Dynamic advertising or Out Of Home advertising (OOH), is changing the way people buy merchandise and services. Digital signage is at the forefront of this phenomenon.
Take for example window dressing a mannequin, this takes time and a great deal of human effort to display the “new seasons” look. Now if you used a digital mannequin, the updated content could be changed at the click of a button, taking milliseconds to complete.
A frightening fact is that out of all the point of purchase material purchased, only 60% gets set up in store, with digital signage this guarantees updates are carried out with the minimum effort of staff in each location and with the minimal amount of expense.
Digital signage has the advantage over conventional advertising mediums by enhancing the retail experience and engaging with customers by inviting them to interact with the displays.
There are several options for in-store digital signage, from the simple digital poster, through to digital signage kiosk networks.
Digital Poster.
This is a stand alone display that can either be none interactive or interactive, depending upon the location and budget.
These units comprise of an LCD display from 20” and upwards and are viewed in the portrait position, they also have an inbuilt media player, that is fed from a memory card, so media creation is simply “drag and drop”. They also offer security to ensure no one takes the memory card and the posters are wall mountable.
Digital posters are an affordable way to enter into the digital signage market, with units costing as little as £450, this is a good opportunity to “dip your toe” into the market.
Digital signage system.
Normally these are seen both indoors and outdoors, these are acting as a 24 hours sales person.
They normally comprise of either an LCD or plasma display, with a media player or small form factor PC. The small form factor PC is connected to the internet for the remote updates and hosts the software to feed the displays.
When placed in un-manned locations an LCD enclosure is required to protect it from potential vandalism and theft. The LCD enclosures provide the ideal environment for a digital signage solution that is outdoors in all weather. They are specified to NEMA 4X (US standard) and IP65 (European standard). These outdoor TV enclosures are designed to work in temperatures form -30 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit, providing weatherproof and vandal protection for the electronics inside.
Interactive digital signage system.
This is as the digital signage above, with the addition of an interactive facility to engage with customers enhancing their retail experience. The interactive layer is placed on the viewing window of the enclosure, so that when anyone touches the screen, it acts as a computer mouse and the customer can select anything on screen, the interactive overlays are accurate to 0.2mm.
With some interactive displays a webcam is fitted, so that the demographics of customers is recorded, as they interact with the display and this information is stored to evaluate the success of the campaign. This facility could be used to trial a system, to see exactly what customers want, you could then see the different way men and women shop, what they shop for and at what times, then once all the data is analysed, a none interactive system could be installed and rolled out throughout the different store locations.
Digital Signage kiosks.
These are at the top end of the digital signage market, used in main locations indoors and out. They provide the same functionality as the digital signage solutions, however these are a more aesthetically pleasing units.
These are mainly used as part of a digital signage network, were all the updates are controlled from one central location, these offer a more robust permanent signage solution than the standard digital signs, however the costs vary for $8,000 to $15,000 per location!