LCD Enclosures

During the month of December in Philadelphia the kiosks that are used for deploying parking tickets were not working due to the extreme cold, some thought this was cool as they got free parking – how wrong they were!

We all see kiosks everywhere we go from the train station to the shopping mall and we are becoming very reliant on them for information, but here is a situation were the kiosks that have digital signage built in and is targeted at the vehicle owner whilst they are paying for a car park ticket with their Smartcard or credit card.

The problem was that the kiosks who were manufactured by a company out of Wentzville Missouri did not have the correct upgraded software installed and caused the kiosks to malfunction and reject valid payment methods, making parking almost impossible.

During one of the busiest shopping weeks of the year in the build up to Christmas drivers found that curb side parking was a very rare and valuable asset.

The problems did not end there, with the parking authority admitting that a new software upgrade would be available in the next week, however the frustration turned to rage when Christmas shoppers received parking tickets for exceeding their allotted time and some drivers reported getting violation tickets for parking whilst in queues waiting for a parking space at the side of a kiosk!

The parking authority’s stance was that drivers had to pay some how, if they had a prepaid Smart card and it got rejected they could either pay by cash or credit card (so the driver in effect had to pay twice!). In 2009 the sale of Smart Cards for parking in Philadelphia reached an estimated $2.5 million.

Is this a start of things to come with digital signage solutions including self serve kiosks taking over the world of advertising? Hopefully not, especially when it is down to a software problem and NOT the enclosure!

Graham is the owner of LCD Enclosure Global who have launched a range of kiosk call Fahrenheit Kiosks, these have been designed to work in extreme temperatures from -30 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. This compliments their range of gas pump enclosures.

LCD Enclosure Global – anything else is a compromise.

We all know customers have immediate demands, now you can offer a self-service solution for every application, so that your customers are happy and keep coming back for more.

Take for instance a casino, with it’s over crowding around the cashiers and with large customer queue lines, the ideal solution is a self-serve kiosk as this also increases the bottom line and does not need staff to operate it, staff can be deployed to other duties.

These could be introduced as the front end of a restaurant; these can be used to move customers through the food queue quicker, whilst cashiers are used in other areas of the business.

Due to their ease of use and increased user satisfaction self-service kiosks are becoming more popular as they allow businesses and customers to maximise their time by ordering and paying immediately at the kiosk once the customer has made their selection.

This type of kiosk are normally located indoors with touch screens for user input, the software needs to be flexible so that it can accept card, coupon and cash payments and with the staff being deployed in other areas, they have now dual rolls so the employer maximises their staff.

One Detroit casino in particular has increased sales in it’s deli restaurant by 28% with the introduction of self-serve kiosks.

Self-service kiosks are here to stay, buy how we integrate them into our digital signage has to be planned otherwise the deployment could possibly fail and the last thing we want is a failed project.

LCD Enclosure Global are the worlds leading manufacturer of a unique range or waterproof LCD enclosure, that are used for outdoor digital signage solutions throughout the world. From outdoor TV box to a video wall, LCD Enclosure Global have a solution for you at an affordable price, contact them on 888-460-3573 tollfree.

Choosing the right enclosure for your kiosk can make you outdoor digital signage campaign a success providing you know what to look for. When you are deploying a kiosk project it can be a daunting task, but the correct way to start the project is with the enclosure that will be based around the kiosk.

The general public may view a kiosk as a metal box, how wrong they are, but at the end of the day they are the customer and the customer is always right.

Getting the “metal box” right is a crucial as the touch screen, hardware or software, the best way to look at an enclosure as the skin and bones of a kiosk, whilst he computer gathers information and crunches numbers the enclosure does the job it was designed for and that is to protect. It will also withstand abuse, both the malicious type and the everyday wear and tear

Stop calling it a metal box!
Some enclosure designs call out to customers, with their unique design and marketing on them, some are even referred to as works of art. Every kiosk needs an enclosure, with the look and feel being as subtle or flamboyant as a person’s imagination. Some enclosures have been simple for example a monitor on a pole, to the ridiculous like the giant iPhones and Blackberry mobile phones, used by Car Phone Warehouse to market the relevant smart phones.

