MARKET VISION: KROGER BRINGING TV ADVERTISING INTO ITS STORES

It's going to be all Kroger TV, all the time.

The grocery chain soon will offer in-store television broadcasts in more than 2,500 of its stores nationwide.

The satellite network will use LCD and plasma screens in departments throughout the stores and at checkout lanes to deliver information on new products and promotions.

It also will offer vendors the chance to run their commercials on the broadcasts, Kroger spokesman Gary Rhodes said.

The network will be installed in the next 18 months and is expected to reach 68 million shoppers a week, he said. Kroger spokesman Tim McGurk said the date is not definite when the network will be installed in Lexington stores.

The cost of the network wasn't disclosed.

"It's the next step in the evolution to bring about an improved shopping experience for our customers," Rhodes said.

A customer in the produce department could view a spot that features recipes and cooking tips for products that are on sale, he said.

Programming will be created and broadcast by InStore Broadcasting Network, a Utah-based in-store radio network provider.

Each store will have programs specific to its location, IBN spokesman Evan Twede said.

Fourteen percent of retailers have this technology in place, according to the 2005 Retail Technology Study by Retail Systems. An additional 30 percent say they will add screens within two years.

"Quite a few retailers are doing the broadcast network kind of thing as a way to enhance the overall shopping experience," said Todd Hultquist, spokesman for the Food Marketing Institute, which represents grocers.

Home Depot and Wal-Mart already offer in-store TV networks.

A recent survey by media and marketing-research firm Arbitron found that consumers who viewed in-store advertising were 1.5 times more likely to buy a product.

About 41 percent of shoppers made purchases they weren't planning on making after hearing in-store commercials or announcements, the survey found; 37 percent bought a different brand than they initially intended after hearing such ads.

"It's a perfect medium to target hard-to-reach audiences," said Ken Goldberg, chief executive of Real Digital Media of Sarasota, Fla. The company provides digital signs for marketing and promotions.

Although retailers have been doing this type of marketing for the last five years, the dropping cost of digital displays and the increased availability of broadband have caused more retailers to market their wares this way, he said.

"Advertisers are looking for new ways to get to the mass audience and see grocery stores as a big marketplace," Goldberg said. "The customers are in the stores, the wallets are in their pockets and the TV programming allows vendors to talk directly to them with their products in close proximity.

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Dan Dyer
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