How can retailers capitalize on passersby and heavy foot traffic? The answer for most of the lifespan of retail has been signage. In the modern world, that signage is now digital. However, there hasn’t always been a viable solution due to natural light. For window digital displays, there have been two major concerns: Can the digital signage compete with direct sun? and How can they be installed to not impede natural light from flowing into the space?
That’s the quandary that faced one of the world’s most celebrated retail brands, Levi Strauss. Their flagship store on Market Street in San Francisco sees a tremendous amount of foot traffic. They wanted to capitalize on this with dynamic content powered by digital signage. Transparent LED displays were the solution that answered all their concerns.
What is transparent LED digital signage?
The descriptor transparent is used because the display is a glass window integrated with a touchscreen, allowing for light to pass through in both directions. This is different than standard screens, which have backlit components that illuminate the pixels on the screen. This creates visibility for viewers. For the screens to be transparent and allow the dual light pass through, an alternate light source is used that does not block the display. These transparent LED displays also have lower power consumption, consuming roughly 10 percent of the power of a traditional display. The screens have transparent components such as cathode, anode and substrate. They are designed ultra-thin and are more flexible in comparison to other screens.
Transparent LEDs also allow for 3-D content, which has become a sought-after feature for retailers. When brands can use 3-D advertisements, it changes the way in which they can communicate ideas and engage with users. These displays also offer tools for easy communication, delivering a positive customer experience.
What problems do transparent LED displays solve?
- Smaller space requirements do to slim footprint and no need for external rigging structures
- Eliminates the need for additional lighting behind display due to 6-80% light transparency through the screen vs traditional LED video walls
- Displays can be customized to fit existing window frame openings and structures
- Eliminates traditional signage that blocks light and valuable window front
- Reduces labor for content renewal or traditional signage
Potential Applications of Transparent LED Displays
With recent advances in non-traditional LED displays, Transparent screens have opened up new opportunities to place digital signage in places most people would not have in the past. Transparent displays integrate seamlessly into architectural facades bringing digital media to the forefront of design. With Urban development booming, you can create anchor piece to large window fronts in retail, landmark buildings, public venues, hotels, airports and much more.
How Levi Used Transparent LEDs
Transparent screens have varied uses, depending on your goals and what type of experience you want to create. For the Levi storefront installation, the first challenge to overcome was the natural light that was flowing through the windows. Levi wanted to counter the light, so it didn’t interfere with view ability, while also allowing the natural light into the space. When they came to PixelFLEX with their ideas, we immediately recommended FLEXClear, which is a 65 to 75 percent transparent LED display. The ability for the FLEXClear to remove hurdles related to natural light made it an optimal choice. The direct sunlight and ambiance were no longer an issue. The FLEXClear solution actually leveraged these issues, turning them into assets.
The Levi flagship store, on famed Market Square in San Francisco, enjoys a steady stream of foot traffic. The goal was to turn window shoppers into in-store shoppers. With its outward facing windows, the storefront was ideal for the FLEXClear solution. The completed project offered dynamic content that is vivid and visible to passersby, while also allowing natural light to stream into the store. Learn more about the features and benefits of FLEXClear and how it can invigorate your space today.
Although a vast majority of shoppers still prefer to buy at bricks-and-mortar stores, smart retailers are finding creative ways to digitally enhance customer experiences. In previous posts, we have already discussed omnichannel commerce and several pioneering digital engagement tools for retailers. Now let’s look at more powerful ways to enhance the customer experience with digital signage to improve in-store sales.
Humans are very visual, and the internet only seems to be making us more so. That means brands, in order to stand out in a competitive environment, need to attract the eye. Here is where digital signage comes into play. If you want to successfully engage customers with digital signage, you need to make sure your signs are well-designed, with good color and pitch, and strategically placed throughout the store so customers can notice new products, promotions, and discounts. The key is engaging your customer’s senses—if you can get them to touch a screen and interact, even better.
The important thing is to make the experience memorable. Part of doing so requires you to know your audience. Since your customers will change throughout the day, adjusting the message on your digital signage can make them feel special. You want your customer to feel a particular sale or promotion is just for them. Digital signs can also allow you to display social media recommendations and show product reviews from a variety of high-impact sources. LED signs allow you to do so with the highest quality and with maximum flexibility.
Employers can also use digital signs to improve employee relations and productivity. Display company announcements, training videos, updates, events, and other company-related information in every break room in every store—or in target stores, if the information is local.
Digital signage is a powerful tool for retailers, helping management communicate with employees and ensuring the benefits of online shopping can be brought into physical stores around the world to create better shopping experiences. People’s need for physical space and for the best information available at the time means digital signage is a win-win for customers and retailers alike. And when you adopt LED digital signs, you get numerous extra benefits, not the least of which is lower costs to run the signs. Less electricity use means lower costs for you, and it also means a lower carbon fingerprint—LED benefits both the bottom line and the environment!
