Toppan develops world’s first digital POP sign using full-colour electronic paper display

 

Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) has developed the world’s first digital POP sign using a full-colour electronic paper display, or EPD. A field test using this prototype is currently being held in conjunction with Isetan Mitsukoshi Ltd’s “HANBANASAI” campaign that launched on 20 February 2019.

The EPD in the prototype features advanced colour ePaper (ACeP) produced by E Ink Holdings from Taiwan, which can display over 32 000 colours. Toppan has developed a digital POP sign using this full-colour EPD, aiming to increase efficiency and to reduce waste in POP operations for in-store decoration, which have been issues for retailers.

POP signs for in-store decoration require cutting out of printed matter, pasting onto panels, mounting into sign cases, and physical layout of the sign cases when deploying, and signs are disposed as waste once the event has finished or the campaign has changed. Thus, increasing the efficiency and reducing the waste for POP sign operation have been a large challenge to the retail industry.

Also, previous colour EPD technology lacked bright white state reflectance and showed 4096 colours, which was not appealing enough for digital POP applications for in-store decoration. Toppan Printing and E Ink will jointly advance the commercialisation and market development of POP applications for full-colour EPD. Toppan Printing will apply its expertise in providing retail solutions and in colour management to execute product planning and development in fiscal 2019, including specifications such as the desired features for communication and power, with goals to maximise operation efficiency and waste reduction for in-store decoration. Both companies will continue the collaboration to increase EPD adoption in the sectors of retail, manufacturing & logistics, disaster preparedness, and public transportation.

Caption: The digital POP sign from Toppan (photo: Toppan Printing)