Digital Signage Solutions are Helping Retailers Enhance the Customer Journey

Marketing and advertising have always been vital tools for success in the retail supply chain. Capturing the attention of a customer in a digital space or in-store and converting that interest into a sale is the most important metric a retailer has, so it’s no surprise technologies such as displays and digital signage are beginning to gain traction.

Digital signage solutions such as displays & touchscreens have proved to be the next logical step for retailers, enabling them to roll out promotions, advertising campaigns and important price changes. While they often present a larger overhead to install than a traditional printed stand, poster or shelf-edge label, they provide a faster way to replace promotional materials that reduces man hours and printing costs in the long term.

Faster content rollouts make retailers more reactive to customer trends

Retail is a fast-moving sector, and the competition to attract and retain customers is fierce. Having tools that support greater agility and faster lead times is more important than ever, so digital signage presents an ideal solution. Utilising digital assets enables you to roll out new promotional material to stores alongside your website, social media channels and targeted online advertising. This creates a synergy across your digital and in-store messaging and helps customers see that your online and in-person shopping options are unified as one connected omnichannel experience.

Retailers are always tracking changes in customer buying habits and product trends, so having access to a faster content rollout system enables them to be both reactive and proactive in their response. This syndication of advertising and product information creates a more consistent advertising message and only serves to further strengthen your brand in the eyes of the customer. Customers are far more likely to enter a store that has effective digital signage in its store displays so using them affectively is key to drawing more footfall into the store.

Rolling out new promotions and prices, be they across displays on electronic shelf-edge labels, is far easier when the asset is digital than having to use a portion of your workforce to physically replace price tickets, posters and stands with new physical promotional materials. The investment is greater up front, but the long return on that investment is substantial considering how often new promotional campaigns and price changes are made.

Opportunity for more up-selling and cross-selling

Digital signage isn’t just about getting customers to cross the threshold of a store but continuing to engage them throughout their shopping journey. For retailers, being able to influence a customer to spend more money (up-sell) is just as important as convincing them to spend their money on a similar or adjacent product (cross-sell) and a digital signage system can help enhance this strategy.

Displays and interactive touchscreen technologies enable customers to view related products and relevant discounts when positioned in strategically placed locations. These are far more likely to influence ‘on-the-fly’ buying decisions, utilising vibrant and eye-catching promotional material to grab their attention and help them spend more money during a respective shopping trip.

Connect your brand story with the customer journey

Customers can often be very loyal to a retailer, but that loyalty isn’t set in stone, and the allure of better discounts and product variety can just as easily pull regular customers away to a competitor. Your own promotions and price checks will help to address this issue, but it’s just as important to continue to show how your marketing team is working to connect your brand story to the customer.

Digital signage isn’t just a way to show new products or campaigns, but to delve deeper into your brand’s history, the diversity of your customer base and your initiatives as a forward-thinking retailer. From sharing sustainability programs to community outreach, the dynamic nature of digital signage provides an incredibly effective platform for relaying those messages and helping tie into ongoing advertising online and in TV campaigns.

Analysing data to correlate footfall and dwell times with digital signage

Digital signage systems clearly offer a great deal of benefits, but just having those systems in place is only part of the overall solution. Digital signage solutions are most effective when calibrated based on actionable customer data. It’s about leveraging the data you’re likely already tracking, including footfall through and around the store and dwell times in certain aisles or locations within a store.

Utilising customer data gives you a holistic view of their shopping habits within the walls of your stores or pop-up outlets. Heat maps, for instance, enable you to track where customers are clustering during certain periods, or parts of the store that lacks in overall footfall.

There’s a direct correlation between the positioning of a digital signage system and an increase or decrease in footfall into a retail store. How does the placing of a digital signage system impact the sales of a given product or product type compared to periods where the system was utilised elsewhere or for a different promotional purpose?

Digital signage represents a powerful use of technology for any retailer. From internal and external advertising to wayfinding and interactive customer experiences, there are so many applications that will help you gain and retain customers in an ever-competitive market.

Want to learn more about an end-to-end digital signage solution from Renovotec? Contact one of our experts today and let’s discuss your unique retail requirements.