RETAILERS USING ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY TO GRAB CONSUMER ATTENTION

Advertising continues to change as consumers look more towards the internet and their IPods. So how are retailers dealing with innovation? Well, by jumping on the bandwagon. Vestcom, a company that produces price labels that appear on retail shelves all over the country, has developed a new way to reach shoppers: attaching video monitors to shelves. "You're in the store. You're making a decision and they have the last chance to try to influence you to buy their product," said Tim McKenzie, executive vice president and director of sales and marketing at Vestcom, which produces shelf tags for thousands of stores including Kroger Co., Target Corp. and Walgreen Co. "It is where the industry is going in terms of trying to redirect advertising dollars to what they call the last three feet of the marketing plan," he said. The video monitor is about 4 inches wide and will show 10, 20, or 30 second commercials as well as feature the product’s price. Reportedly, Vestcom is already developing a model for a large national retailer that will make an appearance this time next year; however, they will not state the identity. For companies that are not interested in videotaped commercials, Vestcom has expanded “ad tags,” a combination of shelf price tags and static advertisements that help consumers make a decision.