Visual Merchandising and Retail Design – July 2019

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How H&M enhances customer

engagement with digital signage

D

igital signage isn’t just for pushing

sales, it’s also useful for crafting better

customer engagement. By doing this,

retailers can improve sales and create more

loyal customers.

The most innovative end users understand

this principle of customer engagement

well, such as H&M, a clothing retailer

headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.

The retailer has performed a number

of innovative deployments, such as an

interactive voice mirror in Times Square,

New York, deployed through a collaboration

with digital signage provider Visual Art,

digital experiences provider Ombori and

Microsoft. Customers were able to use the

mirror to take a selfie and download their

own virtual H&M fashion magazine cover by

scanning a QR code.

Digital Signage Today spoke with Alex

Bilbao, business development U.S. at H&M

to learn how it used digital signage to

enhance customer engagement.

As a retailer, what have you found to be

the most challenging when it comes to

customer engagement?

Technology and innovation must come

with a heart and a soul in order to connect

with our customers. It is challenging to get

customers engaged in a world with too many

options and messages, we are all saturated.

It’s not just getting their attention, it’s

above all connecting with them, speaking

their language, understanding their needs,

knowing their preferences and providing

them seamless experiences and solutions in

order to be relevant to each of them. That is

why we try not to compare ourselves with

others but to differentiate ourselves by

being unique, authentic and faithful to our

brand and values.

Why did you decide to use digital

signage?

We are constantly testing new things to

surprise and engage our customers with

one goal: elevate their experience with our

brand and fashion. Technology is one of the

areas where we are putting so much effort

since we want to be creative and innovative

Cover Story: Digital Display & Communication – Case Study

for our customers. Once you break the

technical dependencies and integration

barriers the digital world opens endless

possibilities to create truly innovative

omnichannel experiences and these clearly

engage with today’s customers, especially

when these are interactive and convenient.

How has digital signage improved your

customer engagement?

The one and only voice interactive mirror

in our flagship store in Times Square in

NYC is a good example. Numbers speak

for themselves: the customer engagement

has been very positive since the date we

launched. We have seen an average of 150

interactions per day and 85 percent of QR

downloads.

Customers of all ages and from very diverse

countries interact with our mirror every day

and each of them bring a unique experience

with our brand and fashion to their homes,

this is something really beautiful to see. l

Bradley Cooper is a Technology Editor

for DigitalSignageToday.com and

BlockchainTechNews.com. His background is

in information technology, advertising, and

writing.

Source: Digital Signage Today

July 2019