Destination point

The National Lottery has recently launched its new Lotto advertising campaign entitled ‘What would you do?'

Brand Central

14 August 2013

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Destination1

The perfect mix

PostPoint, a wholly owned subsidiary of An Post, has been a leading supplier of electronic services in Ireland for more than a decade. The company, which supplies almost 2,400 retailers nationwide, employs 22 people and operates from its headquarters in St. Andrew Street, Dublin.

PostPoint supplies mobile top-up for all major Irish networks. PostPoint retailers can also supply their customers with the most popular international calling cards in the Irish market. PostPoint also offers the largest selection of billers in Ireland. Once BillPay enabled, retailers can simply scan a customer’s bill and accept payment. Customers can pay major household bills, like ESB Electric Ireland, Bord Gais and Eircom, as well as waste payments and local utility bills.

Retailers and retail organisations are continuously looking for new products, services and solutions that drive footfall and importantly keep customers coming back time and time again; whilst also adding to the bottom line. Fiona Donnellan investigates the essential elements of retail that are guaranteed to bring the customer through the door Postpoint2 Retailers can purchase stamps at a discount and offer TV Licence renewal exclusively through PostPoint. Stamps are a huge seller during key occasions such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Mothers Day. Retailers can purchase stamps conveniently through the PostPoint retail support desk, and all orders are delivered free of charge straight to the retailer’s door. One4all Gift Cards make a perfect gift for any occasion and have become a popular choice for customers. One4all gift cards and gift card stands can be ordered free of charge through PostPoint. The One4all Online Gift Card offers customers the ultimate in convenience. It can be spent at any of One4all’s 4,500 retail partners or at selected online retail partners. Ukash and Paysafecard are two more simple online payment solutions. Both allow customers to pay cash for online activities.

With many companies launching pre-payment cards as alternatives to bin tags, waste management is a growing business. Greenstar, Barna Waste and South Dublin City Council customers can load their pre-payment cards in their local PostPoint store.

Another service retailers can offer to customers is ParkMagic’s TollTag. The tag can be used on all nationwide tolls. TollTag is similar to a ‘Ready to Go’ option on a mobile phone in that it can be topped up through PostPoint stores. PostPoint also supplies parking credit for ParkMagic parking disks in Limerick and Cork City.

PostPoint retailers can offer their customers the largest portfolio of electronic payment products and services in the Irish marketplace. In addition to this, retailers who join PostPoint also enjoy the support of a dedicated customer services team as well as an award winning sales support team on the road. To enquire about any of PostPoint’s services please call the helpdesk on 1890 20 42 20.

It could be you

The National Lottery generates an average of over 685,000 transactions daily and over 250 million annually. In the last three months, approximately two million people (65% of over 18s) have played a lottery game. The National Lottery has a wide range of products and services that drive footfall into stores.

The National Lottery launches new scratch cards every four weeks, which provides players with a diverse range of games. National Lottery’s newest scratch card, All Cash Spectacular, was very successfully launched to the market in May and has exceeded sales expectations.

The National Lottery has the largest digital signage network in Ireland. Over eur*4 million has been invested in digital signage in the last two years.

NewYork

On 24 July 2013, a Winning Word in-store competition took place on National Lottery digital screens located at selected retail sales agents, which offered customers the opportunity to win a holiday worth eur*5,000 and 50 prizes of eur*100. To enter the draw, players had to freetext the Winning Word that appeared on the National Lottery digital screen in the shop. Thirteen different Winning Words appeared on the digital screen hourly throughout the day, from 7am to 7pm, so customers could enter every hour. In-window LED Jackpot signage has also been developed to draw players into agent stores.

In July, the National Lottery launched a new Lotto advertising campaign "What’s the first thing you’d do?" The engaging, entertaining and dramatic TV advert is supported by outdoor, digital, and point-of-sale advertising. A strong element of player engagement is encouraged throughout the campaign.

Follow the signs

Sony is the leading supplier of AV/IT solutions to businesses across a wide variety of sectors including media and broadcast; video security and retail; transport and large venue markets. It delivers products, systems and applications to enable the creation, manipulation and distribution of digital audio-visual content that add value to businesses and their customers. With over 25 years’ experience in delivering innovative market-leading products, Sony is ideally placed to deliver exceptional quality and value to its customers. Sony Professional has been at the forefront of developments in the digital signage market and has an unrivalled suite of both software and hardware digital signage solutions.

