Digital Mannequin for Retail Clothing

Digital Mannequin for Retail Clothing
Use a "live" model, display more views and more product

Thursday, August 30, 2012

POS Engagement

Customer experience, featuring interactivity (most commonly touch) is the coming thing in the retail industry.  And rightly so.

Brick and mortar retail has the advantage over online retail in that they can provide a superior experience.  After all, online can only provide so much, and all of it "virtual".  But brick and mortar can provide "real" and people are hungering for ever more "real" experiences.  Actual engaging interaction at the Point Of Sale (POS) is a huge distinction and advantage that the brick and mortar store can offer. Apple stores, Microsoft stores, AT&T's new interactive store, and even places like Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops are all great examples of retail POS engagement.  The places that do it really well are destinations.  You love going there.  They keep it real and relevant.

Digital Signage can assist greatly in this POS engagement.  Text campaigns, QR campaigns, Social Media campaigns, even simple signage promo campaigns that drive the viewer to interact in some distinct way with the store, its product or its personnel are all strategies that need to be employed via digital signage.  Please don't stop with mere signage messaging; get that powerful DS or DOOH system working to engage people, especially customers, to add value, to enhance that vital (personal) business relationship.  Every personal interaction you create enhances the relationship in so much more powerful a way than a "like" or a share.

You have the tools; step out of the box, figuratively and literally.  Work on new ways to use your DS, especially Window Video Systems, to engage!

Friday, August 10, 2012

Ahead of the Game

Some ideas are just a wee bit ahead of their time.  If you're a techno-geek/gadget fan, if you scour Mashable daily for cool new technology breakthroughs and products, if you're always looking for the next new cool thing, then you already know this:  Technology always far outstrips the marketplace's willingness or ability to adopt.  That may never have been truer than today, with a worldwide recession keeping a damper on things, at the same time as unprecedented tech advances continue to come around the bend.

This blog being about DOOH generally, and Window Video Systems (projected digital signage) in particular, I am pleased to announce that the reasons why WVS has not caught on faster in the retail space are starting to disappear.  Sheer unfamiliarity is the least of these, and the proliferation of screens of all types being used for display has blown that one away.  But for WVS, one big problem has been cost of ownership (projectors aren't cheap, and they're not cheap to maintain when you want to run them 24/7 or even daily.)

A constant stream of upgrading projectors is addressing this, with smaller and smaller projectors getting brighter and brighter.  Costs are likewise coming down.  Most importantly, new projection lamp technologies are directly affecting the issue of lamp life and/or lamp replacement, for the better.

Another issue has been a general lack of expertise in terms of creation, deployment and management of content for WVS systems designed for retail use.  This is also an area where costs have been somewhat prohibitive for higher-effect content look and execution.  I can happily report that Looknglas is bringing increasing expertise and flair to the content creation and management issue.  Better method, as well as efficiencies are on the way.

What this means is, Window Video Systems for retail are more easily available in terms of cost, price and content creation/management than ever before, by a significant increment.  Bottom shelf pricing of systems, attainable by even the humblest retailers, will be a welcome development for the retail sector, and should contribute to a continuing transformation of retail display, messaging, and customer experience.