• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, September 3, 2008

The nation's largest retailer revealed its new in-store video network today, the product of a joint effort with Premier Retail Networks, Studio2, and DS-IQ. According to Stephen Quinn, Wal-Mart's executive vice-president and chief marketing officer for the stores division, the Internet-protocol Smart Network will continually analyze point-of-sale figures to determine which content is most effective in driving sales, dynamically updating programming and advertising to maximize sale lift.

The new network delivers different content to screens in different parts of the store, targeting it to the products sold in each location. With about 27,000 screens in 2,700 stores, that means an average of 10 different content streams per store, all delivered via IPTV and updated in real time by the central server based on the point of sale data. These include "welcome screens" near the entrance, "category screens" in the grocery, health and beauty, and electronics areas (the most visited parts of the store), and "endcap screens" near the endcap displays throughout the store.

While no mention was made of it, in addition to sales data, the system is sure to use other inputs like foot traffic in different parts of the store, as well as the demographic profile of the community served by each store - all of which were used in the old network.

Rollout of the new network begins this month and is scheduled for completion in 2010. Premier Retail Networks is responsible for building and operating the IPTV network as well as ad sales, Studio 2 provides custom programming, and DS-IQ is responsible for measurement, analysis, and the message optimization strategy.