Digital Signage in Retail 101By Richard Slawsky | Contributing writer, Digital Signage Today

Although it’s easy to think of digital signage as simply a replacement for printed promotional material, that’s just the beginning. Digital signage in a retail environment can serve both as an additional salesperson and an extension of the retailer’s brand.

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Page 4 Introduction

Page 5 Chapter 1 Wayfinding

Page 7 Chapter 2 Point of decision

Page 10 Chapter 3 Point of purchase

Page 12 Chapter 4 Branding/ambiance and customer experience

Page 14 Chapter 5 The last word

Published by Networld Media Group © 2015 Networld Media GroupWritten by Richard Slawsky, contributing writer, DigitalSignageTodayTom Harper, president and CEOKathy Doyle, executive vice president and publisherChristopher Hall, editorBrittany Warren, custom content editor

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Founded in 2005, Mvix is the market leader in turnkey digital signage software and hardware solutions, multi-screen videowall solutions, and content management systems (CMS). Solutions range from simple, affordable, product showcase systems for retail and trade shows to enterprise-class digital signage hardware and custom software for complex deployments.

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INTRODUCTIONThe retail industry is one of the key drivers of the U.S. economy, supporting one in four jobs from Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine, generating a more than $2.6 trillion impact on gross domestic product each year. There are nearly 3.8 million retail establishments of all types across the country.

It stands to reason, then, that any tool that can help retailers increase sales not only would be in demand, but also could have a significant impact on the economy as a whole.

A study conducted by Mississauga, Ontario-based digital signage provider SignAd Network found that digital video in public venues reaches more Americans each month than online videos do (70 percent for digital signage vs. 43 percent for online videos). The study also showed that nearly 1 in 5 of those who have seen an ad via digital signage have made an unplanned pur-chase after seeing an item featured on a screen.

And retailers are recognizing the power of digital signage. According to the Framingham, Massa-chusetts-based research firm International Data Corp., the use of digital signage in retail outlets is projected to grow from $6 billion in 2013 to $27.5 billion in 2018, equating to a 35.7 percent compound annual growth rate.

But while many retailers think of digital signage as an eye-catching replacement for printed pro-motional material, its power goes far beyond that.

In this mini-guide, brought to you by the editorial team at Digital Signage Today, we’ll take a look at the power of digital signage beyond the promotional board and see how retailers are using digital displays in new and innovative ways.

By Richard Slawsky | Contributing writer, Digital Signage Today

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WayfindingThink of shoppers in a mall, department store or other retail environment as people on a journey. Maybe they are familiar with the lay of the land, and maybe they aren’t.

But like many people, they’re hesitant to ask for guidance to help them reach their destination.

One of the key functions digital signage can serve on the retail journey is wayfinding. Strategi-cally located signage can help shoppers find their way by providing clear directions to various destinations.

“Wayfinding, as its name suggests, is a solution that assists people in finding their way in public spaces by depicting clear, directional guidelines to various destinations,” Kisha Wilson, marketing manager for Las Vegas-based interactive kiosk provider SlabbKiosks, told Digital Signage Today. “Some wayfinding units also give additional information about the facility, and even information about the location including city/town parking, landmarks and so forth. It’s a great use of digital signage, and its effectiveness has resulted in increased usage in various industries including health care, retail, for event and recreation venues such as concert halls, parks and stadiums.”

Most of us are familiar with the static directory boards located near the entrances of most shop-ping malls. They’re often three-sided, with one side featuring a map and a list of stores catego-rized by type. The other two sides tend to feature information about events at the center and maybe a poster promoting a sale at a particular store.

And in an age where consumers demand instant, up-to-date information, the weakness of those static boards is immediately apparent. The opening of a new store or the closing of an existing one either renders the board outdated until a new directory is printed or requires a temporary fix that simply looks unprofessional. In addition, the promotional signage is limited to a single event for each panel and must be reprinted with each change, often at a significant cost.

Replace those static boards with digital signage, and the capabilities of those directories ex-pand dramatically. Updates can be made remotely with a few keystrokes, and rather than being

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limited to a single promotion on each of the other panels, those panels can revolve through several promotions, multiplying their power. Instead of being limited to a boring, static poster that fades over time, those promotions can incorporate fresh, full-motion video to capture the attention of shoppers.

