In recent years, marketing executives and local storeowners have increased their reliance on digital television network feeds and internally generated television content to reach captive audiences in and outside of storefronts.
 Panasonic provided 22 plasma display products for a new study conducted by How and Why and GlobeCast. The study attributes a 1.5 percent sales increase to the presence of HDTV feeds in a retail setting. Many consumers felt the plasma displays should have been even larger than the 42-inch Panasonic products used in the study. |
A new study – released by How and Why, a UK-based media strategy company, in conjunction with its partner GlobeCast – may go a long way in validating this strategy with hard return on investment (ROI) figures.
How and Why and GlobeCast initially set out on this project to determine the effect of a television Captive Audience Network (CAN) on the behavior of shoppers in a retail environment. According to the results of their findings, the two companies have established a link between CANs and an improved shopping experience for the first time in a published study. The research found that the presence of a TV network of this kind in a shopping center could be expected to generate an increase in like-for-like sales of 1.5 percent – even before applying strategies for improving content effectiveness that the study also researched.
This study may loom large for retailers and marketers assessing which communication strategies to adopt to enhance retail performance. With CANs still a relatively nascent form of customer communication, their effectiveness has yet to be measured meaningfully. This study may give decision-makers the concrete numbers they need to justify digital television network purchases. The study was conducted jointly by retail academics from Brunel University's Business and Management school and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST).
Other specific findings of the study include:
A clear positive link between the content shown on the CAN network and the amount of money spent, time spent shopping and the number of items purchased.
An estimated uplift in like-for-like sales of 1.5 percent, a significant number when the percentage of turnover increase is measured solely as a result of customer response to improvements to the shopping environment.
Improvement in the image of the shopping center among consumers that can be traced directly to the presence of the CAN network.
Greater positive response from consumers aged 24 and under.
An overall rate of 76 percent of respondents responded positively to the network with very few actively disliking it.
A great demand from shoppers that the screens be even bigger than the 42-inch plasma screens used in the research.
Visit the How and Why Group and GlobeCast for more information.