Are you a retailer looking for the best way to use video advertising? Look no further than your own checkout, because researchers say that in-store video advertising is up to three times more effective than traditional television ads.
That's from a study co-authored by University of Illinois business professor Yunchuan Liu and University of Southern California economist Anthony J. Dukes. It's the first to examine the impact of in-store video advertising on the product-distribution chain.
The researchers looked at the success of Wal-Mart, which pioneered in-store video advertising in 1999. With 100,000 screens in more than 2,650 stores that reach 336 million shoppers every month, Wal-Mart has the fifth-largest reach of any network, trailing only ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.
Up to 70 percent of consumers make brand decisions while they shop, and Liu said about a quarter of Americans now go to at least one retailer every week that uses in-store video advertising. Its effectiveness is proven by these important numbers from the study:
Brand recall is 65 percent among Wal-Mart TV viewers
Brand recall is just 23 percent for in-home TV ads
For retailers who want to use the most effective marketing, Liu said in-store video advertising is the wave of the future. When it comes to "... impulse purchases [like] cereal, razor blades and those kinds of retail products, in-store advertising will be really important."
The study said in-store advertising also provides social benefits, giving consumers product information as they're shopping, when they need it most.
"In the future, we see more advertising available in stores, and more advertising shifting from commercial media to in-store media," Liu said.
While large retailers like Wal-Mart were among the first to use in-store video advertising, it's not limited to only the nation's biggest chains. In-store video advertising services available from point-of-entry marketing providers offer a turnkey solution that can be cost-effective for almost any retailer and includes equipment and customized programming that can be updated on a regular basis.
For retailers large and small, in-store video advertising using LobbyVision from BusinessVoice can call customers to action to improve revenues right at the point of sale. And unlike television, in-store video advertising uses a medium that's free of charge, with a built-in audience that can't switch off or fast-forward through your ad.
