In a competitive retail landscape, brick-and-mortar stores need to find innovative ways to create a special in-store experience to attract shoppers. So how do you get shoppers to close their laptops and come to your stores instead? More and more savvy retailers are turning to digital signage to create a unique and memorable experience. Digital signage lets you engage shoppers at the street with dynamic window displays, then dazzle them with eye-catching promotions as you lead them through the store, and end their journey with strategic digital promos on impulse goods at the register. 

Keep reading to learn how digital signage solutions work, and how digital displays can revitalize the customer experience. 

How Can Retailers Use Digital Signage?

Digital signage is available in a variety of sizes ranging from huge wall displays to small touchscreens. Shapes and sizes can be customized to align with your branding. The flexibility means that the uses are practically endless. A clever content strategy will use digital signs to elevate the shopping experience, and more effectively attract, entertain, upsell, cross-sell, and increase excitement about your brand. 

Digital Signage Draws in More Shoppers and Increases Foot Traffic

Window displays are your chance to make a great first impression. But how do you stand out from the visual distractions of a busy street? Dynamic digital displays are the answer! Moving pictures capture attention, and a compelling photograph or video will make passers-by stop and take notice. Once you have their attention, let them know about the must-have new products you’ve recently stocked, or the end-of-season sale they won’t want to miss. 

Use Digital Signage to Improve Your Retail Marketing

Digital signage allows for an exciting multimedia experience that can be changed quickly, which allows marketers to be creative and agile. For instance, did the weather change unexpectedly in one of your locations? Quickly create a promotion for a relevant item, like rainboots or sunscreen. Bright, engaging digital signs can help increase impulse shopping and effective cross-selling.. 

Read More: How Retail Digital Signage Can Help Complete The Buyer’s Journey

Bring Online Retail Experiences Into Stores

Let’s be honest, going to a retail store is never going to be as convenient as ordering online. 

Retailers don’t need to compete with their own online experience. You can use digital signage in stores to complement your online experience. For example, if your e-commerce store is featuring a new jacket, offer an exclusive color that’s sold only in stores, or a digital coupon redeemable in stores to cross-sell a related item, like a scarf. Online consumers are used to seeing multimedia sales techniques, all of which can be easily replicated in-store using digital displays. Not only that, but digital displays can be used to play music and entertainment that makes shopping in-person more fun than shopping online alone at home. 

How Digital Signage Can Save Money

If you’ve been reluctant to invest in digital signage due to the upfront costs, it might be a good time to analyze your yearly cost to print signs, brochures, catalogs, and other paper-based items you update on a regular basis. Not only that, but how much time does your staff spend answering questions that could be irrelevant with good signage? While investing in digital signs may have a larger upfront cost, they will most likely save you money over the span of their use.

Digital Signage Eliminates Printing Costs

Printing signs is expensive, and signage for retail and grocery stores need to be changed often. Seasonal, weekly, and daily promotions all require signage that quickly becomes obsolete. Wayfinding and other signs throughout the store fade or become damaged, requiring reprints and installation. Besides just the printing, you may also be paying a graphic designer, copywriter, delivery fees, and installation costs as well. These are all problems of the past once you implement digital signage for retail stores. 

How Digital Signage Reduces Labor Costs

Installation of printed signs sometimes require hiring specialized laborers, especially if they are large or hung high, which can be costly. However, with digital signs, you never have to worry about this after the initial installation. Not only that, but any member of your team can easily update your signage with OnSite CMS. ComQi’s cloud-based content management system allows you to create and deploy new signs in just a few clicks. Our digital signage software makes it easy to create dynamic displays without having to hire an expensive designer or programmer.

Digital signage can also lift the burden of answering questions from your busy staff. Digital displays can be used for wayfinding or sharing product information, inventory, and price — and where to find it. This empowers shoppers to answer their own basic questions, which can result in a need for less staff on the floor. 

Benefits of Digital Signage for Retail Stores

If all the above doesn’t have you convinced, let’s talk about more of the benefits digital signage can provide, such as a better way to deliver information and increase engagement. 

Improve Customer Engagement

Customers are used to the self-empowerment and autonomy that devices provide. Younger customers in particular expect to do their shopping without always interacting with other people. Engage them with dynamic touchscreen catalogs with detailed product information, and fun options like virtual try-on. This is a great way to create a positive view of their visit. 

Share Your Latest Promotions

As we mentioned earlier, ComQi’s cloud-based cms makes it easy to launch new promotions at one or all of your locations. Whether the promotion has been planned for months, or created on the fly to take advantage of a popular event or trend, you can share the latest promotion in an eye-catching way to delight customers and increase sales.

Integrate Social Media and Website Into Customer Experiences

Bring your website and social media to your retail digital displays. Sharing positive reviews or social posts of happy customers showing off your store’s products will increase customer buy-in and make them want to be part of your brand. 

A Solid Investment for Today, and Tomorrow

So, is retail digital signage worth the investment? While it will take time to see the ROI from your digital signage installation, the excitement it creates about your brand and fresh energy it breathes into your stores will be obvious from the start. 

Start planning for your store’s future success, today. Learn More About ComQi’s Retail Digital Signage Solutions