Any temporary situation such as construction or maintenance can be incorporated quickly, then easily removed once the work is finished. And with the increasing popularity of interactive signage, shoppers can simply touch the name of a store to bring up information such as hours of operation or to map out the quickest route.

Once shoppers arrive at their destination, signage located at the store entrance can point the way to various departments, interspersed with information about ongoing promotions, upcom-ing sales or credit opportunities. For temporary situations such as the post-Christmas return rush or the closure of a particular point-of-sale station, signage can be deployed quickly and removed just as quickly once the situation has passed.

Miami’s Aventura Mall deploys interactive digital signage wayfinding kiosks

Miami’s upscale Aventura Mall recently deployed seven new interactive digital signage kiosk directories throughout the shop-ping center, providing step-by-step directions and mapping out of paths that guide shoppers to their desired locations.

The 70-inch, dual-sided, touch displays include what the de-ployers, Mimi-based digital signage integrator CMA, are calling the first vector-based maps with dynamic zoom and pan in-stalled in a U.S. shopping center, giving visitors to the 2.7-mil-lion-square-foot mall a perspective of distance to and arrival time at their destination.

Each of the directories is encased in custom pieces designed by Brooklyn, New York-based Snarkitecture, an art and architec-ture collective spearheaded by visual artist Daniel Arsham and architect Alex Mustonen.

Florida-based CMA oversaw the digital directories’ technology and installation. The company created a custom software so-lution that includes the shopping center industry’s first vector-

based maps, the announcement said, aimed at making it easier for Aventura Mall shoppers to find their desired locations. The maps are designed to offer great detail without pixilation and enable visitors to search stores and restaurants using an on-screen keyboard that auto-filters based on input of the first few letters. Guests also can search for multiple destinations such as “dining” and select options from within a specific walking radius.

Smart pins allow Aventura Mall to display unique content based on the destination, including merchandise sales, restaurant menus, events, image galleries, movie theater show times and more. In addition, the maps are integrated with smartphones and tablets so customers can plan their entire visit and remain engaged throughout.

“Our goal was to create an immersive experience for Aventura Mall shoppers that simplifies and augments each visit to the cen-ter,” CMA founder and president Cesar Cifuentes said. “The digital directories represent a new era in shopping center technology.”

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Point of decisionOnce shoppers arrive at their destinations, the next function digital signage can serve is to assist them with deciding what to purchase.

Many shoppers today view the hovering salesperson as the enemy — someone who’s interested only in fattening his or her commission and who should be avoided at all costs.

From the retailer’s standpoint, those salespeople are supposed to be the face of the store, fluent in the ins and outs of every product and ready to answer the customer’s every question. In real-ity, though, that’s a rare occurrence. Retailers struggle to hire, train and retain quality employees. During a holiday season, the sales staff can include a number of temporary hires who have little interest in learning the details of a store’s offerings.

On the other hand, digital signage located throughout the retail location can serve as a silent salesperson, promoting products with audio and full-motion video.

Incorporate interactivity, and kiosk-based signage can serve as an electronic catalog, allowing customers to look up more detailed information about a particular product and enabling even the smallest location to offer the full array of a retailer’s offering via “endless aisle” in-store order-ing applications.

“The interactive component will change a lot of what we do it retail,” said Luke Wilwerding, direc-tor of retail solutions for Milpitas, California-based Elo Touch Solutions. “The endless aisle-type ap-plications, in its many forms, will be found in most retailers in the next three to five years, I predict.”

With a push toward cost-cutting and smaller-format stores, it’s impossible for most retailers to have all of their inventory in a single location, Wilwerding said. But when a retailer looks at trying to complete with Internet mega-retailers such as Amazon, a digital experience that incorporates the human interaction available in the brick-and-mortar store can offer a competitive edge.

But interactivity goes beyond simply allowing customers to touch a screen, type in their shipping information and order a product. In addition to serving up re-determined promotions, digital sig-

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nage on the sales floor can be tied in to back-of-the house systems to help manage inventory and promote higher-margin items.

