Logo retail technology Award Winner 2010

PRESTIGEenterprise has been honoured in the s.Oliver project

Weinheim, 12 March 2010: The reta europe award 2010, presented by a selected expert jury of the EHI Retail Institute as part of the EuroCIS, has been awarded to the s.Oliver fashion label in the « Best Customer Experience » category, thereby honouring the exceptional  Digital Signage concept of the two technology partners, Online Software AG and Vis-à-pix GmbH. The jury, comprising European as well as American retail experts, awarded the digital PoS advertising for the play-back of gender-specific advertising clips by the PRESTIGEenterprise software using the interactive VISAPIX facial recognition. Using the concept developed by technology partners, Online Software and Vis-à-pix, the s.Oliver fashion label is extending the store TV of its branches. The system which has been developed recognises the gender of the observer and shows films containing information about the new collections, customised to the corresponding target group. « This excellent solution brings a new quality to InStore TV« , promises Jürgen Berens von Rautenfeld, CEO of Online Software, whilst emphasising: « Gender-specific Digital Signage reduces dispersion at the Point-of-Sale. Men and women get to see only the advertising clips of the current collections that may be relevant to their purchase, taking into consideration their gender. » The fashion company s.Oliver, with 2,360 shops in 30 countries, envisages placing the displays in store areas where a high degree of attention by the customer can be expected – such as in waiting zones in front of escalators and in the vicinity of changing cubicles. And this is how it works: if a customer approaches the display, the People Attract video picture evaluation analyses the gender and plays back complementary advertising. People Attract recognises the number of persons in front of the display, their gender and the attention span of the digital display, and controls the interactively play-back of the clips accordingly. Work in progress by the developers: extending the software to recognise age. In this manner, s.Oliver is targeting specifically the interaction with the customer: « We start the play-back the spot always with a short delay« , explains Dr. Quirll, head of Commercial International Retail.  « The customer should notice: « This is my program! This spot is now running especially for me. » « The software solution, PRESTIGEenterprise with People Attract, deployed especially for s.Oliver, is the first of its kind that offers a data privacy certificate issued by independent experts« , emphasises Engelbert vom Kolke, CEO of Vis-à-pix GmbH. All video recordings for the situational gender recognition, as well as the subsequent advertising effectiveness analyses, are made anonymous and cannot be allocated to individual customers. For statistical analyses as part of advertising effectiveness analyses anonymous usage figures only are prepared and saved. The Independent Centre for Privacy Protection in Kiel (ULD) has allocated the ULD data privacy seal as the first company in this line of business to Vis-á-pix GmbH for the People Attract Software. Hereby, Online Software AG and Vis-à-pix GmbH are taking on a leading role in the Digital Signage market with this excellent solution.

s.Oliver

s.Oliver was founded in 1969 in Würzburg, Germany, and is counted today amongst the leading fashion and lifestyle companies in Europe. Ten product lines are converted into corresponding twelve collections per annum by different design teams. In total, the company runs 173 own stores and 400 stores together with partners. The s.Oliver label is represented in 1,991 shops and on 2,507 floors. The brands of the s.Oliver label are available internationally in over 30 countries.

Online Software AG

Online Software AG is a modern, innovative software company focussing on the development of solutions for the international wholesaler and retailer. With over 30,000 installations in 35 countries and in 20 languages, Online Software AG is the market leader in the area of professional branch advertising using the poster and label-printing PRESTIGEenterprise software. Online thereby supports the trade in cross-media marketing of products using the market-leading PRESTIGEenterprise software which makes use of classic media, such as posters and shelf labels, as well as new technologies. Additional marketing concepts such as flat-screen monitors, kiosk systems, scale systems or touch screens using RFID are used already by several retail companies

Vis-à-pix GmbH

Vis-à-pix is a leading developer and provider of intelligent 3D video analysis solutions for retail, market research and shopping centres. Vis-à-pix GmbH was founded in 2004 as a spin-off of the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications (Heinrich-Hertz Institute). Since its inception, Vis-à-pix has been the driver of innovations for software solutions for video-based real-time measurement and analysis of customer behaviour on retail floors. These results serve to increase efficiency as well as to optimise marketing activities at the Point of Sale (PoS). Besides diverse awards for pioneering technological developments, Vis-à-pix has been awarded by the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology (BMWI) as the « Multimedia spin-off of the year 2006 ». Further information: Online Software AG Bergstrasse 31 69469 Weinheim, Germany Kirstin Hoffmann PR & Marketing Tel.: +49 6201 9988-683 Fax: +49 6201 9988-77 kirstin.hoffmann@online-software-ag.de Sandy Schulze Marketing Manager Tel.: +49 6201 9988-682 Fax: +49 6201 9988-77 sandy.schulze@online-software-ag.de