When choosing a kiosk for a marketing application, you have to make the right choice otherwise rather than boosting a bottom line it can sink it! An enclosure is the first thing a consumer comes into contact with, so they have to be appealing, or then will not get used.

LCD Enclosure Global are the worlds leading manufacturer of a unique range or waterproof LCD enclosure, that are used for outdoor digital signage solutions throughout the world. From outdoor TV box to self-serve kiosks, LCD Enclosure Global have a solution for you at an affordable price, contact them on 888-460-3573 tollfree.

In one McDonald’s restaurant they have incorporated content managed digital signs. If this pilot is successful this solution could be deployed throughout the McDonalds throughout America.

The management at the pilot restaurant wanted to offer their customers a Las Vegas feel and realised that their current way of displaying their menu could not compete.

The digital signage solution.
This incorporated eight 15 inch LCD displays set end to end on a ceiling overhang above the checkouts that greet the customers. Then in the dining areas 42 inch displays have been deployed these show action sports mixed with McDonalds ads. This is easily achievable by splitting the screen with the video playing in the largest section, on the left of the display a scrolling text invite customers to text short codes from cell phones to change the video.

In the children’s play area a large touch screen display is used that shows cartoons and promotional videos, children can use the touch screen LCD to select the cartoons they want to watch. The display is fitted with a camera that is useful for birthday parties as the cartoons are stopped and the birthday boy or girl can see themselves on the large screen.

The communications hub is the tiny office, looking more like a server room with several of the servers being required for the CPU of the digital signage system.

Outside two large 6 feet x 12 feet digital signs hang below the golden arches, hung back to back these displays play the content that is played in store.

Interactive digital signage at McDonalds is in it’s infancy when it is proven it will be rolled out throughout the group.

LCD Enclosures Global have many years experience manufacturing a range of outdoor LCD cases for both LCD and plasma displays, that are used in both commercial and domestic applications. He has also developed a unique range of outdoor TV cabinets that are manufactured at their manufacturing facility, these along with the LCD enclosures are shipped throughout the world to digital signage integrators.

In the past 3 years there has been a major shift in business thinking regarding digital signage and the use of interactive kiosks. These touch screen kiosks change the nature in which a business communicates with its customers, with one major pitfall.

Many businesses who have existing digital signage adopt interactive signage thinking they can use the original signage campaigns – wrong! The content has to be created around the interactive experience and layered so the company controls the overall messaging whilst the customer controls the specific elements that are relevant to them.

Solution.
One way to do this is to offer multiple choice experience that guides the consumer along as they discover more about a product or service, they can make comparisons between the products and then when they have made a choice you can inform them that the particular product just happens to be on sale for today only.

Benefits.
With this approach there are two benefits for the business:
1. A customer who is given targeted information rather than generic information will normally make a purchasing decision.
2. The business is building a detailed profile of its shoppers, their needs and requirements that can be used for other digital signage campaigns.

Knowing your foot traffic.
Interactive kiosks are a good way to monitor the amount of foot traffic in store, if this tails off over a period of 2 months, you can reinstate old campaigns that pulled customers in, rather than waiting to find the store totally empty.

Other ways to monitor foot traffic is to install simple traffic counters these are the beam devices in store that are linked to a counter and every time some breaks the beam the counter increases.

A video monitoring system is good as it indicated what areas are popular by the amount of linger time, this is the time they spend looking at a particular range of clothes in the ladies wear department.

LCD Enclosure Global have launched a new range of touch screen LCD kiosks these are for indoor digital signage whilst their outdoor LCD enclosure is for more hostile and remote areas.

LCD Enclosure Global – anything else is a compromise. Call 888-460-3573.

Once you start using digital signage you realise that the resource is fantastic and you will wonder how you ever manager before creating marketing campaigns, however the best results are when customers tell you that they like your informative signs. Discover how to create your very own Ultimate Digital Signage Machine.

Digital Signage Success.
One luxury automotive dealership in Ontario Canada launched it’s digital signage network in November 2005 with eight 42 inch interactive kiosks, strategically located throughout the showroom.

The dealership discovered that dynamic signage gave them the ability to educate, inform and entertain all at the point of purchase. It is much easier to have all the latest specifications on a vehicle so a customer can even design their own ideal vehicle down to the colour of the interior, they can then get a price for the specification they want.

