5 Ways Digital Signage Transforms the Retail Industry

The retail industry has grown and evolved in recent years as COVID has forced customers to adapt to online shopping, with a growing preference for Click and Collect. Online retail is now as accessible as in-store shopping, and we’re now seeing successful retailers apply online concepts to their physical stores. The popularity and ease of online shopping means that physical retail spaces need to strive for improvement in terms of creating a better, more seamless customer experience. This can be done through things like creating a more visually inviting store, improving customer service and making shopping easier with greater personalisation for customers. These are all areas where digital signage can help. Digital signage technology allows you to create a more seamless shopping experience, providing stores with a modern and sleek look and feel with better support and personalisation for both customers and staff.

1. Better Brand Messaging

Digital signage is a fantastic way for businesses to visually attract customers and show off their brand to passersby. Businesses can use highly visual content like videos and aesthetic images to communicate their company messages, promote their values and tell their story in an impactful and effective way. In contrast to static poster boards, screens allow retailers to display different brand messages more frequently. Dynamic content via screens is also more likely to catch the eyes of customers and keep them engaged. Fashion retail stores, for example, can use digital signage to display highly visual and eye-catching content that tells their story and showcases their brand. For a surf brand, this could involve a surfing video clip with a model wearing the clothing, which then transitions to some key brand messages, and then to a list of sustainability initiatives that the company has been involved with. Brand messages are more likely to resonate with customers when displayed in a visual form rather than through words alone, so this is why chosen images and videos are key.

2. Improve Store Promotions

Large screens in stores that display engaging content can grab the attention of passersby in busy streets and shopping malls, encouraging them to come inside the store. Screens can also quickly advertise sales promotions that influence customers whilst already in the store. For example, retail and convenience stores can use digital signage to upsell with eye-catching, two-for-one deals that customers will see while they are already shopping. The options for digital advertising are endless, but it’s important to remember that the way your business’s signs are set out and positioned, the content and the time of day, month or year are all especially important.

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3. Education and Inspiration

Signs that display essential information can play a big role in educating customers that come into the store on anything from the store’s core values to its customer policies. Touchscreen kiosks also mean that customers can browse information on unique features and benefits of the products and can even compare the benefits and features of other products in the store. Banks and financial services companies, for example, can display personalised educational content to help customers understand more about their services or financial products more generally, based on specific information that the customer has inputted onto the screens. This can help provide customers with educational information that is more relevant to them, all whilst they wait to speak to a staff member in-store. Digital signage is also a wonderful way to display content and messaging that inspires. Aspirational content on screens can inspire customers about the brand or products and creates a positive shopping atmosphere. Going back to the financial services example, banks can use aspirational topics like saving for a house or buying a car and other important milestones to motivate customers on their financial journey. Stores such as homewares can also use touch screens to help inspire customers through visual surveys which lead to a product or style recommendation. A simple survey at this homeware store may be able to categorise a customer as being “coastal” rather than “scandi”, giving customers style inspiration and a head start as to what products they should narrow their browsing towards.

4. Customisation

Another way screens help transform retail is through their ability to enable in-store customisation for customers. Touch screens or kiosks can be set up in-store allowing customers to visualise and modify certain products which they can also purchase. A shoe store or brand, for example, could allow their customers to build, visualise and buy their shoe design by using a kiosk where they can add assorted colours and designs to a particular style of shoe from the store or brand’s range. Similarly for Mazda, Engagis enabled customers to visualise and build their car through the use of touch screens, whereby customers select a model, choose a car colour and accessories, and then view their vehicle from any angle.

5 Ways Digital Signage Transforms the Retail Industry 1

5. Localisation

Digital signage can also be localised to suit the individual needs of customers based on the area where your store is located. If a retail store is in an area with a colder climate, for example, clever digital signage can help users set up the right content for stores located in those areas. For a fashion retail brand, this may involve the display of colder climate clothes advertisements and messaging. Another example is language. If your bank, for example, is in an area where there is a higher Chinese population it’s effortless to change your digital signage to display Mandarin and provide a more localised experience for their customers. This could involve an entrance screen that guides Mandarin-speaking customers to the staff members in-store who can speak Mandarin. These are just a couple of localisation examples; the possibilities are endless depending on the attributes and demographics of your stores.

There are also platforms like Storya and Impress, which make creating digital signage content a breeze. These programs are used for digital signage management and content automation, which means they handle the content creation side of your brand in addition to the scheduling and publishing of your content, saving you time and money. To read more on how digital signage content automation can improve your brand, head to our website here or read up on our Storya services.

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