Results from a new internet-based digital-signage project in more than five dozen pharmacies in South Africa show that sales improved between 20% and 1200% for specific products that were advertised on the in-store network.
Implemented by digital-signage house Purplemoss Media in 65 selected pharmacies in the Western Cape Province, the project delivered a return on investment (ROI) in an absurdly short space of time.
Purplemoss Media CEO Tony Read says: "The improvement in sales after only 30 to 60 days was nothing short of astonishing. In some cases the improvement in sales was so much better than anticipated that pharmacies ran out of stock on certain products"
Remote-controlled Screens:
Purplemoss project technicians installed a 37-inch LCD, Player PC and 3G modem in each of the selected pharmacies. For maximum exposure, they placed each LCD screen above the prescription counter at the back of each pharmacy. From their central offices, Purplemoss Media managed the content on all 65 screens over the 3G wireless connections.
"Not only did we transmit advertisements to all these pharmacies simultaneously, but we updated ads in realtime and scheduled updates to go live automatically on particular dates and times," says Read.
The software behind it all:
To carry out this feat, Purplemoss Media used the industry-leading Mediacaster package developed by Isenzo, a South African company specializing in digital-signage software.
"Mediacaster was ideal for this project, because it enabled us to manage the scheduling of 8-to-20 minute loops and handle updates while also monitoring the network," Read said. "This helped us to maintain excellent quality-of-service levels."
Isenzo CEO Peter Robson explains why this mix of digital-signage hardware and software is so successful: "Internationally, digital POS in retail environments has proven its ability to increase both sales and brand retention. This study shows that correctly implemented digital signage can deliver similar results in the South African retail sector."
The project also demonstrated the suitability of remotely-managed digital signage for rapid in-store staff training and information updates.
The pharmacy sales figures clearly show the sharp upward trend in sales starting from the installation date of the digital signage network. Some products sold so well in the launch month that the pharmacies ran out of stock the following month. With sufficient stock, the maximum sales boost may well have been higher.
