Online catalogue business Catalogue Central is launching an Australian-first retail campaign across major shopping centres on March 1. Catalogue Central’s services will be brought to customers through selected Abuzz Solutions’ electronic directories, known as kiosks.
The joint promotion, running for a trial period through March and April, will be the first time Australians will see shopping catalogues in flash format and will provide shoppers with in-centre, electronic access to catalogues from K-Mart, Big W, Telstra and Ted’s Cameras via Catalogue Central. The content will be accessed by the user simply by selecting ‘View Catalogues’ on the home screen.
Robert Wong, founder and CEO of Catalogue Central sees this as a major stepping stone in bringing retailers closer to their customers.
“The partnering of Catalogue Central and Abuzz Solutions provides an opportunity to influence shoppers very close to their point of purchase,” he said.
“The kiosks will offer a fifth channel for our clients to interact directly with their consumers in addition to our homepage, network, email and SMS.”
Catalogue Central’s branded kiosks will be stationed in Watergardens Town Centre (Victoria), Westpoint Blacktown (New South Wales) and Hyperdome (Queensland).
Abuzz kiosks remove the requirement for printed directories within the centre, provide shoppers with a far easier means of locating the retailer they are seeking and generate revenue through advertising on the screens while in screen-saver mode.
“For Abuzz, the metrics obtained through the Catalogue Central campaign will be invaluable in considering new interactive programs to compliment its directory business and will help shape the direction of this type of solution globally,” said Jeremy Richardson, CEO of Abuzz Solutions.
“Abuzz has already commenced discussions with CC Media about the potential to enhance the interactivity with the catalogues and have exclusive, time based offers delivered to the shopper’s mobile handsets.
“This has great potential and I am confident we have the partnerships in place to deliver real value to all stakeholders. The delivery mechanisms are all in place for proactive marketers to get a clear edge on their competition in a measurable and meaningful way. After all, as marketing and promotional dollars are harder to extract, it is the mediums that deliver quantifiable results that will become more compelling than those that do not,” said Richardson.