Digital Signage in Retail

Retail stores are fighting back against e-commerce by offering something that e-commerce can’t: an experience. Stores can’t offer the convenience and prices of e-commerce, so they are creating higher-level customer shopping experiences to differentiate their offering. This isn’t only to compete against e-commerce, but it’s also to compete against each other. Offering smiley customer service is what customers are expected. It doesn’t help to stand out. Digital signage is blurring the lines between the digital and physical worlds to offer a compelling in-store customer experience and service that will get shoppers off their computers and into a store.

Retail already accounts for 25% of the digital signage industry’s sales, and more stores are continuing to recognize the benefits of digital signage and the opportunities. It can create, even for stores that are primarily e-commerce. Omnichannel marketing is now essential for retailers; they must offer a consistent brand image and customer experience across all platforms, including online, on mobile, and in-store. Digital signage offers the solution for removing the disconnect between the in-store customer experience and online by connecting stores to online promotions, telling the brand’s story, and creating meaningful touch-points.

Engagement and Awareness

Connecting with customers is vital for retailers. Customers – especially younger demographics – are looking for more than just a tangible product when they are making purchasing decisions. They are also analyzing the brand: its image, story, reputation, values, and reviews. It’s these factors, along with a good product, that keeps customers coming back, and digital signage allows retailers to share all of them in-store.

The best way to create an engaging digital customer experience is with digital signage displays. The content of a digital signage display has a 52% recall rate among customers, which is higher than TV, Radio, magazines, posters, and billboards. The displays are noticed, but they are also trusted: a store’s signage is seen as a reliable indicator of a business’s products and services by 68% of customers. And with interactive displays, a personalized customer experience can also be created. Customers can actively engage with displays to find information and content that is more appropriate to their preferences and needs.

Sales

A study found that when stores started using digital signage 80% of them saw as much as a 33% increase in sales. Digital signage creates more well-informed customers that feel more comfortable making decisions and purchases. A store is able to display even more product, brand, and store information to make it easier for customers to feel comfortable making a purchase and to allow the store to influence their purchasing decisions.

For example, powerful and eye-catching content can boost impulse purchases by up to 20% and around 70% of customers have purchased a product or service because a sign caught their eye. So, with strategically selected content and locations, it’s possible to boost product awareness while also making a call to action for particular products of choice.

Digital Signage Applications for an Engaging Digital Customer Experience

1. Shop Window

The first opportunity to engage a potential shopper and to entice them into a store is through the shop window. Furthermore, you mustn’t miss this opportunity. 80% of shoppers report that they have entered a store because of digital signage display. This is in large part due to the content’s movement and change. By showing content that is animated or a video, it is more likely to catch a passerby’s eye.

With this attention, a store needs to show who it is. Video content is a highly effective way of showing the brand’s image and values and showing how a product connects to a certain lifestyle. A poster can show a model, customer, or celebrity using a product, but digital signage can show how they use it. Include videos of the product in action, promotional content, and a social media wall showing customers using the product.

Digital signage content can easily be updated, changed, and scheduled. This means the content will always be relevant and reflect the current focuses that are happening in-store. It’s possible to keep the content relevant to the time of day, day of the week, or the season. The display can show promotions for products that are more likely to be purchased in the morning than the evening, then switch to those more relevant to the evening, and then, finally, when the store closes, show promotional content, opening hours, and the online store. When a store has new releases available, the best way to make sure everyone knows about it is with digital signage displays in the shop window.

2. On the shop floor

Placing digital signage displays among the products will assist customers in choosing which product to purchase. Up to 72% of purchasing decisions are made at the product location. Digital signage located at that last moment offers a great way to influence the purchase behavior and the item. Around 70% of customers state that digital signage makes them more likely to buy the featured products and 44% even stated that it would influence them enough to buy the featured product instead of the one they had originally planned to buy. The content to do this can include product comparisons and the latest promotions or it can be focused on up-selling and cross-selling by showing recommendations and promoting add-on items and packages.

Large displays – especially video walls – are a powerful way of reinforcing a brand’s image and setting the ambiance of a store. Using HD pictures and videos of lifestyle and entertainment clips will show what the brand wants to connect to and shape the perception of the brand for the shoppers. It can also show promotional content that portrays the brand’s story and values, which will then be transferred to the products. When customers buy from a store, they will feel that they are also buying into the values and feel part of the story.

Sharing social media activity will have a similar effect. Show an interactive, filtered feed of customers’ posts that were shared using the brand’s hashtags. This will show the trustworthiness of the brand, show the products in action and encourage further reviews on social media. Customers often wouldn’t consider sharing their brand experiences on social media unless encouraged to, so digital signage displays are important for encouraging reviews, following the brand’s accounts, and taking part in hashtag campaigns. A heavy social media presence makes it much easier to reach younger demographics.

Additionally, many retail stores have complex layouts that are difficult to navigate. Digital signage wayfinding provides customers with a simple – and a potentially interactive – way to find out where the product is that they are interested in and how to get there from their current location. It can also be used as a way of influencing decision-making by guiding customers to certain products and areas in a store. If a promotion is currently happening in a certain area of the store, then wayfinding can ensure customers are aware of it and can find it.

3. Queues and Checkouts

Putting digital signage displays next to queues reduces the customers’ perceived waiting time by 35%. If customers don’t feel that they are spending such a long time queuing in the store, then they are more likely to return. Additionally, it’s the perfect opportunity to show customers some more content, as around 70% of customers state that they watch digital signage displays whilst they queue. Whilst queuing, they aren’t being stimulated and are in a high dwell-time location, which means longer video content can be effectively used too.

Customers have said themselves in a study that they want to see information on sales items, local weather, in-store events, and new services while they are queuing. Not only do customers want them, but they are also a great revenue generator. A display will be able to entice them into picking up one last item, coming back for more offers in the future, and visiting the online store. And a checkout display’s advertisements make customers more likely to look for the product next time they visit and are the most powerful location for a call-to-action for 51% of customers.

Easyscreen: How we can help

Digital Signage Content Templates

Our digital signage software has a vast library of templates and images that you can use to quickly design and upload content to your displays in order to create a compelling digital customer experience.

Check out some of our solutions we’ve just talked about:

• Social Media TV will let you connect with your audience, anticipate what they say and stimulate interaction and engagement.
• Wayfinding TV templates will get your customers to where they need to be
• POS TV gets your product and promotional information across
• Shop Window TV will get potential customers into the store

Tagging

You can tag your content and media players on our digital signage software. This makes it quick and simple to play your content wherever you choose and however you choose. Tag your media players based on city, region, country, or however, you like. This makes it easy to add content to any display and playlist in just a few clicks.

Admin Controls

Give different employees varying levels of rights and access. Only some users will be able to send content across your entire network, while others will be limited to only certain locations. This means you’ll be able to give access to multiple people and each store will have a unique, more effective content schedule.

Display Options

We have displays to meet the needs of any solution, including displays with a high brightness, which are vital for your shop window and in a brightly lit store. Our small displays can be mounted onto product shelves and other spots within the store and you can create video walls with our LED displays.

Easyscreen: One-stop-shop Digital Signage Software

Here at Easyscreen, we are a one-stop shop, so we can help you every step of the way. We can provide you with your digital signage displays and media players, but also much more. We supply you with our platform’s content creation and management software and then take care of installation and maintenance.

Want to know more about digital signage? Read our full guide to digital signage

Free Digital Signage Software Demo

We are confident that your company will experience the benefits of our digital signage software and help, just like our other customers across many industries already do. That’s why we offer a free trial.