Comet Case Study

Background

Comet is one of the best-known names in UK electronics retailing. Part of the pan-European KESA Group, it has over 250 stores across the UK. Comet offers it’s customers a unique, all round, shopping experience, its focus being on giving customers the best price, the best choice and the best service on the market. Founded in 1933 by George Hollingbery in Hull, Comet quickly became the pioneer of out-of-town electrical retailing, with the first superstore opening in Hull in 1968.

Now in its 78th year Comet continues to be recognised as one of the biggest names in electrical retailing in the UK.

The requirement

Comet first approached DMP about our products in 2005. It was keen to keep up with the growing trend for high-definition television screens, and it wanted their customers to experience the full picture quality of HD in store, Comet therefore required a cost-effective and easy-to-deploy solution to broadcast HD content on screens. One of the key issues it wanted to avoid was the cost involved in re-cabling all of its stores to enable the distribution of HD material. The financial outlay of re-cabling a store can run into many thousands of pounds, making the proposition of broadcasting HD content in store a very expensive one.

The solution

DMP consulted with Comet on the issues it was facing and developed a retail-specific product which would overcome the above issues. The unique and market-leading product developed, ensured that all that was required to broadcast HD content to screens was one ‘head-end’ HD media server unit and the existing coaxial network already present in Comet’s stores.

The solution designed by DMP included the following features:

• Transmission of HD content over the existing coaxial network in Comet’s stores;
• Multiple channels of standard-definition and high definition advertising;
• Remote control of dynamic advertising content easily amendable from a single end point;
• Custom channels available from integrated EPG interface;

The outcome

The immediate impact that the technology has made in stores is tremendous. Comet now has an HD television display second to none in the UK and boasts:

• Stunning HD content to display the quality of the television screens in store, dramatically improving Comet customers in-store experience;
• No signal loss across the screens, meaning customers can experience the true picture quality of televisions on sale;
• Dramatic reduction in the cost of re-cabling a store, saving Comet many thousands of pounds per retail outlet;
• Seamless integration with existing digital freeview transmissions.

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