‘Fresh’ In-Store Communication at Carrefour Belgium

To promote the latest promotions and product information to customers and to manage queuing at the tills, the French multinational retailer deployed a comprehensive in-store digital signage solution across 25 of its branches in Belgium, with more to follow. Local Scala systems integrator DOBIT rolled out and tailored the entire network based on Scala technology, which acts as a central backbone for the management of all screens, templates, content and audio. “In the past, customers entering the shop were bombarded by an array of posters,” explained Patrick Thijs, marketing services and logistics manager at Carrefour Belgium. “Producing, printing and putting up these posters was an expensive and time-consuming process for us.”

After an extensive study, the retailer concluded that posters were becoming obsolete and should be replaced by digital signage. “One screen does the same work as a number of posters, so to speak. You can do so much more with screens, they are dynamic and flexible,” added Thijs. Carrefour’s slogan, ‘When it needs to be fresh!’, is now reflected in its in-store communication. Digital signage ensures the retailer’s on-screen information remains ‘fresh’, as digital content can be instantly changed at the push of a button. Screens at the entrance, the self-service counters and at the tills inform customers about a variety of in-store promotions and events.

The retailer was careful to analyse both the location and content of screens to ensure the end result would be successful.

“We had a clear idea of what we wanted to achieve with our digital signage platform,’ explained Thijs. “Our experience and knowledge of consumer behaviour and shopping habits drove important decisions, such as where to put up the screens, how many of them to put up and which content to push to each one.”

The entire in-store digital signage network of Carrefour market across Belgium runs on the Scala Enterprise suite of products. Three Scala players are driving the 6 screens at each of Carrefour’s 25 stores, which include portrait screens at the entrance and landscape screens at the fresh-department and the payment terminals. Scala Content Manager is the backbone of the Carrefour Instore Media System (CIMS), which allows shops to change screen content locally in a straightforward manner. The CIMS allows shops to display the right content at the right moment in a pleasing layout, at the touch of a button. It gives employees the opportunity to create local content in an intuitive manner. Local employees can adjust a shop’s profile, such as the shop name or the opening hours, from the CIMS. In addition, shop managers can easily create and display local content and manage the order in which the images are displayed. Finally, country managers for Carrefour can also deploy targeted campaigns by accessing the system. Finally, a queuing system for the self-service counters, is also running on Scala technology and replaced a more traditional numbering system.Thanks to the flexibility of the Scala software, the new queuing system has been fully integrated into the retailer’s digital signage system and screens. It allows Carrefour market to run promotions alongside serial numbers on the exact same screens that customers will be watching for their turn in the queue. In addition, an audio system was integrated into the CIMS. This makes it possible to record and broadcast audio announcements in between songs.

The flexibility and ease of use of Scala’s technology has made it possible for Carrefour market Belgium to create an easy to manage system for different levels of users within the organization. The combination of digital signage content management, design management, queuing management and in-store audio has helped the multinational French retailer modernise its customer communications strategy in the Belgian market.