Asda’s newly opened future store in Keighley, Bradford, is trialling a digital signage system from Amscreen that has been designed to influence purchase decisions at the point of sale.

In Amscreen’s promotion of the deal, which includes a video of the system it’s posted on its website, it describes the system as close proximity signage; which presumably means that you have to be quite close to it to read what’s on the screen.

But is this really any different to the digital signage deployments that have come and gone before? Remember the hype for Tesco TV?

It seems to be just another example of a supermarket trying to extract a bit of extra cash from suppliers, with promises of how much simple advertising can make a difference to what customers choose to buy once they are in the store. During the recession, cash-conscious consumers are considering more carefully what goes in their basket, and I can’t see them being swayed as easily as they were during the good times.

It’s only a trial, so Asda will soon see whether it can make the technology work to its advantage or not. But it is intriguing that it has opted to use digital signage in a way that is so far behind what other parts of Wal-Mart have already achieved.

A year and a half ago at the National Retail Federation Show in New York, Wal-Mart Canada unveiled plans for its chain-wide screen network. But rather than show dull product adverts, it was developing a Simpsons-like cartoon series, with characters based on what it had identified as its core customer segments.

The idea was to place products within the cartoons, rather than overtly promote them; a tactic that must work if the many brands visible in TV shows and movies is anything to go by.

Retailers with their eyes on the prize of sales uplift need to think carefully about the role digital signage can play in their stores.

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