Company News • 08.04.2013

Virtual Retail Assistant

The changing face of in-store promotions

Source: Tensator

Tensator has unveiled the Virtual Assistant Ultra, with the goal of revolutionising in-store promotions for the retail sector.

The latest addition to the virtual assistant range has been designed with retailers in mind with a significantly reduced footprint of 20 inches by 20 inches. The Ultra uses projection technology to create the illusion of a real person, conveying a consistent brand message, imparting key information and highlighting products and promotions. Retailers now have an additional option, able to fit neatly within an aisle or as part of the aisle end caps, meaning it can be placed directly next to the products it is promoting for the first time.

The base unit of the Ultra is made up of interchangeable covers, creating a full surround or three-sided wrap if placed flush against a wall. This makes it ideal for advertising and promotion, and further opens up the opportunity for retailers to rent the product as a promotional tool to brands, creating lucrative additional revenue streams.

Ajay Joshi, Head of Media at Tensator commented: “As a company, we take the role of solution provider very seriously. An essential factor of this is listening to the requirements of our customers, which include some of the world’s most well-known retail brands. Retailers felt that they needed something smaller, more flexible and at a lower price point for aisle and end cap promotions. Our product development team was able to act accordingly. We are proud to have led the industry with our original Virtual Assistant offering. The Tensator Virtual Assistant Ultra leverages our extensive experience with dozens of airports and retailers who rely on Tensator to deliver the highest quality next generation digital signage offering available today. We are delighted to once again be in a market-leading position by creating a product with the smallest footprint available.”

Home and garden retailer Homebase conducted a recent test in the Virtual Assistant’s ability to change in-store customer behaviour. It was pitted against an in-store video wall with nine screens, with the challenge of directing customers to a mezzanine level containing big-ticket consumer goods.

Speaking of the results, Glen Kelly, project manager at Homebase, commented: “During a four-week trial, the Virtual Assistant was a staggering 10 times more effective at driving traffic to the upper floor than the video wall. In addition to this, we were amazed to experience a 50 percent increase in customer traffic and dwell time. The results show that the Tensator Virtual Assistant is a real point of difference. Tensator technology has allowed us to make a real change to the customer journey in Homebase.”