E-Gads! Publix tests e-Cap, a new electronic P-O-P system.
As shoppers walk into the grocery store, the brightly lit “$1 dollar off any Sarah Lee item” message on the 48-inch-by-32-inch electronic P-O-P display is impossible to miss. Publix agreed to try out the new permanent P-O-P system from Las Vegas-based AdMedia in six of its locations earlier this year. Not long after, the chain was pleasantly surprised to witness a spike in sales of promoted products, according to Gary Hardy, assistant manager of the Publix in Pembroke Pines, FL. “We haven’t finished the tallying yet, but we had spikes as a result of these things – there is no doubt about that,” says Hardy. “You walk in the door and the sign really jumps out at you.”
Called e-Cap (for electronic changing advertising messages, says AdMedia, though that doesn’t quite fit the acronym), the system is an electronic billboard placed just inside the store’s entrance. It uses flat-screen technology and computer programming to promote specific items within the store via a 35-inch screen. Content is set up as a 14-page “magazine.” AdMedia gives retailers the first page free with an option to purchase the second. Other pages are offered to local advertisers like banks or photo labs, usually at a rate of $275 for a four-week cycle, or to national or regional advertisers at rates beginning at $275.
AdMedia spokesperson Ed Donato said he knew of no additional compensation being given to retailers for using the system, which could pose a potential problem to e-Cap’s longevity. Leading in-store marketing companies such as Catalina Marketing and News America Marketing have thrived for so long because their programs serve as profit centers for retailers.
Each e-Cap message contains an ad with a promotional component, such as an image of a product coupled with a special discount offer. Images are rotated in one-minute intervals complete with sound effects to capture attention. Different messages are promoted at different times of the day, and can be customized by location. New messages are downloaded from remote computers to the displays, allowing offers to be changed quickly in response to a store’s needs or a marketer’s changing priorities.
The test was obviously successful, as Lakeland, FL-based Publix intends to roll out the system to its 800 stores throughout the Southeast, a move that should take a year and a half to complete, according to AdMedia president Mike Orr. (Publix executives declined to comment.)
E-Caps have elsewhere been placed in three Valu-Food stores in Baltimore and one Vons in California. Valu-Food is planning to add more machines, too, Orr says.
“The average total grocery receipt is about $20, so incremental sales increases on products promoted by e-Cap become substantial in a very short period of time,” says AdMedia marketing manager Burt Weiss.
A subsidiary of Advanced Lighting Solutions, Inc., a manufacturer of residential and commercial lighting products, AdMedia was founded in 1994 to develop and market e-Cap.
