Has M&S Finally Adopted Digital Signage?

Chris Heap

Spotted by one of my associates in the fresh produce department in Marks and Spencer in Milton Keynes (UK) is this interesting full colour shelf edge screen – a wide aspect screen that occupies a reasonably small footprint and is embedded into a larger plastic unit that doubles as a static POP barker.

In this  case the screen is being used to promote a pre-packed bagged salad. Denman Media’s name is clearly visible on the screen bezel although whether they provided just the content or a broader mix of services to M&S is unclear.

Denman Media Screen in M&S Milton Keynes

Denman Media Screen in M&S Milton Keynes

Marks and Spencer have been playing around with retail media for some time, having recently conducted some work with Carlipa in Westfield and have  toyed with audio in particular venues. However this particular installation is I believe another first for M&S with this work at shelf edge. M&S only sell their own label products which is why (some would say) their adoption of digital media has been patchy given that they can’t tap into brand advertising budgets, having instead to rely on internal marketing, training and other funding sources which are set based on regional and store needs rather than a national strategy.

It’s not clear whether this is part of a wider rollout of screen media across the M&S estate or a single store deployment. M&S have historically empowered their store managers to make decisions on the deployment of retail media (especially screen and audio media) on a store by store basis which is why from time to time we see various pilots of different screen media but often no estate wide expansion.

If Denman Media, M&S or readers have more up to date information then please let us know.


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