London, November 14, 2017: With consumers predicted to spend a staggering £228 million on home entertainment in November and December, shoppers across the grocery spectrum were first in line to receive expert guidance this week in the form of a handy and practical solution to the challenge of informing customers about release dates.
A guide to the key titles scheduled for release between now and Christmas has been created and made accessible to customers via a lanyard worn by staff on the shop floor. The lanyard, which includes a bold call to action aimed at provoking conversation about the breadth and depth of product on offer in the category this year, came about following the creation of an In-store Theatre Working Group put together by the British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE).
Comprising representatives from BASE, Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner, Elevation Sales and eXPD8 Field Marketing, the working group has been tasked with looking at ways to encourage customers and store staff to continue to engage with home entertainment product in the medium to long term, but also came up with the lanyard as a quick-win solution to underline Q4’s fantastic film and TV Blu-ray and DVD product.
Andy Chatburn, Trading Manager for Film and TV at Sainsbury’s, said: “This is an encouraging approach from BASE. At this time of year our store colleagues operate in a very complex world facing into the many operational challenges we give them. At the same time we also ask them to be a point of contact for our many customer enquiries. Any communication tools we can provide that assist them in improving this customer interaction are always welcome.”
Vicki Davis, Head of Customer Experience at Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, who led the BASE working group, added: “I’m delighted that we have been able to execute the first of what I hope will be many initiatives from the cross-studio In-store Theatre Working Group, in a very short space of time. A few of our members have found lanyards a great way of engaging store staff and putting relevant product information at their fingertips, so the idea of producing cross-studio lanyards to help grocery store colleagues with customer enquiries about dating and key titles during a key trading period is a fantastic solution for both colleagues and consumers, keeping the profile of the category high and supporting the great colleague engagement work that our retailers are already doing with their staff.“
The lanyards have been rolled out with Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco from this week, with at least 1200 stores across all four retailers taking part.
