By Alex Mardikian

Retailers operate on small margins and competition in the retail business is intense. Sometimes, even offering highly attractive discounts cannot entice customers. Often, customers are not even aware that you’ve got deals and products that would benefit them.

Advertising is expensive. The customer, as it is, is distracted by an information overload. So, what do you do? Is it even worth trying to get people off their smartphones?

Digital signage has emerged as some kind of a savior for retailers worldwide. It is helping businesses attract customer attention, engage with them, and is driving sales.

With digital signage, you can offer customers a personalized experience catered to their likes so that they can make an informed in-store, in-person purchase decision, something not quite possible when shopping online.

VODXS faucet-based ad system is an outstanding example of what digital signage can do for your business. Installed in washrooms, the LED displays show rich content that can be customized to the viewer’s tastes. If located close to a point-of-sale, it can overtly or subtly suggest a purchase. You have information with you about the aisles that the customer has walked, products purchased, those picked up and kept down, previous shopping patterns, etc. You can use it via VODXS.

With DOOH, retailers can share details of promotions, sales, discounts, services, and so many things. Short questionnaires can generate information for you. Connect the displays to social media and allow shoppers inside to act as evangelists for their followers on Twitter and Facebook.

Digital signage offers a great advantage in that the content can be changed quickly and with hardly any expense. Compare this with regular OOH signage. You can get the word out easily and comprehensively with DOOH. Retail chains with a presence across a wide geographical area can manage DOOH networks remotely and control the information displayed to suit local situations and for running the broader business in a synchronized manner.

Digital signage benefits retailers in the short run and over the long term.

Over the short term and in fact, continually, DOOH can talk to customers and place before them the most appropriate discounts and promotions. The messaging is delivered in a much more engaging manner through video and images. It can be placed at eye level to grab the visitor’s attention. You can place multiple messages on loop.

As mentioned above, the messages can be changed as soon as the situation demands. For example, you run out of stock on one product, you can remove it from the displayed content. You can alter the discounts on a product and display. You can direct traffic towards aisles that are relatively free. It’s done digitally. Your business will also earn praise for being eco-friendly.

Over a longer time-frame, DOOH enables you to learn a lot about your customers and then you can incorporate other forms of marketing along with DOOH to encourage such consumers to buy from you. Newsletters, social media updates, apps, SMS…with digital signage serving as an information gathering system, you can create a holistic marketing strategy that approaches subjects at a very granular level.

With time, the brand’s identity becomes stronger and will be associated with positives that you choose to accentuate through DOOH. These could be prompt customer service, discounts, or a great shopping experience overall. Brand awareness and brand loyalty are very important benefits of sticking with DOOH for the long term.

Interactive DOOH can deliver feedback, and cumulative feedback beyond a pre-determined threshold, can inform you about the steps to take. You can do so quickly. Use DOOH to tell stories. Use DOOH to get people on your side. DOOH is the opposite of OOH. It’s not static. It’s dynamic. It demands planning and dynamism from the implementers. And those that can keep pace with the changes that are always happening in a retail environment will reap rich rewards through DOOH.