Demuk and Advantech Install Digital Advertising Media in Two Thousand Convenience Stores in Thailand
12/29/2021
In an attempt to improve customer interactions and boost purchasing intent, Demuk and Advantech helped the biggest media company in Thailand install digital advertising media solutions in two thousand of the busiest stores of a leading convenience store chain. The close partnership between Demuk and Advantech has helped deliver reliable and robust digital signage solutions and has made day-to-day operations smoother and fault-free. The promising results have led to future system implementation in more stores across Thailand.
In the past, traditional out-of-home (OOH) advertising consisted of posters, canvas banners, and billboards placed in commercial/public spaces and on the sides of public transport. As technology advances, digital OOH has revolutionized the advertising industry by overcoming the limitations of traditional advertising formats. These ads are more eye-catching, interactive, and cost-effective. Many international retail giants started implementing digital signage solutions more than ten years ago. The biggest OOH media service providerin Thailand provides advertising services and solutions for public transportation, static and digital outdoor advertising media, and various commercial and retail spaces. They control around 26% of the market share, and won an agreement to invest and manage advertising media in a leading convenience store chain in 2019.This chain has 11,983 convenience stores in Thailand that serve over 14 million customers. They hope digitizing in-store advertisements enhances consumer experience and reduces costs and human resource requirements.
Digital signage solution with real-time monitoring management system
While attempting to meet a digital advertising media target of two thousand of the busiest stores within 2020, the media service provider approachedDemuk. Diverse store designs, limited space, and yearround24/7 operation necessitated a compact reliable solution. Advantech’s USM-110 ultra-compact digital signage player was chosen for Demuk’s magicSigndigital signage solution, an intuitive and user-friendly web-based application. USM-110 provides common content management and scheduling features, remote management and monitoring capabilities, and system status report functions — including remote play/pause, restart/shutdown, system failure and service analysis reports, and event push notifications.
Mr. Tatsapoom Udompong, Managing Director of Demus, explained, “Our long-term experience in smart display solutions has taught us that the success of large-scale digital signage projects lies in the monitoring system.” OOH media service providers sell advertising airtime, meaning that system downtime is simply unacceptable. This is why magicSign monitors thousands of players, displays real-time content, and sends notifications as soon as issues arise. This helps shorten system maintenance time. In addition, failure and service reporting provides insights for system improvements and preventative maintenance.
Close collaboration delivers a successful digital signage solution
Demuk, a smart display solution industry leader inSouth East Asia, was founded in 2004 and has remainedAdvantech’s partner for around ten years. In 2016, the company transformed in preparation for global market entry, leading Mr. Udompong to decide to develop Android solutions. During the development phase, Demukworked closely with Advantech to fix issues and create new features that meet market demands. Mr.Udompongsaid, “Since the beginning of the project, we have worked with Advantech to modify firmware and software. We now have a reliable system and robust hardware platform that runs smoothly every day.” This solution’s performance and reliability are demonstrated by the low failure rate of the approximately five thousand USM-110players installed to date. Failures, few and far between, are usually caused by issues related to cabling or power supply; and not hardware.
The USM-110 is an Android system designed for markets that demand high-performance graphics in acost-effective platform. It ensures stable and reliable operation using enhanced heat dissipation. Its lightweight compact form factor enabled Demuk to mount these units on the back of the digital signage displays in convenience stores. This eased installation and presented a tidy appearance. The USM-110 also supports up to four full HD digital signage displays. Considering that each store installed more than 10 screens, USM-110 significantly helped reduce the overall hardware cost of the project and made future asset management and maintenance easier.
The media industry was hit hard by the COVID-19pandemic. Despite this, Demuk’s media clients continued to strengthen their business by leveraging diversified media services and technological innovations. In this way, the convenience store project overcame challenges presented by COVID-19 and successfully implemented the system. The digital signage solution disseminated advertisements and promotional material in different stores thus increasing average order value. Mr. MatrixChoong, General Manager of Advantech Thailand, told us, “The pandemic has had a huge impact on the tourism and retail industries. Despite this, people in Thailand still go to convenience stores to buy daily necessities and groceries. We have seen digital advertising media boost consumer purchase intent. We look forward to deploying more applications in the retail, and food and beverage sectors.”
Demuk and the leading media company expanded their business in several vertical markets. As of today, they have over 10,000 digital signage displays installed across Thailand. This number continues to grow. Moreover, the rapid development of technologies such as IoT and AI has seen a sharp increase in the demand for personalized advertising and marketing content delivered through sophisticated, interactive digital signage solutions. Advantech continues to use their extensive experience to deliver the digital elements needed in diverse digital signage projects.