Scala, the leading provider of end-to-end digital signage sofrware, today announced that Scala Certified Partner, MyMedia has deployed a digital advertising network at Pasta Gourmet in the Toronto, Canada area.

Pasta Gourmet established in 1980, offers gourmet food for busy people who do not have time to cook. This Toronto based gourmet shop experienced a problem common to most busy retailers, the inability to up-sell their customers and generate additional profits. "Whether it was due to being too busy or staff reluctance, asking customers if they needed another complementary item to their purchase was simply not happening. In addition, we wanted to sell more of our off-site catering service and display storyboards of some of the recent events we've catered," says store manager Naomi Northcott. Ms. Northcott indicated they required content that could be scheduled for two sets of clientele; the lunch crowd and the early evening customers, to promote their take-home dinner entrées. Since the menu changed daily and weekly, dynamic signage was the only viable option.

To determine if the pilot project was going to have a true uplift in sales Pasta Gourmet wanted to promote a handful of specific items and services and then establish if those metrics showed a positive outcome in sales. Ms. Northcott explains "In November we experienced a sales increase of 9%, by the end of January we experienced a sales increase of 16% of high profit margin items. These results exceeded our expectations."

MyMedia took on the challenge of delivering a digital signage system that fulfilled all of the requirements for this Toronto gourmet shop. As a Scala Certified Partner in Toronto, MyMedia recommended InfoChannel as the right solution. Pasta Gourmet's player pointed to MyMedia's InfoChannel content manager which managed all of the required media files. The content was developed by using a series of templates. This gave the store manager the ability to change content quickly and easily from their head office.

Not only did they generate uplift in their sales but also sold advertising space to few of their vendors and neighboring merchants. The store manager told us "The added revenue came as a total surprise." Since Pasta Gourmet generated a significant amount of traffic, fellow merchants within the plaza approached them to buy ad space to direct their patrons to visit their stores.

MyMedia is now in the planning stage to deploy three other locations for Pasta Gourmet within the Toronto area.

"This project was very exciting in that it provided our customer with reliable metrics to make a solid business decision in favor of digital signage," says John Liberatore, President of MyMedia.

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