Sometimes having too much of a good thing can be bad.
That’s the problem The UPS Store, a chain of over 300 courier outlets had before a solution provider showed them how to display its wares.“One of the problems we have is that we have a variety of service offerings,” said Malcom Houser, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of the company. “We do packaging, shipping, courier, offer document services and faxing, sell retail office supplies, rent computer time. But most people don’t realize all we do.”
The company thought digital signs flashing information in each store would work. “It was a natural,” said Houser. “We get people standing at the counter, and it’s a real easy way to educate them.”
Digital in-store media are increasingly proving their worth, according to a study last year by Forrester Research.
Many VARs think so, too, and have taken steps to enter the market. However, customers are looking for solutions that include more than a screen.
The UPS Store talked to seven potential suppliers, narrowed it down to three, including Connections Canada Inc (CCi) of Mississauga, Ont.
CCi dates back to 1987 when it began installing retail point of sale system in British Columbia liquor stores. It since developed a POS-related front and back-end business around the world, with offices in London and Malaysia.
Six years ago it started providing high-speed connectivity to retailers as a managed service, then added voice over IP, online kiosks and digital signs.
Its strategy for digital signage is to supply an entire solution – screen, installation and content – by partnering with several suppliers including Real Digital Media of Sarasota, Fla., which makes a ruggedized media server with no moving parts for stores, and i2Digital of Toronto, which works with customers to create content that is streamed to the media server.
“A lot of people think they can just jump into it,” says Dennis Kukulsky, vice-president of CCi’s retail applications division. “Buy a 40-inch screen, a mount, install the cable, set up the server and Bob’s your uncle.”
Getting the business
To get the business of a chain it’s a different story.Houser said the three competing solution providers were close in technology. But unlike some suppliers who were strong in only some regions, leveraging its experience CCi could promise installation anywhere across the country.
Neither side would divulge the final price of the contract.
There are some wrinkles. Unlike some chains CCi deals with many UPS stores are owned by franchisees, so an individual contract has to be signed with each owner.
UPS and the franchisee have agree on where the screen goes. RDM sends each server to CCi for configuration before being shipped to the store for installation by CCi staff or an approved contractor, who mounts the screen, and hooks the high- speed cable to a router. After a test it’s ready to go.
As of this month installation had been finished at 68 stores.
There have been a few problems, where custom brackets had to be fashioned for the screens (a possibility that had been priced into the contract), but nothing insurmountable.
“We’re very enthused,” said Houser. “I haven’t had a single one who said ‘This is a waste of money.’”
Why did UPS chose CCi? A major reason, Houser said, was the feeling that it understood what UPS wanted. Others, he complained, would say, “This is what you need.”
That’s a lesson for VARSs that could be displayed.