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Published on July 18, 2007

The move will allow RS to dominate point-of-purchase radio networks broadcasting through the retail outlets of Tops Supermarket, Tesco Lotus, Carrefour and Big C Supercentre.

Under the acquisition, the four independent providers of point-of-purchase radio services - Extreme Ads, Lotus Media, In-Store FM, and Big Promotions - have been merged into a newly formed company named RS In-Store Media.

These individual firms have been awarded three- to five-year exclusive rights for radio broadcasting. With registered capital of Bt30 million, RS owns a majority stake of 65 per cent in the new company, while the remaining 35 per cent is held by individual shareholders.

"The establishment of the new company to providing point-of-purchase radio and other instore media services is another important jigsaw piece in completing the RS picture as a key player in the entertainment network," said RS chief executive Surachai Chetchotisak.

He said modern retail outlets had became part of the daily life of consumers.

"From our internal research, we found that there are currently 540 modern retail outlets including supermarkets and hypermarket stores, located in 51 provinces," said Surachai.

He added that more than 20 million people shop at modern retail stores on a monthly basis and 31 million transactions are made every month. About 70 per cent of the shoppers make their buying decisions at the point of purchase.

"With those amazing figures, we are able to grasp the business opportunity by combining our entertainment contents with instore media to make them more effective in encouraging the buying decisions of shoppers," said Surachai.

"Our entertainment content, including shopping guides, will be broadcast to shoppers and updated every week for supermarkets and every two weeks for hypermarkets to ensure that individual shoppers get real-time information," said Vinyalak Sorat, managing director of RS In-Store Media, which expects to earn between Bt70 million and Bt80 million in billings this year.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation