Commodity Online
NEW YORK: In a landmark initiative in retail business, Wal-Mart has become the first US retailer to roll out a new generation of in-store digital media technology which will become increasingly familiar to shoppers globally.

Walmart executives this week unveiled the new Walmart Smart Network that will provide shoppers relevant and useful information via in-store TV.

The first shopper-intelligent network at retail is the result of two years’ work and an investment of $10 million in research and development.

Walmart is the first retailer in the US to rollout a next generation retail media network that is supported by a flexible, open enterprise platform powered by Internet Protocol Television (IPTV).

The system will also be linked to checkout data at the stores to provide live analysis of the impact of the screen programming on sales – helping marketers who have long struggled with how to measure the effectiveness of in-store messaging accurately.

Wal-Mart describes the new system, which will eventually involve 27,000 screens at 2,700 stores, as a “shopper intelligent” network that will deliver relevant information “by store, by screen, by day, and by time-of-day.”

The Walmart Smart Network will also deploy response measurement and message optimization technologies to enable delivery of the most relevant content to shoppers - by store, by screen, by day and by time-of-day. All of the content on the Walmart Smart Network will be customized, designed to deliver helpful product information to consumers at the point of decision when and where they need it in the store.

The tracking of the relationship between the screens and customer sales data is being provided by DS-IQ, a company launched five years ago by former executives and software engineers from Microsoft and Amazon.

Tom Opdycke, DS-IQ’s chief executive, said he regarded the current drive to apply digital technology to in-store marketing as “the next big thing in retail”, and a potential source of competitive advantage that could mirror the way retailers have focused on making their supply chains more efficient.

Consumer goods companies are increasingly interested in attracting customers with brand messages that reach them as they shop, as traditional advertising on TV and in newspapers declines.

However, they have traditionally had a sometimes tense relationship with retailers over how much they contribute to in-store promotions, the impact of which is hard to assess.

Wal-Mart will start deploying the new screens this month.

It expects to have completed the roll-out by 2010.