Quasi-Personalized Advertising

Customers are now used to receiving coupons related to their purchases along with their grocery receipts.

They have also become accustomed to seeing offers on their receipts for participation in surveys and

sweepstakes.

In a new twist on this quasi-personalized interaction with retail POS systems, as customers in some U.S. and

international retail outlets stand in line, they are being scanned and presented with gender- and/or agespecific

advertisements on electronic displays based on algorithms that match patterns with ads.

Unlike coupons and receipts, electronic ads aim to influence in-store, impulse purchases. Advertisers have

learned to be brief in these pitches. According to BusinessWeek.com, people do not watch ads that are

longer than seven seconds, which, interestingly, is about the maximum amount of time people spend on a

website home page before deciding to stay or abandon.

Integrating Brick-and-Mortar and Online Stores

Speaking of websites, another recent development is the integration of brick-and-mortar with their online

counterparts through their POS systems. Merchants with significant IT resources integrated robust

accounting and POS systems with their Web stores early on. That ability is now available to small and midsize

businesses, as well. Benefits include greater understanding of customer behavior and the ability to

promote slow-moving or overstocked items on websites with just a few clicks.

Each year, more and more people shop online. Amazon.com reported record sales for the last three months

despite the poor economy. Merchants need to be responsive to this trend. At the same time, in-store

customer interaction is key to capturing additional sales. New POS systems give businesses a competitive

advantage with both online and in-store customers.