Coming to an IGA near you: in-store screens

An in-store network of 2000 TV screens is about to pop-up in IGA supermarkets to try to influence what 5 million shoppers every week pick up before they hit the checkout aisle.

For more than 10 years the advocates of in-store marketing have argued that 70 per cent of all grocery shoppers' purchasing decisions are made in-store, providing robust rationale for a series of supermarket TV trials carrying supplier advertising. All have flopped.

Woolworths is again having a serious look at the idea, using its own management team rather than a partner from the outside world, but IGA is pushing ahead with a network developed by a digital signage firm called Pronto.

Pronto's managing director, Andy Kiernan, admits the in-store TV attempts to date have proven unimpressive but blames technology geeks. "Generally, it's technical people trying to sell their equipment," he said. "Technical people don't look at this from a marketing point of view, which is asking 'is it possible to change shopping behaviour in-store?' It is."