Even though brick-and-mortar still accounts for most of all purchases in the retail sector (85% according to the U.S. Department of Commerce), recent events have made it clear that traditional retailers need to rapidly evolve in response to the rise of eCommerce. The reason why is relatively simple: eCommerce’s growing market share—and the way in which people had to rely on it during the lockdowns—has caused a rapid shift in consumer expectations around convenience, speed, transparency, and personalization.
In other words, even though most consumers are still purchasing in-store, what they expect out of a shopping experience has trended toward advantages offered by eCommerce.
So, how does one merge the immediacy and experiential qualities of brick-and-mortar with the algorithmic personalization and flexibility of eCommerce? In brief, the answer is to execute a strategy for the digital transformation of your operations.
Thanks to recent innovations in in-store display and data-gathering technologies, an answer to those questions is now available in the form of digital campaign management, messaging, and advertising that can be implemented (and interacted with) right in the store aisle.
At SES-Imagotag, we pioneered electronic shelf labels. These are wireless, connected, battery-operated IoT devices that sit on the store shelf and that help to drive store efficiency whether via price optimization, price automation, or click and collect services.
We are now evolving into “Smart Shelving” with the capabilities of Vusion Engage. Vusion Engage connects retailers and brands to deliver digital campaigns in physical stores. Reaching shoppers at the shelf when they are considering buying a product – The Video Rails not only grab your customers attention with digital shelving, but enhance the relationship between retailers and their brands. This enables retailers to better monetize their foot traffic and brands to achieve higher returns on ad spends.
5 Steps to Leverage Foot Traffic and Promote Revenue Growth!
1: Protect and grow promotional revenue for brands
- Preserve brand investments in your store by proposing new avenues for marketing and providing post-campaign execution data
- Grow promotional funding by tapping into adjacent brand budgets
- Finance your in-store touchpoints by monetizing ad space
2: Generate sales uplift with minimum effort
- Design and deliver compelling stories for shoppers through a single platform shared with brands
- Manage marketing messages, at scale, and deploy to your entire chain, select locations, or local shops – at once
- Execute targeted campaigns efficiently through scheduling and automation.
3: Create in-store interactions for brands & shoppers
- Bring life to your stores with engaging and dynamic content delivered in your aisles
- Communicate transparent product information to shoppers incl. allergens, carbon footprint
- Generate timed cross-sell opportunities with automated digital coupons
- Provide an enticing and ever-changing shopper experience to grow loyalty and increase store revisit
4: Learn from what’s happening in the aisles
- Get visibility on ‘life at the shelf,’ uncovering products and customer behavior insights before POS data are available
- Discover the path to purchase from entrance to check-out with grounded data originating from within your store
5: Contribute to store-wide ESG initiatives
- Eliminate wasted paper and cardboard used for one-off promotional signage
- Alleviate your carbon footprint through cumulated savings on print and transportation
When combining all of these tools together, you’ll not only ‘wow’ your customers with a next-generation customer shopping experience but optimize your operations and generate that all-important customer loyalty in a way that will make your competition look up.
