After years of fear about the end of physical retail, it is clear that nothing can yet completely replace the in-store experience. Seeing, touching, feeling, trying are all sensations that are impossible to reproduce. The store remains the original place of the experience, especially since it has been able to adapt to new behaviors. In fact, The consumer no longer only goes to the store to buy but also to experience a special moment with the brand, plunge into its universe and its stories. And, in this new configuration, digital signage has a key role to play.
Perfect management of “glocal” communication
For the consumer, each contact with the brand, each visit to the store is a new step in building their relationship with the brand.
For retail networks, the subject of maintaining consistency in statements and interactions with the brand is particularly interesting. The brand is managed at the global level and the stores are the local relays of its identity. In order to ensure the consistency of speech and the customer experience in stores, digital signage is a first-choice tool. Both a tool for centralizing communication (allowing marketing campaigns to be orchestrated and to guarantee their updating throughout the network), it is also a collaborative tool that gives managers the freedom to keep control of their communication and their local specificities.
Connected screens for a harmonized experience
To be fully successful, this in-store experience must be coordinated between the various brand promotion channels (Internet, application, social networks, stores...), in order to remain consistent from start to finish.
Complementary to each other, communication channels between brands and consumers must be treated in a global strategy to ensure perfect fluidity when switching from one to the other, or even when several channels are consumed simultaneously (visiting a brand's mobile application when you are in store, for example).
This imperative makes the new generations of digital signage very attractive, since they make it possible to create bridges between digital and physical, by linking data and distributing dynamic content on in-store screens.
Eliminate in-store frustration points
To alleviate the points of frustration in stores - endless queues, desperate search for an item on the shelves or even the unavailability of a product -, digital signage is, again, a great ally.
Through the real-time analysis of data from various sensors installed in the store, for example, a digital display will make it possible to redirect customers to less saturated checkouts. The Retailer may also choose to use its screens to entertain (launch a competition, offer reports on the brand's backstage, etc.), in order to reduce the consumer's feeling of waiting while sharing his universe and values with him.
Connected to the promotion catalog, to the inventory management software or to the weather data, digital signage is becoming a powerful sales medium. The combination of these digital technologies makes it possible to make communications constantly up to date (no promotions on sold out products), contextualizes promotions according to climatic conditions, thus making their impact greater. Consumers are regaining confidence in screens that actually inform them and engage more with the brand.
Far from being limited to the simple distribution of static content or video clips, digital signage is truly a tool for managing the brand experience in stores.
Enriching the brand experience
“Narrative Retailing”, or the scripting of the point of sale, now occupies a preponderant place. Decoration, light, music, smell: everything is designed to involve consumers in brand worlds. To measure the phenomenon, simply observe the success of Apple Stores: sensory signals are worked on to be an extension of products, spectacular store volumes, staff outfits, lights. Every detail is controlled and plays a role in creating a unique experience for the visitor (brand consumer or not).
More than a communication medium, dynamic signage is at the heart of these new concepts. The space is being digitized and modernized, the screens are merging into a journey centered on emotion and enriching store concepts.
Today, the store still represents the most successful place to provide a consumer with a brand experience, as it is conducive to the stimulation of the senses and emotions. Retail must maintain the love that the French have for it by making their encounters special moments.
The benefits of digital signage in terms of dynamism and contextualization are so significant that the impact of the messages on your audience will have a snowball effect on your ROI. In the Retail, the customer journey will be improved and advertising offers will be more highlighted for a larger average basket.
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