I see no upside for the digital advertising screens in a newsagency unless they are a call to action for products available in-store.
My preferred digital screen use in-store is small screens placed near or with product, to encourage purchase.
This is on my mind today because of several digital advertising screen services currently being promoted to newsagents. I don’t see them generating the revenue needed to justify the space they take. I also see their attention-grabbing to be at the cost of attention for products I sell.
The average Australian newsagency is already visually noisy with plenty of products and services we offer competing for attention. I don’t see the value in distracting shoppers from what we offer. Also, I am skeptical of the return on investment available to newsagents from advertising.
One model I saw recently encouraged the newsagent to sell airtime to local businesses. Newsagents would benefit more from working on their business, making it a destination for hero products and or services rather than selling advertising to distract existing customers. Another model has the supplier controlling all contact and it would include products not sold in a newsagency. I don’t see the sense in that.
I could be wrong on this. Please comment and share your thoughts…
Hi Mark, As a provider of in store media (newsagents ON AIR) I often get asked about the value of visual media myself, and indeed it is an area we looked into (including store trials) but ultimately we decided AGAINST it, mainly because of the LIMITATION of the ‘sphere of influence’ in store of the screens, which is restricted to ‘line of sight’ (typically 2-4 metres within a band of 180 degrees of the screen).
We felt that compared poorly against the RADIO coverage which is the ENTIRE floor area.
The other issue with VISUAL media is it DETRACTS from doing the actual shopping (especially for time poor customers). You have to stop and be CAPTIVE to the message, whereas the RADIO allows you to KEEP shopping while engaging with the ACTUAL 3 dimensional product/packaging. (newsagents ON AIR primary job is to get customers in front of the merchandising location… even if it means crossing the store across the aisles).
Compare that against a 2 dimension presentation which requires you to STOP whatever you were doing.
Where I do think SCREENS have their place is for DEMONSTRATING products that require an explanation or a visual example; we’ve all had the ‘seemed like a great idea at the time’ moment at trade shows only to find without that ‘demonstration’ it was an underwhelming performer in store. Things like magic stain remover soaps need the Shamwow man, and THAT’S the key upside for screens.
I think screens also fall into the ‘seemed like a great idea at the time’ category.
It’s hard to see the cost and effort benefit in my opinion (and believe me, I WANTED to believe, but in the final analysis? No.
I recently popped into a newsagent while visiting family and the store had a digital screen mounted/hanging from the ceiling behind the sales counter. They had a really interesting rolling display of twitter messages, news headlines and in-store specials. No idea what was involved with setting it up or how much work it takes to maintain it but it certainly held my interest while I waited in line to be served (it was a busy lunchtime period). It was interesting to look at instead of being tempted to play with my phone which is understandably rude and annoying for store staff.