The Australian retailer Coles have

The Australian retailer Coles have opened a Retail Evolution Lab which showcases what digital could look like in a supermarket. There is an innovative display of health food showing a combination of a display screen, a touch tablet and digital E labels on the shelf edge – all connected to a Content Management System. The aim is to provide customers with additional information to help them choose the right product, and then navigate them straight to the shelf where it is displayed.

Instead of printed price tickets on the ends of an aisle, digital screens display special offers that catch the eye of the customer. Facial recognition software tracks the shoppers who are looking at the screen and reports on the age and gender of those looking at it.

A good example of the new generation of digital shelf price labels, developed by AOpen technicians, which combine the power of video and animated graphics with the functional requirement for price and product information, bar codes and inventory management tools.

The lab has been built as part of a partnership between digital signage group AOpen and retail designer Red Design Group. It also showcases content management tools from Fujitsu and cameras and facial recognition tools designed to track customer interactions from Intel.

In future, there will be a convergence of online, in-store and mobile applications to allow retailers to more effectively engage with customers, said Don Fraser, chairman of Red Design Group, and the founding director of Safeway in Australia.

“Customers are desperately looking for information… In-store digital allows customers to self educate with a minimum of staff assistance,” Fraser said.