PixelFLEX offers a one-of-a-kind design for your store through our award-winning line of LED video walls and video screens. Working with architects, designers, engineers, and consultants, PixelFLEX is proud to provide custom LED solutions for each and every customer, while also providing top-tier customer support through the entire experience. Your standards are our excellence. To take your store into the future, visit PixelFLEXLED.com today!
For brick-and-mortar retailers to survive an increasingly online world, they will have to create a retail experience that blends with customers’ online experience. The challenge is finding the best way to combine e-commerce with in-store shopping to create a connected retail experience. Pioneering retailers have already begun introducing digital technologies, such as virtual fitting tools, virtual product aisles, interactive digital video displays and eye-catching LED Video signage in their stores and front windows. Consumers are delighted when online browsing compliments the in-store experience—and vice versa.
Although online mobile shopping is gaining momentum, bricks-and-mortar stores are likely to remain the dominant way to generate revenue for the foreseeable future. Even Amazon, which started out as an exclusively online store, is starting to open physical locations. Still, to remain relevant, bricks-and-mortar retailers will have to leverage digital technologies to enhance customers’ shopping experiences and exceed customer expectations. In-store tablets and kiosks, virtual/augmented reality, interactive hangers, location-based-services (LBS) and even 3-D printing are all digital technologies being used to increase shoppers’ convenience, gamify the retail environment, improve customer/product matching, and provide a wide range of other shopping applications. Digital Display technologies are at the center of these changes, and given the strengths LED displays—including flexibility, curvable frames, good color and pitch, and excellent weather ratings—stores should really consider them the ideal signage needed to achieve optimal results.
While most of the experimentation with digital technologies has been done by higher-margin or bigger-ticket retail stores, we can expect more widespread adoption soon. Retailers such as John Lewis and Tesco have touchscreen kiosks that allow customers to browse for products and order items while they are in the store; retailers like Oasis have gone the iPad route—as have a number of other retailers. The alternative is having customers look products up on their smartphones, meaning they can also look up the competition’s prices and availability. Digital signs can keep customers’ eyes off their phones and on the options right there in the store.
Digital video displays allow retailers to connect with content management systems for quick, seamless updates, with either universal or local content. They can assist customers, update prices, share content screen-to-screen, create shareable wish lists, and run loyalty and “just in time” promotions. Digital signs thus enhance customer satisfaction by promoting engagement, improving the shopping experience, and helping make it mobile.
Retailers are using technology to deepen customer interaction, connect via social media or apps, and improve customer information and services. As customers and retailers both come to see real benefits, we can look forward to more widespread adoption. Digital technology in bricks-and-mortar stores helps enhance customer experience and is definitely here to stay. Wise retailers who not only adopt digital signage early but also want to keep running costs down while providing high-quality images will look to LED displays for ideal solutions. Specializing in LED, PIxelFLEX provides high-quality solutions to your digital signage needs. We are happy to work with you to help bring you into the future.
To learn more about integrating digital display technology into your stores, visit PixelFLEXLED.com/retail today to talk to one of our experts.
The internet has completely changed the shopping experience. For many consumers, a visit to the store is less about shopping and more about validating the choice they have already made based on their online research. While shoppers appreciate the wide selection and abundance of information found online, most still relish the in-store experience because they can touch, see, and try on the product.
What many customers really want is a shopping experience where online and offline intersect—and yet, too many retailers are still unable to meet the demands of their consumers. People expect retailers to provide consistent, high-quality service throughout the shopping experience, and with all of the options available, merchants must adopt new technologies. It’s time for retailers to learn more about omnichannel commerce and improving the in-store digital experience. Of course, This can be completed in a multitude of ways ranging from digital signage, LED video walls, and digital interactivity.
Recently, Forrester Consulting conducted a study on the impact of omnichannel commerce. It yielded four key findings:
- Technology investment is critical to enabling exemplary omnichannel customer experience.
- Omnichannel customer experience is now a differentiator.
- Many retailers have reached a false state of omnichannel comfort.
- New titles alone won’t cut it—retailers must abolish siloed channel strategies altogether.
In short, retailers need to keep up with customers, and with the latest technology, if they want to maintain customer satisfaction and maintain or improve brand perception. Retailers need new ways of thinking to stay in business. Those who succeed have typically done so by achieving a smooth transition from online to in-store shopping channels. They provide customers with a seamless omnichannel experience.
PixelFLEX, an America-based LED manufacturer, offers creative solutions, reliable products, and dependable service for our industry-leading LED display technologies and solutions. With curvable frames, a rapid refresh rate, and optimal brightness and pitch, we can help you take retail to the next level to keep customers engaged and satisfied with their shopping experience.
To learn more about how to build a better shopping experience, visit the experts at PixelFLEX today at PixelFLEXLED.com/retail.