Smart shelves, for example, can sense when a customer picks up a particular product, prompt-ing endcap signage to display information specific to that product. Or, in the case when the store is running short on that product but is overstocked on a similar product, signage can help steer shoppers to the overstocked item.

“We have long felt that shelf-level media is possibly the most important step in the path to purchase,” said Andy McRae, general manager of digital signage software provider Dot2Dot Communications Inc.

“Being able to influence the purchase decision at the shelf allows retailers to maximize value,” McRae said. “Using a combination of omnichannel capability, real-time networked appliances and displays, and advanced analytics capable of changing content to fit the situation gives the retailer ultimate control over the shopper’s experience.”

Several companies are employing “smart mirrors” in the fitting room that interact with radio frequency identification tags fastened to items, displaying a list of add-on accessories on the mirror itself. If the customer’s chosen item doesn’t fit or is the wrong color, a call button incor-porated into a touch-sensitive display can prompt a salesperson to bring the item in a differ-ence size or color.

Beyond the shelves, signage can be triggered, either automatically, from the manager’s office or from the corporate office, to promote items that have seen sluggish sales or to help clear out the stockroom to make way for newer versions.

Neiman Marcus tries on digital signage MemoryMirror

Jan. 15, 2015

Luxury fashion retailer Neiman Marcus has started rolling out its MemoryMirror by MemoMi — a digital signage mirror that lets shoppers look at themselves in different outfits and com-pare looks.

The first deployment was in the retailer’s Walnut Creek, Cali-fornia, location, and more deployments are scheduled for San Francisco and Dallas stores.

According to the company, the MemoryMirror captures images and video of everything shoppers try on, allowing customers to see outfits side by side as well as in a 360-degree view. The images can be shared via email and social media, or with a sales associate for future recommendations.

MemoMi and the Neiman Marcus Innovation Lab (dubbed the iLab) worked together for several months to develop a product

that was unique to Neiman Marcus, according to the compa-nies. Significant research was done on user behavior and de-veloping the interfaces to create the best overall experience. A special sales associate interface was added to allow associ-ates to send personalized recommendations to customers di-rectly from the mirror.

“Superior customer service starts with a great overall experi-ence. The MemoryMirror allows our customers to capture a variety of still and video images that can be shared with friends and allow the customer to see how an outfit looks front and back and while moving,” Neiman Marcus Group CMO Wanda Gierhart said. “The initial introduction resulted in an immediate and positive reaction, and we’re looking forward to delivering this unique experience to more customers as we roll it out into additional stores.”

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What those triggers may be is limited only to the needs of the retailer. A drop in temperature may prompt signage in a clothing store to promote sweaters or winter coats, while a stormy weather forecast can trigger a promotion for umbrellas. A hot spell can result in signage dis-playing promotion for summer clothes and beach wear.

“That’s the beauty of being able to integrate the point-of-sale system with the content manage-ment system,” said Joe Contreras, director of products and solutions marketing with Irvine, California-based digital signage provider Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc. “You can set rules that say, ‘Inventory is down to X amount for a certain product, so I want to promote it and apply a special price.’ By having that integration, you don’t need to have someone manually go in and make those changes.”

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Point of purchaseOnce shoppers have made their selections, the next stop on their retail journey is the point of purchase, typically at the sales counter, and hopefully accompanied by a cart full of product ready to bag up. That’s one of the last opportunities the retailer has to create a conversation with the consumer.

In many cases, digital signage at the point of purchase is used to promote add-on purchases. A shoe retailer, for example, might promote socks or shoe polish at the point of purchase, while a hardware store might promote batteries or flashlights.

Promoting items at the sales counter when the shopper already has made his or her buying de-cision needs to be handled with care, though.

It’s probably a good idea to promote only items that are within easy reach of the counter. After all, a retailer doesn’t want to send shoppers with cartfuls of purchases back to the sales floor where they might change their minds and put purchases back on the shelf.

Along with hard goods such as socks or batteries, signage at the point of purchase can promote those highly profitable intangibles such as service plans or subscriptions.

And few things are more precious to retailers than detailed information about their customers. Customers can use touchscreen displays mounted at the checkout to sign up for loyalty pro-grams or apply for a store-branded charge card.

