With holiday shopping in full effect while we still grapple with the uncertainty of new variants and supply chain issues, it is more important than ever for retailers to find new ways to engage customers while keeping safety in mind. Due to the unique circumstances that the pandemic forced upon us all, businesses have discovered innovative ways to utilize digital signage, and retailers are continuing to employ this technology to lure shoppers through their doors and keep them shopping once they’re in the store. Let’s look at some of the digital signage strategies that can reinvigorate the shopping experience.
Social Media Gets a Thumbs Up
If you haven’t noticed, social media is all the rage. From FaceBook to Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, there is no shortage of people expressing themselves online. Digital signage can be utilized to create an interactive social media experience to engage users while simultaneously promoting their products and brand. Allowing customers to choose from themed digital backdrops for selfies or display customer tweets or FaceBook posts on an in-store display can help to establish that personal connection and adds a little something extra to their overall experience.
Up-to-Date Content
Today’s digital signage content can be updated from anywhere with a mobile device and can be integrated with other systems to provide the most up-to-date information. With changing sales, stock levels and health regulations, these are huge advantages. A running digital clock that is counting down the hours left until a sale ends can entice customers to take advantage while they still can. Interactive wayfinding can help customers stay socially distant in an area where there is a surge in COVID cases. Stock levels and pricing displayed next to relevant items can provide vital information that is timely.
Unique Experiences
Video walls can be nearly any shape and size, can be curved and can be mounted almost anywhere, including on the ceiling. Projectors allow for projection mapping that can make static objects come alive. Combined with the brightness, vivid color and sharp image quality that both displays and projectors can now offer, there are almost no limitations to the amazing content that can be created to bring that wow factor to shoppers. Animations can be triggered by sensors and a mannequin’s face can be transformed into a live person that can speak and look at you as you walk by. Animated holiday decorations can adorn the walls or storefront.
Only time will tell what else retailers will come up with as we enter the New Year, but it’s certain that digital signage will continue to play a large role in bringing people back to the brick-and-mortar stores. Its advantages are plentiful and provide a brilliant canvas to provide a perfect blend of convenience and entertainment that will undoubtedly keep customers coming back to see what’s next.
