Point of Purchase Media Pty Ltd (POP Media) originated as a concept to revolutionise existing in-store retail point of sale communication to an innovative, digital platform with the ability to capture both store and shopper data and provide the foundation for further digital innovation and enablement.

The concept evolved over several years through consultation with leading grocery and food brands, retailers and industry experts to become a fully integrated closed-loop retail media platform. The concept was successfully trialed during a 4 month in-store Proof of Concept program after raising $1.5m in start-up funding and has recently been awarded a contract for a minimum 70 Ritchies SUPA IGA grocery locations throughout Australia and has now secured more than 280 exclusive 10-year retail agreements.

The quantitative results achieved during the Proof of Concept exceeded expectations delivering an average advertised product dollar sales increase of 7.3%, average category dollar sales increase of 6.5%, a total store transaction increase of 4.9% and a total store basket size increase of 1.7%.  This translated into a 6.6% increase in retailer revenue across the test store environment during the trial period.

Similarly, the qualitative results demonstrated strong customer acceptance and engagement for the medium with 85% noticing the medium, 76% of shoppers stating that it added to store ambience, and greater than 60% of shoppers saying that it improved the shopping experience and helped them find a product.  Importantly, audience reach and dwell times were proven through the use of facial recognition.

As a result, POP Media has been able to prove a 4-Way-Win:  for the Shopper, the Brand, the Retailer and POP Media. 

As a first in the world, POP Media has proven the establishment of a new segment of the digital out of home (DOOH) market in grocery and liquor which completes the path-to-purchase for brands and delivers unrivalled reach where it matters most – at the point of purchase.

Future growth options beyond the 600 store five-year plan are achievable in other large format retail (such as Kmart, Target, Big W, David Jones, Myer, JB-Hi, and Harvey Norman), convenience stores (United Petroleum, Coles Express, Caltex, Shell, and BP), and pharmaceuticals (TerryWhite Chemmart, Pharmacy Online, E Pharmacy and Priceline) to name a few. 

Point of Purchase Media Pty Ltd (POP Media) is a data insights and retail in-store digital communication and advertising company that targets shoppers directly at the point of purchase. The company uses state of the art facial recognition technology and machine learning to collect and analyse shopper behaviour, habits and data delivering customers real-time information to make informed and immediate business decisions to achieve targeted financial outcomes. 

POP Media is an innovative unique brand communication platform targeting shopper’s in-store at the point of purchase with animated digital product content. Our platform is a brand driven point of sale communication tool that provides unrivaled reach in the largest captive environment being in-store retail.

Pop Media has developed and validated through a proof of concept trial an integrated digital advertising and data platform that displays targeted brand communication and content to shoppers directly where it matters most. The platform is located in aisle incorporating the directional aisle boards, therefore using clear and uncluttered space that is clearly visible to shoppers.

POP Media has proven beyond doubt the ability of the platform to deliver increased product and category sales and an increased shopper experience.

POP Media allows brands to communicate and affect shopper purchasing behaviour when in buying mode and track campaign and communication performance in real time as it relates to in-store sales activity.       

Custom designed and built integrated, ultra-wide, digital LCD HD screens deliver ten 6 second, rotating product advertisements per minute and also display product menus within supermarket aisles that replace existing product menu markers.

The network consists of: 

a)    a rules-based digital signage, content management and media platform with integrated facial recognition software 

 

b)    beacon technology to enable two way communication with shoppers, connection to the retailer rewards program, integration with the on-line shopping app and also future digital innovation, and 

 

c)    full point of sale integration to analyse and determine advertisement / campaign effectiveness and drive conditional-based play, and

d)   machine learning and artificial intelligence to optimise campaign and sales perfomance. 

 

The in-aisle units, exclusively developed and sourced by POP Media, consist of either a 400mm or 500mm high ultra-wide LCD HD panel of 1200mm to 1510mm wide incorporating an equivalent 32” or 42” screen with integrated aisle side-boards. The panels are of a commercial quality with anti-reflective glass and a 50,000 hour life cycle (or 7.6 years).  There are 2 x double sided screen units in each aisle each positioned 1-2 metres inside each aisle (front and back) to maximise viewability with the ability to act as one screen or, through the media player, be split to incorporate both video and aisle board navigation.  The media player software allows the supermarket access to modify the aisle boards only, or with a fully integrated system this can be automated. Advertising content is controlled by POP Media.

