From Wal-Mart we learn that recession is no time to slow retail technology spending.

Bill Collins of DecisionPoint Media Insights writes that with Wal-Mart in-store TV deployed starting a decade ago, Gen 2.0 of the Wal-Mart Smart Network is on the way.

Already quietly deployed in some form to 40 Wal-Mart stores, Collins says the minimum Gen 2.0 in-store TV features are:

1. Bring screens down to eye level.
2. Build screens into endcaps, fixtures and shelving.
3. Abandon the 2001-2002 "hang and bang" model where flat screens are hung nilly-willy around the store, mostly in locations that are difficult for shoppers to see.
4. Control audio so that the soundtrack of these networks is welcomed by shoppers and store employees alike.
5. Pack merchandise around the screens and speakers, so that the sound-and-motion media serves a useful purpose for both marketing and merchandising just as conventional Point-of-Purchase displays do.

The details may not be available until November. Whatever those prove to be, Collins made no mention of the kind cellphone-aware, twitteresque customer interaction so dear to my fellow Social Network Systems developers.

But I know Collins is aware of the potential.

If Wal-Mart doesn't implement it, someone bidding for a competitive edge against them is, IMHO, sure to try. Such is the fight for retail survival.