EZY: How did the company start and what was the inspiration behind the business?
GV: Our company started by supplying LCD Ad displays to the Focus Media Group in 2005. Focus Media now runs the largest LCD Ad display network (over 200K screens) in China and is listed in the NASDAQ (FMCN). In 2005, Focus Media was still a developing company and used LCD monitors / TV+DVD players to broadcast ads. This was expensive and not cost effective. It was also troublesome to install, maintain and upgrade the ad content. Our CEO who is also the founder of Goodview, saw the opportunity to improve this and developed an LCD Ad display prototype that included a built in media player to play content from an external CF card. He then demonstrated the prototype to Focus Media and they were impressed with the solution. They then asked for some additional customized functions. Once the requested changes were completed, Focus Media placed a large order to manufacture the screens. A business partnership started from here.
EZY: What digital signage products does the business sell?
GV: We sell LCD Ad displays, LCD digital posters, LCD touch screen digital posters, LCD CCTV monitors, LCD touch screen monitors and LCD video walls.
EZY: Who are some of your biggest clients?
GV: Focus Media, some other big media companies, banks and cinema chains in China. For the international market, one of our biggest clients is Viewsonic.
EZY: For our readers, are you able to demonstrate and showcase one of your products?
GV: The below video is a basic introduction of our products and what we do.
EZY: What are some of the product features that makes your business stand out from it’s competitors?
GV: Our LCD ad display and digital poster support our own standalone and network digital signage software. It is not a X86 platform but an embedded platform which is more reliable and presents a cost savings.
EZY: What are your thoughts on the digital signage SaaS model?
GV: We believe this solution is great for small clients and we may start such a service but we may test the market in China first.
EZY: Are you able to share some insights on the future of digital signage, as in what’s the next “BIG THING”?
GV: We believe the next big thing is SoLoMo, that adopts the use of 4G and NFC in digital signage.
About Forrest Weng
Forrest Weng is the director of overseas sales in Goodview. Goodview Electronics (Shanghai) focus on commercial display product development, manufacture and sales. Now Goodview is already a leading digital signage solution provider for both hardware and software in China with customers from worldwide.