A Sliding Shelf-Edge Display That Recognizes The Products It Fronts
January 7, 2019 by Dave Haynes
Stumbled via Linkedin on this video post about a retail merchandising solution that puts a tablet on a slider rail in front of a bank of related products.
It’s from a San Francisco area company called OnQ that designs and manufactures category displays for retailers and brands. Instead of “push to learn more” buttons, sensors or tethers for “lift and learn” or some other tactic, this one blends the full merchandising and display unit with a system that that functions as a digital product explainer.
The tablet that is docked on the rail slider uses a rear camera to recognize what product it is in front of, and launches the content for that category. The system includes software that runs the interaction and manages things like sending product information (via URL) to a shopper’s phone.
Kinda interesting. The challenge here, I’m thinking, is the client is not only buying a tablet and software, but a fully-designed merchandising system. So these look more like the sort of thing put into new build stores or “stores of the future” – as opposed to retrofits or add-ons.
My non techie spouse scans the QR / Barcode on nearly everything “big” she is thinking of buying – right from her phone – right in the store. Been doing this for years. Instant access to nearly all of the product information you could ever possibly want. I do not get what additional benefit this new service is offering.
The looming issue is that people will look at a product in the store but buy it online right then and there. My wife and I are doing this more and more often. Cheaper, no sales tax, no check out, no hassle……. This is going to be hard for a retailer to overcome.
We are working with a small electronics retailer to offer a private barcode app that will direct the customer to that stores private product page in exchange for a purchase discount. It was fairly easy to make work but it seems to only appeal to customers who were going to buy in the real world anyway. Everyone else looks, learns, and leaves.
Something has to be done – this retailers door count has increased over the last few years but the actual number of sales have declined.
The brick and mortar world is becoming Amazons free showroom.
I am not sure how digital signage can solve this.
Paul Wheeler
Local Business Patriots / Email to my TV
That’s a good & different use of digital display and technology. Application made is same but but just differently