In the modern era of retail, customers have grown extremely familiar with online shopping environments, and brick-and-mortar retailers that wish to succeed must adapt their in-person experiences to reproduce the positive aspects of successful online businesses. Regardless of the products being sold, these businesses must develop methods to stay memorable and distinct from their competitors, and create in-store experiences that leave their customers with lasting, positive impressions. To this end, digital LED display technologies have become increasingly more sophisticated over the last several years, with impressive multi-screen displays, streamlined marketing deployment capabilities, and personalized customer-oriented engagement strategies becoming commonplace in many businesses. These technologies have replaced traditional marketing strategies for many successful retailers, providing enjoyable, customizable experiences for consumers and unique, memorable experiences that inspire return visits.
Today, digital LED video displays are not only easily customizable from a design aspect, but for targeting specific target audiences or demographics in real-time. Brands can also implement “smart” sensors capable of scanning customers for various attributes (age, sex, height, etc.) and adjusting their marketing techniques automatically. For other applications, this technology can allow customers to try on different clothing styles digitally without ever entering a changing room. These “out of the box” strategies produce interactive experiences for customers which are uniquely memorable and inspire repeat customers. Following one-time installation fees, digital LED technologies also offer a higher ROI in the long run by decreasing the recurring fees associated with traditional advertising upkeep, and allowing retail staff to devote their time to other in-house activities. This combination of cost advantage and marketing flexibility is reflected in retail industry trends, where digital content delivery has increased from 9% of total “Out-of-Home” advertising in 2010 to nearly 62% today, as LED technology costs have decreased and retailers have realized how powerful and cost-efficient such techniques can be.
PixelFLEX specializes in developing digital LED video signage and displays for both indoor and outdoor applications, and tailoring these solutions to meet a wide range of business needs with products manufactured in the USA. With their highly customizable digital LED product portfolio, PixelFLEX can help businesses choose video displays that help marketing initiatives and match their particular creative agendas, while providing experiences that inspire return customers. Their products allow businesses the ability to effortlessly (and remotely) adjust product and marketing displays in real-time using digital LED technology, geared toward specific demographics depending on the time of day or retail location. PixelFLEX works with a wide range of architects, designers, engineers and consultants to ensure that its creative solutions are unique for your specific business needs, and capable of providing the sophistication necessary to provide shopping experiences that can meet the needs of diverse target audiences in real-time. Its award-winning LED systems can be customized for virtually any application, providing high-quality, reliable solutions for your business. The support and service teams at PixelFLEX are dedicated to ensuring that their products are tailored to meet your requirements, and strive to provide top-tier, customer-focused assistance.
To compete in the modern-day landscape of retail, businesses must ensure that their customers’ experiences are both memorable and enjoyable, and PixelFLEX offers a wide range of customizable LED solutions to meet your needs. Their products can help mimic the online retail experience valued by customers, provide engagement analytics, eliminate printing expenses, and provide unprecedented marketing flexibility. To learn more about PixelFLEX, visit https://pixelflexled.com/retail/
Imagine you are a retailer among many in a crowded mall in the middle of December. You have one chance to catch a potential customer as they walk by countless stores and make them enter your store over your competitor. The store next to you has a flashing LED sign, and you don’t. That customer walks by, right into your competitor’s store. What have you lost? REVENUE!
Imagine a solution that can allow you to follow your brand guidelines at every outlet without having to constantly go to that physical location and change out content – no more wasted time changing seasonal advertising. LED solutions designed for the retail industry have a variety of applications to meet the requirements of retail marketers. Retailers have networks of stores, and it is always a hassle to change promotions on static boards. With digital LED signage and displays, you can provide a facility with up to date information on a network of displays with the push of a single button.
How Does the Retail Industry Benefit from LED Display Solutions?
- Attractive advertisements attract customers
- Informs customers about special promotions internally and externally
- Provides directions by using high quality maps
- Allows you to push customers movement within the store to high profit margin items.
- Schedule special holiday offers on occasions such as Christmas, back to school and summer sales etc.
- Creates brand awareness by displaying animated videos and logos
- Target advertisements for specifics times throughout the day.
Different Types of Displays
Freestanding displays are a great way to incorporate LED displays into the environment of your store and drive a potential customer in that otherwise may not have entered. Building larger wall-mounted LED screens are another option to attract people to certain locations within your store and to higher profit margin items.
Here are some statistics that can help you better understand the positive effects of LED signage:
(Source: Business 2 Community and Digital Signage Today)
- 64% of business saw an increase in sales after adding LED signage or displays
- 12% saw an average increase in overall sales
- 59% saw an increase in overall business transactions
- 56% saw a profit increase
The most staggering discovery is 54% of customers entered the establishments due to the signage versus 29% due to word of mouth, 11% due to external advertisement and 6% from TV, radio or yellow pages.
As you can see there is a direct correlation between retail stores utilizing LED displays and an increase in overall sales. What is your plan? Here at PixelFLEX we can help you come up with a solution, whether that is a traditional or non-traditional solution. Contact us today to see how we can work together!
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