BrightSign, LLC, the global market leader in digital signage media players announced its players are powering a network of 60 integrated customer service and digital signage screens delivered by the South China House Of Technology (SCHOT) to the stores of a global furniture retailer in Tsuen Wan, N.T. Hong Kong in a first-of-its kind installation.
Customers at the furniture retailer draw numbered tickets for access to customer service agents – but until now have had to wait nearby until an agent was ready to see them. The retailer sought to improve customer service by displaying the next customer service number on screens around the relevant department, and reinforcing this with voice announcements in store, so that shoppers could continue to browse whilst waiting to be seen – improving convenience and hopefully increasing sales. Delivering this concept involved integrating the ticket printers with the store’s backend server and the sound system and to integrate the customer service announcements with digital signage playback on screens around the store. The global furniture retailer chose SCHOT to deliver a solution.
This was the first time SCHOT had integrated digital signage with a ticketing system of this type. The solution SCHOT developed centered on BrightSign players, due to their quality and reliability as well as the flexibility and I/O to support the many physical interconnections required by this system. Customers request a ticket from a 10” AVNU PF10H1B-CT all-in-one, multi-touch screen, which is attached to a ticket printer providing a paper service ticket. The screen has an embedded BrightSign Built-In DSM (digital signage module), which replays the store’s marketing messages when the screens are not being used to issue tickets. The ticket request is routed to the customer service support queue. When the next agent is available, the customer’s number is displayed on all of the 46 32” – 50” digital signage screens located around the store – each one driven by a BrightSign HD223 player. At the same time a voice announcement is played over the audio channel. The normal digital signage content is interrupted during this announcement, and resumes once the announcement has been made.
The project development and integration was well within the capabilities of the SCHOT team but the amount of hardware connectivity did require careful thought. They appreciated the flexibility of the BrightSign player design to allow them to support all of the physical devices that needed to be connected. These included the sound system, the backend server/computer, as well as the ticket printers themselves. There are multiple outputs in the completed system, hence, there are a notable number of access and error points. An important consideration was giving playback priority for voice announcements over passive video playback. The software system that SCHOT created in the player resumes video and audio playback from the exact point at which the interruption took place.
BrightSign WiFi/Bluetooth enables the connectivity, which controls the system flow. A visitor presses for a queue number/ticket on the ANVU in-store kiosk which uses BrightSign Built-In with WiFi to run the request through a router which converses with the server to generate the next number, tell the printer to issue a ticket and relay the new calling number to Customer Service backend system for internal staff to view. When an agent becomes available, they press a button on this system (which sits on the same network) and a message is delivered to the large format display, which updates and announces the new number.
The entire queuing system does not require a USB to upload or distribute content, everything can be done from the backend system via a network connection. However, the user may choose to use USB instead, as a secondary option for loading new content onto each BrightSign player. BrightSign players are also used for food menus in the retailer’s restaurant and to power marketing content, which is created by their head office team and updated via BrightAuthor.
The installation was very successful, and has been implemented in the cookware, household products and furniture departments as well as at the cashiers’ desks and the ordering area.
Stanley Kwok of audio visual company SCHOT, commented “The global furniture retailer wanted to offer its customers maximum convenience and ease through this initiative and BrightSign’s media players were the obvious choice. They connected easily to all the required hardware and offered the features necessary to accomplish the goal – allowing customers to continue shopping whilst awaiting the next available agent and promoting offers in-store.”
For more information about BrightSign’s complete portfolio of digital signage products, visit http://www.brightsign.biz.
About BrightSign
BrightSign LLC, the global market leader in digital signage media players, is headquartered in Los Gatos, California, with offices in Europe and Asia. BrightSign manufactures media players, and provides free software and networking solutions for the commercial digital signage market worldwide, serving all vertical segments of the digital signage marketplace. From entry-level BrightSign LS players to BrightSign XT players offering state-of-the-art technology and unsurpassed performance, BrightSign’s products are known for their signature reliability, affordability, ease-of-use, and market-leading technology. For more information, visit www.brightsign.biz. Follow BrightSign at http://twitter.com/brightsign and http://www.facebook.com/BrightSignLLC.