In addition to promoting in-store products, digital signage at the point of purchase can serve as a sort of community bulletin board, possibly providing a bit of incremental revenue as well.

“At the grocery store where I shop, there is a fairly sizable monitor at the checkout,” Contreras said. “It’s not only displaying the running total of what you’re purchasing; it’s also utilized for advertising.”

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The waiting gameUnfortunately, at some point retailers are going to face a situation where customers are lined up at the point of sale. Most of us have had that sinking feeling when the cashier calls for a price check or a customer peppers the clerk with seemingly endless questions about a purchase.

Fortunately, digital signage can help alleviate the torture of waiting in the queue.

“Our studies show that digital signage reduces perceived wait times at checkout by as much as 35 percent,” said Perry Kuklin, director of marketing and business development for Valen-cia, California-based Lavi Industries, a provider of queue-management solutions. “This feeling makes customers happier and less likely to renege on their purchases.”

Along with alleviating wait times for customers in the queue, a waiting area for spouses and teenagers outfitted with digital signage can help take the pressure off shoppers, allowing them to roam the store at a more relaxed pace.

The benefits of a digital waiting area long have been recognized by the health care industry, with digital signage replacing the dog-eared copies of Field & Stream or People.

Should a retailer choose to outfit a waiting area with digital signage, though, there are a few things to keep in mind. While it may be tempting to simply put up a television, a retailer can run the risk of that screen displaying ads for a competitor. In addition, soap operas or Holly-wood gossip shows may not appeal to a certain demographic, while home renovation or sports shows may turn off others. Retailers should work with a digital signage provider to evaluate their options for choosing content that appeals to the broadest base.

10 key stats accelerating digital signage adoptionBy Celia Anderson

Despite businesses in the past being hesitant to incorporate signage into their marketing strategies, forward-thinking corporates now are seizing the opportunity to attract attention, leverage upsells and influence purchase deci-sions. Here are some statistics from the digital world that help explain what is driving implementation.

1. Over a quarter of organizations deem “multichannel campaign man-agement” to be one of their top priorities. Digital signage forms part of the multichannel marketing strategy, acting as a canvas for unlimited marketing content, campaigns and promotions. It bridges the gap between virtual and physical by offering a complete online product catalog in store, providing a seamless experience across multiple channels.

2. Sixty-three percent of people report that digital signage catches their attention. This percentage is significantly higher than TV, Internet and bill-board advertising. Retailers are choosing digital signage because of its low cost and flexibility, but high impact is the key advantage.

3. If given a choice, 42 percent of retail video viewers would prefer to shop at stores that have video displays. With 4K ultra-high-definition dras-tically improving the visuals on a video wall, retailers are increasingly turning to displays as a low-cost way of informing and entertaining customers. The realistic simulation and impact of video walls add to their effectiveness by engaging users with their environments.

4. Digital signage reduces perceived waiting times at checkout by as much as 35 percent. Digital signage solves the problem of unpredictable waiting times and long queues in store. Simply by connecting with internal queue-management systems, it offers a more efficient and professional treatment to the customer, optimizing the waiting experience.

5. More than 60 percent of buying decisions are made at the point of sale. Digital signage gives customers the chance to compare products. Stores can embrace rather than fear the growing retail trend of “show-rooming, or providing an avenue for people to examine a product before buying it online. Instead, they can increase their chances of keeping buy-ers in the store to make their purchases with content that creates experi-ence and emotion.

6. Digital signage adds an upswing in overall sales volume by 31.8 percent. Being forced to stand in long queues, search for products, verify prices and check merchandise availability frustrates customers. There-fore, there is a huge sales potential for companies to capture lost oppor-tunities by making the shopping experience more efficient and satisfying. Digital signage creates an immersive in-store experience, maximizing cross-sells, upsells and impulse buys by quickly adapting and deploying content in real time.

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Branding/ambiance and customer experience

With the right content, a digital signage network moves beyond being just a tool to display prod-uct information — it becomes a brand experience. Giving content a look and feel consistent with the store’s identity can help turn an in-store digital signage network into a representation of that store’s brand.

But what exactly is a brand? Although in years past a brand may have referred simply to a store’s logo or color scheme, such as the big red “K” of Kmart or the Target bullseye, today it means much more.