As well as the specifications, they also provide entertaining commercials for the vehicles, alerts and announcements and the content has some corporate content that repeatedly thanks the customer for their business.

The owner of the dealership reported that when the signage went live, customers were riveted by the signs and it seemed as though the sales staff were ignored! Dynamic signage gave the dealership the opportunity to send target messages to the customer that were right on target.

Another Digital Signage Success.
Another success story was a US telecoms company with over 500 stores, their target demography was young people between 13 to 20 years of age. Research showed that 2 million teenagers would purchase a mobile phone in the next 18 months.

They thought how could they target this massive opportunity? – Well the company deployed LCD screens at the point of sale that broadcasted dynamic content with audio, this pulled the customers in.

Now you can follow these success stories and realise how successful digital signage is, so go create your own digital signage machine.

LCD Enclosure Global are the worlds leading manufacturer of outdoor LCD enclosures these are deployed throughout the world and used in many different applications from digital signage, outdoor TV systems and outdoor home cinemas. For more information on their outdoor TV cabinets contact them toll free on 888-460-3573.

Digital menu boards are one of the most cost effective ways to use digital signage to delvier dynamic content to customers.

There are two types of digital menu boards, interactive and none interactive. The none interactive menu boards are exactly what there name suggests, they consist of an LCD display up to 26″ with a built in media player that takes a memory card. All you need to do is drag and drop the content you made on your computer onto the CF card and insert it into the player, then secure the player security door and you are good to go.

You use a remote control to control the content, editing the scrolling text, increasing or decreasing sizes, editing transitions, so you have total control over the menu board.

Interactive menu boards, have several interactive parts to their screen, up to a total of 9 panels, these 9 panels are then linked to the relevant content the customer is looking for, so that it engages with the customer making their expierence more enjoyable.

Not only can they be used for menu boards, there are perfect for hotels to display images of their rooms, restaurant and prices to entice customers inside their premises. These can be dispalyed in their windows so any foot traffic can see what they have to offer and due to the unique medium this is sure to attract customers attention.

Self service can be a perfect solution for quick service and fast casual restaurant owner operators who are faced with increased competition, higher costs and eroding margins. Using self service can help you to sell faster and less expensively in the restaurant.

There is nothing better than going to a restaurant that you have been to before and experienced impeccable service. When you are greeted promptly, shown to your seat and the food is cooled perfectly. But more times than not, the service is atrocious. It can take almost ten minutes for a waiter to ask you what drink you want. Then when you finally place your order, it feels like a lifetime until it is delivered to your table.

For a more consistent and positive experience, it appears that self service kiosks and interactive digital posters come to the rescue. Waiting inline can be a real chore but self order kiosks now eliminate them or at least drastically reduce them.

But the benefits of a self service kiosk are translated to the owner. In addition to helping out the waiting staff, the guests can increase the amount guests spend and improve customer service.

Article bought to you by LCD Enclosure Global – anything else is a compromise.

Interactive digital signage posters are one of the most affordable ways to enter into the digital signage market. The use of them is almost endless as they can be used form mom and pop stores displaying current promotions, through to corporate reception and meeting areas were their products or services are displayed.

Digital signage is fast becoming the new trend for any forward thinking business, leaving behind conventional printed posters. The cost savings on printed media coupled with the environmental issues of printing thousands of posters is eradicated when digital posters are used.

There are two type of digital posters;

1. Standard digital signage poster
2. Interactive digital signage poster

They work exactly the same way, you create the content no matter if it is video, images or even a PowerPoint presentation with audio, it is then loaded on to a memory card and inserted into the “onboard” media player, now this is were the likeness ends.

The standard digital signage poster is then controlled by the onscreen menu to select how you want the content to be displayed, including how big or small you want the rolling text.

The interactive digital signage poster can have as many as 9 interactive sections of the display, so you can market 9 areas of a business, this is set up via the onscreen menu and is ready to roll in a matter of seconds. When anyone clicks on any of the 9 images displayed for the particular area or business, product or promotion, content is then displayed relevant to the area of business.

LCD Enclosures Global have successful sold these to 3 of the UK’s leading department stores as well as local businesses including solicitors, accountants and dentists.

LCD Enclosures Global now offer a solution for all pockets, from indoor digital signage to outdoor LCD enclosures.