NEC Display Solutions Customer Installation Retail and Signage
Bolist
Digital Signage – Bolist guides customers to achieve the best hardware purchase
Bolist is a purchasing organization with 200 member stores under a joint brand, with shared marketing and storage facilities. To show the full range of products in all stores, Bolist created an in-store kiosk solution. The kiosk communicates the brand and shows the total range of products, not only the physical products on store shelves. A large attention screen in the kiosk shows short movies to encourage usage and a touch screen displays an adapted version of the Bolist web shop. The solution is installed in 193 Bolist stores around the country and is a much appreciated selling tool that has driven and increased the total sales.
Bolist is Sweden’s largest hardware store chain with 200 affiliated stores. Some of the stores are family owned going back several generations with a 100-year-old history, some are newly opened family businesses, and others are large department stores - and all are welcome to the large family of Bolist. Bolist is the local “challenger” that helps you with everything from start to finish, or from hammer to house as they say it themselves.
The Challenge
The Bolist stores started marketing themselves together under the joint brand five years ago and at the same time gathered resources to streamline the product flow. They started a logistics centre and a central warehouse and adapted the range of products based on market demand. The central warehouse holds approximately 9000 products which makes the whole product range difficult to display in all stores, especially in small shops in city locations. Some product categories, such as timber, wallpapers and windows, simply can’t fit in a smaller shop and other products do not sell well enough to be permanently featured in-store. Bestsellers should be available to the customer in-store while items sold less frequently can be ordered. In this way, the retail space is being used efficiently.
Bolist offers its full range of products in all shops and needed to make it clear to their customers that the products that are not physically there, can easily be ordered directly to their doorstep or to the nearest store.
Bolist wanted a modern screen solution in-store to enhance the customer experience and foremost to increase customer satisfaction. Bolist also wanted to streamline and simplify the staff workflow.
The NEC Solution
A digital in-store kiosk was developed in order to guide customers and staff through the wide product range. At the same time a display area was created for campaigns and brand communication. The concept was developed by Bolist and the Digital Signage Agency Visual Art.
The digital in-store kiosk consists of a touch screen connected to the existing Bolist online shop and a professional 46-inch screen in portrait mode that displays video material such as promotional offers.
Bolist’s customers are often recurrent and they know their local salesmen well. To create local commitment, pride and satisfaction both among customers and local salesmen, the large format screen shows films of the local salesmen. Besides it being a familiar face for the customer, it also grabs their attention and directs it to the touch-screen. One salesman from each Bolist store has been filmed and the film is shown in their respective local stores.
When the touch screen is enabled, it shows a customized version of the Bolist online shop where you can order materials and products either to the store for pick-up, or delivered directly to your doorstep. The large screen is simultaneously switched to a calmer mode to avoid interference with the use of the touch-screen.
The digital in-store kiosk also contains a shelf for the customer to put their cup of coffee or mobile phone, as well as clear instructions on how to use the touch screen.
The digital in-store kiosk was installed between March and June 2014 and is currently active in 193 Bolist stores.
As the attention-screen was meant to interact with the touch screen, it required professional, reliable and advanced hardware that would last over time. For this reason, Visual Art recommended Japanese NEC as a supplier of displays, which Bolist ended up choosing.
“The cooperation with NEC has worked very well and our contact person has shown great commitment throughout the process. Despite some challenges during the installation, NEC’s presence and commitment gave both us and the end customer the reassurance we needed to complete the project and achieve the desired results”, says Lisa Hemström, Key Account Manager at Visual Art.
The Results
Bolist conducts an annual survey of satisfaction amongst their members, i.e. the stores and shops, since they are a part of a voluntary membership organization. The survey results have shown a high level of satisfaction when it comes to the digital in-store solution. It has become a popular sales support tool and is often used by salesmen and customers together to get an overview of the product range.
The fact that the digital in-store kiosk is connected to each store and to the online web shop has allowed Bolist now to reach an entirely new group of customers and drive sales to new product categories. Today, customers go into city stores such as Wirströms hardware store on a crowded street in Stockholm and order windows and timber, something that did not happen before. Previously, only 10 stores sold wallpaper. Now all stores sell wallpaper, which of course is reflected in Bolist’s revenues.
The goal to increase revenues by 15% in 2015 was reached and in 2015 the number of visits to the digital store and web shop increased by 800%. Bolist also increased its revenues in the digital channels with 100% in May 2016 compared with the same period in 2015.
In 2016, 20 new digital in-store kiosks have been installed.
“For us, the installation of the digital store has been a very successful venture. It has been the foundation of our venture to streamline logistics, improve the customer offer and marketing in order to double Bolist’s turnover until 2018. And we are well on the way of getting there”, says Mischa Moszkowicz, Marketing Manager at Bolist.
NEC Products
| LCD 46" Midrange Large Format Display | |
| Size | 46inch |
| Haze Level | Pro |
| Operating Hours | 24/7 |
| Brightness | 500 cd/m² |
| Resolution | 1920 x 1080 |