Nice Product, Baffling Name

July 9, 2024 by Dave Haynes

Perhaps it is a function of me being an age-certified old fart, but I think if you are going to call something a table, it should at least bear some resemblance to what we all know to be a table. Here we have what I think is a nice product with an utterly weird product name – a digital-first vertical fixture you could maybe call a totem, but is referred by its manufacturer as a Product Table.

Confused? Me, too.

It is a minimalist retail fixture that nicely, I think, integrates LED ribbon displays with physical product, in a device small enough to move around where it needs to be a store environment. I like how there is some sort of clamp system to allow for physical product, like athletic shoes, to be positioned with each of the LED ribbons I also like that it is two-sided.

It is from the Polish firm Nanovo, which makes software and hardware solutions for retail. The Warsaw company says the Product Table is a “proprietary solution designed by Nanovo offers D2C brands and retailers a dynamic way to engage customers, present products, and enhance the shopping experience.”

It runs on Nanovo’s own software and the LED screens are from Hikvision, which is mainly known for surveillance cameras but I now know also has displays. It is AC powered, which is a bit limiting in terms of how and where to plug in. Rechargeable batteries would be great, but $$$.

There are also Nanovo displays called Product Hero and Power Wall.

I always develop a nervous tic when I see Nanovo’s Linkedin presence or website because the people there really, really love the term phygital, and I really, really don’t. Not big on contrived words. Techorate also sets me off.

Having noted that, and earlier the decision to call a vertical fixture a table, I should stress that I really do like what these guys are up to. Nanovo is the company behind the digital-heavy, experienced-focused Modivo apparel stores across Poland. I’ve not been to one of these stores in person, but from what I have seen, Nanovo did a really nice job of fully stitching digital into the way a store works.

Here’s a video of the Product Totem Table …