a dip in sales.

The conclusion: when in-store inventory didn’t correlate with the images being advertised, customer frustration resulted and the assumption that generic images would suffice was disproven. The sales staff attested that customers were paying attention to specific product images and then actively seeking the product out within the store. For example, when shown a specific dress on screen, the dress sold out quickly, when prior to that sales had been below average.

After better aligning digital content with store inventory and increasing frequency of handbag ads, Scala and LCS ran a second iteration at the pilot store as well as at a second store in Dallas, TX. Shortly after, handbags showed a positive lift of about 30%. Both dress and shoe sales also increased, and it was found that after seeing a specific digital ad, customers who sought out that specific item often purchased it on the spot.

You can read the full case study by going here and registering for the download: http://www2.scala.com/e/4602/i-optimized-digital-messaging-/d9ylg/690923049