Jens Ohlig, Director of Analytic Consulting at Nielsen Media Research, presented the results of OVAB Europe’s first research on the impact of an in-store network at the recent OVAB Europe Conference.

The study was done on the Neo Advertising network deployed in the German supermarket chain Edeka.

Two parameters were measured: the impact on shoppers questioned at the store exit, and the impact on sales. Five campaigns of four weeks each were studied.

With shoppers, the media scored well. In response to the question “Which media did you notice in the store?”, screens came out on top (66%) followed by radio (25%) posters at the car park (23%), posters on the trolley (20%) and on the floor (3%).

The media also helps recall. In response to the question: “Do you remember what you saw on the screens?”, 50% spontaneously mentioned an ad for a specific product, 32% general information, 30% weather and 28% information about Edeka and its activities.

With prompting, 77% mentioned an ad for a specific product, 55% general information, 54% weather and 60% information about Edeka and its activities.

The media increases intention to purchase. In response to the question “Do you intend to buy a certain product?” products advertised on screen scored 5 to 15% higher.

Concerning the impact on sales, 4 out of the 5 products studied saw an increase in sales (the best score was 33% for a Nivea cream)

The sales increase was most noticeable during the second half of the campaign.

The product that didn’t experience a sales increase suffered from a “halo” effect : two similar (cereal) products from the same brand were included in the study. But only one of them benefited from the in-store TV campaign. The content shown on screen probably did not sufficiently differentiate the two products.