Covid Age Accelerates Advances in Touchless Retail Display Technology, Benefitting Customer Experience and Purchasing Analytics
By Bob Gatta, CEO of Data Display Systems
The Covid age has led retail brands to reexamine the in-store experience as many shoppers seek ways to interact with products without the worry of viral transmission. Even as the pandemic wanes into the future, some of the traditional approaches to retail displays now reflect a level of risk that can impact customer experience and sales. Enter touchless technology displays.
Throughout the 2010s, retail displays incorporated an increasing number of digital options to engage and analyze consumers. Touchscreens allowed brands to showcase more product information than static posters or catalogues and sensors responding to contact allowed shoppers to trigger audio and video messaging when they were ready, rather than having it play on a constant loop. With these advances, brands were able to gather more direct data about customer preferences for products and messaging.
With the health and behavioral changes that have arisen over the last year, implementing touchless technologies, including touchless screens and buttons, as well as personal handheld device control of displays, has allowed our clients to transform their displays again and address cross-contamination concerns. Instead of customers hesitating to interact with product information, touchless helps to put them back in control. They can explore product information in a way that combines their in-store and online preferences. And the technology also means that brands don’t have to miss a step in their sales and analytics as a result of consumers’ increased wariness about traditional in-store shopping. Touchless retail displays still offer opportunities for A/B testing and highlighting new products, all in a safer way for customers, employees, and bottom lines.
In addition to health and safety concerns, with so many people at home for much of the last year, online shopping has taken on an increased retail market share. Even as more customers begin returning to in-store shopping, they have become accustomed to the ease and personalization of searching a website or app in which they can apply filters and scroll at their leisure. In-store retail displays offer opportunities to better meet shoppers’ expectations, as these technologies give them a chance to validate their online research by interacting with the product alongside the brand-curated messaging. They also offer brands opportunities to gain greater insights as in-store displays can provide analytics that they won’t typically receive from online shopping.
Not to mention, touchless technology brings an element of fun to retail displays as shoppers discover ways to familiarize themselves with the new type of sensors. Now, with the wave of a hand, customers can initiate different product sequences or gather more detailed information by selecting and comparing featured products. Even scanning a QR code to access the display through one’s handheld device creates excitement by offering the opportunity to engage with the products and technology in an unexpected way. And all the while, brands and retailers are able to convert data about interest and purchasing into actionable steps as they continue learning how shoppers interact with their products.
To achieve this, high quality components and an engineered analytics platform are essential for a successful touchless display transformation. Selecting a designer who offers custom engineered solutions, such as Data Display’s proprietary POPViewTM content management system, will allow for greater access to the most relevant and important shopper data. Rather than a generic approach, such a platform offers remote access to better target content as well as the ability to gather specific data points about products and preferences. Customized analytics work in conjunction with the touchless display design so that sensors track and report every interaction to help improve sales by understanding what excites shoppers, encourages them to learn more, and helps them finalize their decision to make a purchase. The combination of these technologies is the essential factor in benefitting both customers and brands in the Covid age and beyond.
Our team is always looking for new ways to advance retail display technology so customers are more likely to stay in front of the products and screens and interact for longer, so both the consumer and the brand can get a lot of crucial information. Touchless technology seems to already be on its way to becoming the new standard in interactive retail displays, opening the door for continued innovation in design to improve the shopper experience and increase sales.
For more information, photos and videos of Data Display Systems’ touchless retail displays are available: https://www.dd-usa.com/product-gallery/.
Bob Gatta is the CEO of Data Display Systems, a leading provider of the technology, systems, components and analytics behind state-of-the-art retail displays – “the brain behind the POP”. From the company’s single source in Philadelphia, PA, USA, Data Display engineers, tests and supplies cutting edge lighting, sound, sensor, touch and touchless systems for leading retail display houses, brands and retailers. Data Display’s clients have won many top industry awards using the company’s innovative technology and ideas and the company’s proprietary POPViewTM system is a leader in retail display content management and analytics.
To confidentially discuss your project . . . please email: sales@dd-usa.com or call: 800.220.1270.
Website: dd-usa.com