Today, a brand is akin to a promise between a retailer and its customers. Any shade-tree mechanic knows that Craftsman means hand tools that come with a lifetime warranty, while computer geeks know Apple means an in-store tech experience second to none. And with those and other brands, whatever serves to reinforce that experience can carry tremendous value for the retailer.

“Digital signage is about sales lifts, but more so it’s about the engagement and differentiating that in-store experience versus a competitor,” Contreras said.

Digital signage can help convey that brand promise by communicating messages in a way that is consistent with the retailer’s other communication channels, from its color scheme to the layout of its Web site. Messaging that conforms to the look and feel of the rest of the store helps build recognition of that store’s brand identity.

When developing a content strategy, it’s important for retailers to resist the temptation to deploy inexpensive, generic content simply to fill up air time. That content will not resonate with shop-pers; moreover, a mish-mash of unrelated video clips can end up watering down the message a retailer is trying to convey.

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“Generic content has little to no impact on the audience and often does little to enhance mes-saging or support a brand,” Vern Freedlander, vice president of production services at Montre-al-based content services provider X2O Media, said in a Digital Signage Today commentary. “In fact, meaningless content can seriously harm the performance of the network.”

In addition to content, digital signage operators must give some thought as to how to convey their brands visually with design elements, communicating to viewers that they are watching or interacting with a unique channel with a specific purpose, Freedlander said. In digital signage, the visual style presented on screen gives the network a sense of identity, communicating the network’s brand personality by giving it a distinctive “voice.”

“A brand is essentially the personality and philosophy that comes to define a digital signage network,” Freedlander said.

“More than that, it is a sacred promise to the viewer as to the kind of messaging they can count on,” he said. “Successful branding is essential in building an audience and allowing the network to meet its marketing and communications goals. The key to successfully building a brand lies in unswerving consistency — in messaging and design choices across every screen in the network.”

Under Armour activates the space with digital signage in new Chicago Brand HouseBy Christopher Hall

Athletic apparel-and-gear brand Under Armour recently opened the doors of its newest specialty retail location on Michigan Av-enue on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, the city’s iconic retail des-tination. According to Under Armour, “with a focus on cutting-edge products and design, the Chicago Brand House will serve as a stunning example of the brand’s commitment to offering customers a superior shopping experience” — and digital sig-nage technology is suiting up for the Under Armour team.

The Chicago Brand House features nearly 30,000 square feet of interactive retail space and delivers a fully immersive brand experience, telling the brand story through digital displays designed to inform and inspire visitors. The brand partnered with AV systems designer, fabricator and installer Activate The Space to integrate digital signage and digital design elements for the store in Activate The Space’s largest retail store project to date. The new location features digital design elements cre-ated by the firm.

Under Armour’s newest store will feature two floors of the brand’s newest innovations across various product categories, including outdoor, team sports, training, running, golf, studio, youth and footwear. Chicago Brand House is also the first to offer specialized shops for UA Hunt and UA Fish, featuring technical apparel and footwear for this audience.

“Opening a Brand House on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile allows us to establish Under Armour’s presence in one of the most vi-brant and iconic shopping destinations around the globe,” said Susie McCabe, the athletics company’s senior vice president of global retail, in an announcement. “The Under Armour Chicago Brand House will be our largest retail location in the world, high-lighting our commitment to innovation while providing consum-ers with an elevated experience when shopping for apparel and footwear, as well as digital devices and wearables.”

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The last wordAlthough the evidence is overwhelming that digital signage can enhance nearly every aspect of the retail environment, all too often businesses deploy a fancy technology simply for technol-ogy’s sake. Investing in a digital signage network without a clear idea of how that network will be used can be a recipe for disappointment, if not disaster.

Hundreds of companies in the marketplace are ready to assist with implementing a digital sig-nage network. Most have the retailer’s best interest at heart, while a few don’t.

Before investing in digital signage, it’s important to research what is involved in a deployment, what the options are for hardware and software and who are the established providers with a proven track record.

One of the best sources of that information is the content available on Digital Signage Today. Use that information to help guide your journey. Good luck and good sales!

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