This hardware is backed up by AOpen Media players capable of delivering both the digital signage software and the data management of the audience measurment capabilities of each screen.  POP Media has proven the effectiveness of in-aisle facial recognition with cameras uniquely hung from below the screens at 2.4m from the ground and individually tuned in each aisle to maximise image capture.  Both long throw (inside aisle) and short throw (outside aisle) cameras are used to maximise the number of screen views.  This is integrated with the media player to count the number of times a person looks at a specific advertisement when it was played.  This provides advertisers with 100% viewability, 100% completion rates, proof of play and proof of view.

Facial recognition integrates with the media player to enable conditional play.  For example, if there is a female between 40 and 50 years of age in the aisle, play advertisement A.  If more than 5 people are in the aisle, play advertisement B.  If no-one is in the aisle, play advertisement C.  The media player can also integrate with external sources such as the Bureau of Meteorology to play Advertisement D on high pollen count days or when the temperature is over 30 degrees.

Each aisle rotation is synchronized so that each of the 4 screens in each aisle transition at the same time.  In addition, all aisles with 4 screens in each also transition at the same time but each aisle has different content.  We call this ‘synchronization in aisle and across each aisle’.  This is a deliberate plan to minimise confusion and distraction for the shopper and is a unique innovation and feature of POP Media.  6 second rotations for each advertisement capped at 10 in each aisle was chosen to compliment the average aisle shop of just over 2 minutes.  At 6 seconds, each advertisement plays twice in a two minute period on all four screens in each aisle maximising the chance of each shopper viewing the advertisement.

These combine to provide not only automation of the ‘back end’ but also start-of-the-art functionality in rules-based media play.  This technology is mature and fully developed with the integration and end-user portable / interface the next stage of development in the business.  No other business has integrated the back end with the front end and presented it on a digital aisle board, imbedding the brand communication in a pre-existing shopper habit.

The brand communication strategy is to advertise products specifically stocked within that respective aisle and or co-promote a dual product offering across aisles where appropriate. Significant independent market testing has been conducted with shoppers to establish the in-aisle positioning, height and width of the units to ensure they deliver maximum results for shopper interaction and engagement.  Rules-based play enables the integration with the scanning of products to not only determine the reach of brand communication, but also its effectiveness.

The ceiling-hung integrated units are positioned back-to-back (2 screens per unit) located inside the aisle at both the entry and exit of each aisle. Based on the average store operating hours of 18 hours, the program will rotate 1080 advertisements per screen, per day, per brand. This exposure is unrivalled by any other medium or advertising channel. In a given year, at full capacity across 1,000 supermarkets, the platform will display in excess of 51 billion product advertisements.  With at least one major supermarket engaged, the reach in any given month would exceed 100 million people.

Our Proof of Concept trial (test v control) delivered the following outcomes for Ritchies Supermarkets:

·        7.3% increase in advertised product $ sales

 

·        6.5% increase in advertised category $ sales

 

·        5.7% increase in advertised product transactions

 

·        4.9% increase in total store transactions

 

·        1.7% increase in total store basket size

 

·        $30,542 average increase in per store weekly $ sales

 

·        Representing an average 6.6% increase in retailer revenue.

These results deliver for Ritchies (as at Week 17):

·        An average 6.6% increase in revenue

 

·        Annualised, this equates to a $33.3m increase in sales (based on test stores averaging 16,000 transactions per week and the Ritchies average being 8,500 transactions per week, per store)

 

·        Assuming a 2% EBIT, this delivers an additional $667k in earnings before interest & tax

 

·        Assuming a utilisation rate of 5 and an average $163 per month (worst case) Ritchie’s would receive $1.4m from POP Media as a licence fee

 

·        Total financial impact for Ritchie’s is $2.1m per annum

For more information:

Please see our POP Media Investor Overview at https://we.tl/t-PBQQ1vmDcg

Please also see our SixSeconds  / POP Media video at  https://we.tl/t-Y6s6g51a4s
(SixSeconds Media is the media agency developed to market the POP Media platform)