The retail landscape has dramatically changed in recent years and in today’s connected world, the most successful retailers are fusing digital and physical shopping to create a multichannel experience and cater to the needs of the customers that want both in-store and online experiences as part of their shopping journey.

While traditional printed signs still do their job in stores, attracting foot traffic from the outside, guiding customers around the store, and influencing consumer behavior, they can’t offer as many opportunities as digital signs do. Digital signage solutions actually do the same tasks, but at a wider scale and with better results, which makes digital signage the future of retail. Digital signs can deliver unique shopping experiences that increase sales, boost revenue, and engage your in-store customers, all from one platform.

With that in mind, we’re getting into detail on how using screens for digital signage can benefit retail stores:

1. Drive traffic into your store

One key benefit of retail digital signage is its ability to drive people into your store. Screens catch our attention and we are naturally drawn to them. Digital signs help catch the interest of people walking by from the get-go, pulling them in with engaging and interactive screen content displaying product information and real-time call to action.

2.  Promote Products and Services

Tablets or digital screens in stores can provide useful information about products and/or services like product launches, real-time product stock, pricing, product comparison, client testimonials, and more.

With digital signage, retailers free up staff members for more important tasks and at the same time improve customer experience.

3. Increase sales

Digital signs are great at helping tell your customers what to do and where to go in a playful and fun way. This helps your customers feel confident in their shopping decisions, and as a result, increases sales.

Digital signage in retail can be used to direct customers to specific products or sections of the store, upsell items, share news and campaigns, show QR codes, provide wayfinding, and more, which reduces staff costs and places shoppers in charge of their own experience.

The best thing about digital signs is that they can be updated in seconds. It’s easy to upload new content or change the signage around your store, from anywhere and at any time. Meaning you don’t even have to be physically present in the store to do it.  

4. Share social media content and digital presence

In retail, social media is a huge way to influence and entice shoppers. Digital signage brings the digital presence happening online into the physical environment, repurposing your digital and social media content and getting it in front of your audience without other distractions. You can use your screens to share anything happening online with your brand: a website, tweets, Facebook recommendations, Instagram, YouTube channel, or even a social media dashboard.

5. Provide entertainment

Studies suggest that more than 50% of the people shopping at a store consider shopping a form of entertainment and something to share with friends and family.

Digital signs are an obvious form of entertainment where you can share everything from your social media channels to news, videos, live streaming, real-time marketing trends, retail launches, and dashboards, allowing you to extend your brand throughout the store and feed into the retail-entertainment trend. When it’s easy to create, change and share content, it’s easy to think and test new ways to entertain your customers.

6. Improve internal communications

Retail digital signage can focus not only on customers but on store employees as well. Digital signage can help to build up the corporate culture, support internal communication and keep employees updated.

Staff working environments, such as break rooms, kitchens, hallways, or store rooms, can be equipped with digital signs that convey employee-specific information:

• Covid-19 regulations
• Scheduling
• Personnel management issues
• Birthday messages
• Corporate announcements
• Accident prevention regulations

This gives employees the chance to absorb important information in a more relaxed setting. Repetition increases the ability to retain information, and a quick video or eye-catching images on a digital sign is far more approachable than a printed pamphlet or a newsletter email.

Also, the fast pace of digital signage means your staff members aren’t faced with out-of-date signs or notices pinned to the staff board. When they know digital signs only show relevant, timely information, they become much more receptive to it.

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Retail is one of the fastest-growing areas adopting digital signage so to beat the competition; it’s well worth getting set up early.

Check out our use case for retail and make your retail store shine with OptiSigns. Start your free 14-day trial today, all features included.

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