Customer Experience

Webinar offers insight into future of retail shopping

Online shopping has boomed, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic with consumers hitting e-commerce sites and apps to avoid in-person shopping. Yet, as a webinar discussion shared, while many shoppers still prefer the brick-and-mortar experience there are challenges in luring shoppers and engaging shoppers.

Photo: iStock

August 10, 2021 by Kevin Damask — Editor, Digital Signage Today

While online shopping has boomed in recent years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when many consumers bought products on web sites or apps to avoid in-person shopping, most shoppers still prefer the brick-and-mortar experience.

However, attracting and retaining in-person shoppers has become more challenging as making purchases digitally has gotten easier.

Bob Gatta and Jeff Porter, CEO and CTO of Data Display, respectively, have more than a few ideas of how to keep customers engaged when they walk into their favorite stores.

Gatta

Gatta and Porter co-hosted "The Future of Retail Display Technology and the In-Store Experience," a free webinar hosted by Digital Signage Today and sponsored by Data Display. The company, based in Philadelphia, provides technology, systems, components, and analytics for retail digital displays.

"Shoppers really like to get out and see, touch, feel and tryout an item before they buy it," Gatta said during the webinar. "They want to validate what they've done their research on to make sure it's what they really, truly want. You can really only do that in-store.

"Another reason why they still go out to buy in-store is they really enjoy the shopper and in-store experience of going out for entertainment."

Gatta said only about 7% of consumers exclusively shop online. Studies show in-store experiences also drive online purchases. Shopping in-store tends to build brand loyalty as well, according to Gatta.

"As a shopper, if you did all of your research (online) and you went into a store, you could find that the product you want either isn't there or the display isn't operating," Gatta said. "But, there's a very attractive display that captivates or engages the shopper right next to it, you actually might have a chance as a brand to get a second bite of the apple there and change their impression of their online research. You can improve the research on your brand through that."

Porter, who spent more than 18 years at Scala, Inc., leading the digital signage provider from humble beginnings to a global software company, said most consumers need to feel an emotional experience while shopping. To drive home his point, Porter shared a quote from famous Philadelphia business owner John Wanamaker.

"He said, 'I waste half of my money on marketing, I just don't know which half," Porter said. "It can be very frustrating when you spend half of your money on display marketing and the display isn't doing what you need it to do."

Porter, who founded the digital signage group, POPAI, now known as Shop Association, said the old adage "content is king," still rings true in retail marketing. The display must grasp the attention of whoever is walking through the store, no matter what time of day.

"Think about how you make the content more compelling," Porter said. "You have to think about dwell time, the location of (the display), audio, is it going to be annoying to the people who walk through, should I trigger that audio? You have all of these things to think about."

Planning content before thinking about the technology is vital. A few years ago, Porter helped launch a series of displays in 5,000 gas stations along the West Coast of the U.S. The company that owned the stations planned the display messaging months in advance, making it easier to operate after deployment.

"They had two guys running that network because they thought about the content and how they wanted to organize this," Porter said. "It showed the weather on the pump in Los Angeles, they showed sports scores from that city, they knew if that gas station had a car wash or not, if they sold tires or not. …They were able to tag all their media and have it magically play in the right place, at the right time, for the right viewer and it was way more compelling than just broadcasting the same video to every Shell gas station they had."

The 3, 4, 5 rule of retail

One of Porter's key insights was for retailers to follow a simple, but effective rule.

"You have three seconds, at four paces, with five words or less to get your point across," Porter said. "And if you don't do that, you've lost your customer that quickly. Whether it's a digital display or printed display, you really have to think about making your message concise."

Porter

While the pandemic hurt the retail market, it did open exciting possibilities for retailers. For example, Target shopping centers succeeded in getting shoppers to buy products online, but pick them up in-store. Gatta said Target can use its vast network of stores to track shoppers to come in and pick up the product and provide other services for online shoppers, such as curbside pickup.

Since the start of the year, some retailers have been dealing with a computer microchip shortage that's led to delays in consumers receiving online purchases. However, the chip shortage hasn't been a bad omen for all retailers.

"It's driven consumers to look at other brands," Gatta said. "I could be a diehard X, Y and Z fan, but if they don't have it, I might consider looking at something else."

The importance of targeting a digital signage promotion by region, store or demographic helps retailers measure consumer experience. Porter demonstrated how touchless screens are becoming more advanced and more stores are adding them to limit the spread of germs and potential viruses.

Targeting brand messages

Data Displays worked with CCM Hockey, a sporting equipment and apparel store, to set up displays that would accurately gauge consumer tastes and preferences. Shoppers could pick up a hockey glove and stick and interact with the display.

Canadian shoppers felt a different connection to the display than their American counterparts.

"Canadian shoppers were really interested in professional endorsements and U.S. shoppers really wanted to compare skate one, skate two and three," Gatta said. "I told (CCM) from a marketing perspective, they could really focus on professional endorsements in Canada and had to do greater education in the U.S. They actually dove in further and asked, how about (measuring data) in those hockey-rich states like Minnesota and Wisconsin?' They actually found those states are similar to other places in the U.S."

To gain more insight provided in the webinar click here.

About Kevin Damask

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