According to Eamonn Halligan, sales manager for Ireland and the UK at Sony Professional: "Digital signage offers three distinct benefits over other forms of promotion. Firstly, it works at the point of decision making – in the store. Secondly, it entertains, providing a much more engaging platform for influencing. Finally, content can be updated quickly and cost-effectively, allowing for the delivery of tailored, up-to-date messages to target audiences. It is a simple, yet effective, mix of technology and advertising in the right place."

Retailers have the experience and insights to know when they can expect major footfall into their stores. Having the content displayed at the right time to hit customers visiting the store will create an uplift in sales. Halligan says: "In some retail outlets, we’ve seen sales rise by up to 30% to 32% compared to previous sales figures for a number of items after they’ve been highlighted in digital displays."

Sony has now introduced its latest range of Bravia Professional Displays. The new W800 series of Bravia Professional Displays bring exciting possibilities to the retail world, providing an ideal choice for managing dynamic content, easily and cost effectively, over any number of screens. Thanks to a built-in HTML5 web browser, users can display content stored in the cloud, on local servers and even on USB memory devices. Users simply upload HTML5 content to their location of choice and the Bravia display will locate the content and show it on screen via a three-way distribution system. Halligan noted, "In addition, TV SideView is a new application that allows effortless control of the W800 Bravia devices using a smartphone or tablet. You can change content at will, create promotions and maximise sales figures. The W800 series allows you to get your message across in a powerful format whenever you want."

For more information on Sony products for retail solutions, log on to www.pro.sony.eu.

The complete solution

Payzone‘s product portfolio spans across four key categories: transport, utility, financial services and telecoms. The products work to drive traffic, resulting in increased spend within Payzone locations. Payzone provides simpler and faster services via trusted and secure payment networks. The extensive range of services provides the retailer with a healthy revenue stream and drives increased footfall, customer loyalty and link purchases.

These unique services differentiate local retailers and provide support to the surrounding community. On average a Payzone consumer will visit their local store 1.5 times a week and this creates a long-term relationship with that store. The network offers convenience and security to consumers wishing to make frequent, low value, trusted payments. A consumer can avail of multiple services from loading a prepaid debit card to topping up a gas card. Payzone has become a destination point for consumers and will assist the retailer with reaching out to the local community.

Payzone works with retailers to market the awareness of the services to consumers. Point of sale (POS) material is paramount to the promotion of the services. The company regularly enhance the POS material, developing new initiatives to drive transactions while working closely with its partners to align messaging and promote the retail channel. Most recently, an awareness campaign with Electric Ireland was launched which resulted in transactions increasing across the network. This activity leads to an increase in the number of transactions completed at the point of sale as consumers become familiar with the range of services available in their local store. These services help connect the retailer with new customers, developing new opportunities and creating loyalty.

Expertise in research and development, together with a strong reputation in client delivery, has placed Payzone at the forefront of the electronic payments market. A number of exciting new additions to the network are currently in the pipeline and it’s expected they will be rolled out in the coming months. For more information on Payzone, contact Barry Keegan on 01 2076000 or log on to www.payzone.ie.

PRODUCT PANEL

Sony launches W800 series BRAVIA Professional Display with HTML5 capability

Sony has this year launched its new W800 series of Bravia Professional Displays. The Bravia W800 series consists of six models, bringing together the exceptional performance and design for which the Sony display range is renowned for, as well as HTML5 capability.

Designed specifically for the retail environment, the corporate presentation market and organisations with public display requirements, the W800 series maximises audience engagement with unrivalled image quality and intelligent eco-conscious brightness. The series represents Sony’s first range of displays to include HTML5 functionality.

Sony’s LED Backlight technology ensures all six models provide extremely detailed, high contrast pictures while also lowering energy bills. The displays contain light sensor; an automatic feature which enables brightness to be adjusted to match the surrounding ambient light levels perfectly.

Other key features of the W800 series include; the ability to control displays via IP (WEBAPI), a RS232C.D-Sub 15 pin terminal alongside an HDMI port for connection to a PC, an RJ45 connector; built-in WiFi for browsing the internet or receiving signage content; and a slim bezel design, approximately 17mm thick, providing a low impact, professional aesthetic.

"The HTML5 format is a standard web technology and a major addition to the Sony Bravia Professional Display offering," said Takayuki Nakane, display product manager at Sony Europe. "The HTML5 format allows users to display rich multimedia content such as videos, pictures and text, as well as other digital content like RSS feeds."

Nakane continued, "With HTML5, the displays are ideal for digital signage applications. They’re also perfect for small and medium sized business meeting rooms for corporate presentations."

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