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Look what’s playing in store!

An up-close view of digital display & communication at retail

In an age when engagement, experience and story-telling are becoming the criteria for a brand’s success , dynamic

displays or digital in-store communication, also referred to as digital signage, may just be what a retail brand needs

to raise its experiential quotient. But it takes many factors to make it successful. This issue of VM&RD presents a

close look at the dynamics of digital signage and other technology led in-store brand communication, through the

perspectives of industry players/experts and brands over the next few pages. Read on...

E

ver wondered how some brands

attain cult status? Like say an Apple

for example? How does it come to

be seen as a symbol of a certain lifestyle,

an icon of success? Of course the product

itself has a lot to do with it. But it’s also

the narrative that’s built around it. Today

with social media reiterating this brand

narrative, the brick and mortar store

space is where the same brand narrative

can actually be experienced and the cult

position established. Besides a great store

design, ambience and service, what really

adds edge to the brand experience in store

is the digital signage that includes motion

graphics, moving images and video walls.

A Nielsen research study quoted in a white

paper says that 4 in 5 brands experienced

a significant increase of up to 33% in sales

from their digital signage. Also, a 3 month

Cover Story: Digital Display & Communication

study by Intel reportedly showed that

digital displays capture 400% more views

than static displays. A survey by FedEx

called ‘What’s your sign?’ also found that 8

out of 10 consumers entered a store they

had never visited before based primarily on

the signage and that 7 out of 10 consumers

actually bought something because a

digital signage promoting it caught their

attention. While these numbers may be a

bit far removed from the Indian context,

they do hold some significance and point to

the direction in which store experience may

be headed in future. As industry experts

point out, digital signage is one way of

positioning the brand in the higher echelons

of consumer aspiration, of engaging with

them. It is a way of beating competition

by offering a value added in-store brand

experience, one that the shopper takes

back for brand recall later.

But still...why digital signage?

Good question. Especially since having

a digital signage system in place means

investing in the required infrastructure and

elements – the hardware (the screen and

other devices), the software and the content.

The exact investment varies depending

on the scale of deployment by the brand

and number of locations where it is being

installed. But here are some reasons why the

investment can play out in the long run:

Anything that moves engages: This is a

no brainer. We don’t need research studies

to tell us that motion displays attract the

eye much more than static displays. The

study findings quoted above only reiterate

this. For a brand moving digital displays

can not only engage the shoppers and thus

enhance their in store experience but, with

Pic Courtesy: Aiddition Technologies

July 2019