Presse Commerce Corporation – Innovating new revenue opportunities with HP Digital Signage Solutions

Presse Commerce Corporation started in 1988 with a simple mission: to offer Canadian waiting rooms quality publications while allowing magazine publishers to increase visibility, readership, subscriptions, and news stand sales. Over the ensuing 25 years, the company has continued to add services and products to help them grow and evolve. This focus on innovation led the company to explore new options for publishers to promote their titles and increase sales. MyMedia, an authorized Scala partner, designed a complete solution for Presse Commerce using HP Digital Signage hardware—and uncovered a new revenue stream.

Over the past decade, and especially since the 2008 recession, the publishing industry has experienced unprecedented challenges. The combination of the economic crunch and the proliferation of online options for accessing content previously consumed via magazines impacted the relevance and timeliness of magazines.

Presse Commerce Corporation, a 25-year veteran of the publishing industry has long offered magazine publishers venues for selling their titles—first via low-cost, top-quality unsold publications for distribution in medical and other waiting rooms, and later through 8 Multimag stores in Montreal and 4 Jac & Gil stores in Quebec City. In these traditional magazine-oriented stores, 60% of the offering is magazines, supplemented with tag-along products such as books, snacks, soft drinks and water, knick-knacks and souvenirs. Presse Commerce also has a network of 475 member stores across Canada.

Sales promotions success

Erich Repper, Director, Business Development, Presse Commerce Corporation, says, “We are always looking for new ways to innovate. What extra we can do to help publishers, to add more value? Specifically, we were looking for another way for publishers to reach their customers and drive sales in a very hard market.”

Repper had done some research that supported the theory that moving images are much more effective than the static images found on magazine covers—or even the in-store displays that publishers invest in for special promotions.

In late 2011, Presse Commerce launched a new store in the Montreal bus station—a critical hub that traffics more than 2 million people on their way to destinations throughout Canada each year. As part of the opening of this latest venue, Repper wanted to explore a new service offering for magazine publishers by providing opportunities for them to purchase ad space on large digital signage stations. MyMedia, a Scala authorized partner, provided a complete solution with the right hardware and software, including HP Digital Signage. Since Presse already had HP computers and printers, Repper felt confident in moving forward with HP as a trusted technology partner.

In the Montreal bus station store, Repper deployed an HP digital signage player PC along with four HP Digital Signage 42-inch diagonal screens. He also deployed HP Digital Signage solutions in his 11 other stores, each featuring one to three HP screens. The screens are strategically placed above the cash register area or in other high-traffic areas to maximize reach and impact. Repper explains, “Our goal was really to pilot the digital signage initiative in our corporate stores and gain the learnings and results to prove the value and then push adoption across our broader member network.”

“ The HP Digital Signage is beautiful. Large, crisp, clear images. Our customers know they can run video, images,or commercials and feel confident in knowing they will look great.”
– Erich Repper, Director, Business Development, Presse Commerce Corporation

Repper adds, “This isn’t revolutionary, but in our industry, especially in Canada, we are leading the way with this type of offering. If you want a TV spot in a magazine store—it will be our store. Other stores might have a small monitor, but we have a 42-inch HP TV screen—often multiple screens. There is just no comparison.”

Impressive results from worry-free solutions

Presse Commerce’s customers like what they are seeing. One customer ran a digital spot with Presse and saw a sales uplift of roughly 30%. “Not all of that is attributable to the digital signage, of course,” says Repper, “But the increase coincided with the spot running and we can certainly claim some of the credit.” Repper also approached another customer with a proposal to develop a 3-way cross merchandising in support of a summer movie. The company ran three spots, one each for the movie, the book and a comic book, and also saw an impact on sales.

Customer at a glance

Application
Digital signage

Solution
• HP LD 4210 42-inch diagonal LCD Digital   Signage Displays
• Scala digital signage software
• MyMedia digital signage solutions, an authorized Scala partner

“ HP and Scala helped us achieve our short-term goals of offering a new opportunity to publishers. They are also giving us the quality and reliability we need for long term expansion and growth.”
– Erich Repper, Director, Business Development,
Presse Commerce Corporation

Repper says the quality and reliability of the HP technology has been impressive, too. He notes that each night when he leaves the office, he powers down his computer, but these systems stay up and running around the clock. “I asked our IT guy if he had ever had to go out into the stores to fix an issue with the screens or the desktop,” he explains. “He said he had never been out. Now, those computers and screens have been running 24×7 for more than a year straight and have required zero attention. That’s amazing!”

Now that the service has proven its worth, Repper is looking ahead to a much broader rollout. Using the success of the systems in the 11 corporate stores, Presse Commerce is targeting the top 25 member stores in Canada’s largest markets in and around Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax, Calgary, and Vancouver. Repper wants to deploy an HP Digital Signage solution in each. He explains, “We will definitely use the same technology; it’s proven that it works.”