TV edges out billboards

Internationally, advertising gurus see Retail TV as a big threat to still billboards that have recently taken a good slice of advertising budgets, especially within cities and public places, says BD Africa.

Digital Signage is an emerging technology that has already caught on in the rest of the world and is changing the way business is being conducted - whether in offices, schools or even in retail outlets.

Through the technology, businesses are able to install channels of digital signage displays that deliver specific departmental advertising focused on the customer at the critical mile of decision-making.

Melbourne-based retail intelligence systems provider, Beonic, has sealed a distribution deal with Hong Kong-based commercial security installer, Security Systems, which will provide its Traffic Pro crowd-counting system in various well-known stores across Asia, says Smarthouse News.

Beonic's product will be installed in brand name outlets in China and Malaysia, adding to the company's current distribution spanning IKEA, Angus & Robertson Bookshops, Vodafone and Adidas stores in Australia and New Zealand.

Beonic earned a high profile in Asia last year after it won an Asia Pacific Information and Communication Technology Award (APICTA), which recognised the company as one of the region's best innovators.

Online shoppers are getting pickier, so retailers are introducing live chat, customer reviews and lifestyle photography to keep their Web sites relevant, according to a report to be released today at a retail conference in Las Vegas, says Sun Times.

The report revealed an irony: catalogues are playing a big role in driving Internet traffic, with 66% of the 150 retailers surveyed measuring the success of a catalogue by how it increases Web sales.

"The perception that catalogues are a dying breed could not be further from the truth," said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, the online arm of the National Retail Federation.