StoreFront Digital Signage: Is it Worth the Investment?

Not so long ago, there was a heated debate on whether brick-and-mortar stores would survive, given the stiff competition from online businesses. Luckily, retail stores held on firmly and fought for their space. They successfully did so by embracing digital signage solutions. Consequently, research shows that the retail digital signage market will grow at a CAGR of 7.56% between 2022 and 2027. That’s why the market is already experiencing various digital signage product innovations and developments to keep up with the latest technologies.

While people love shopping online, conventional retail stores still play a crucial role as effective sales channels. Digital signage has dramatically made an impact in driving foot traffic to retail stores and boosting recognition. In fact, digital signage solutions also influence customers’ decisions in-store, with approximately 70% of customers purchasing a product promoted on digital signage.

Given the impact of digital signage on the effectiveness of retail stores, you have every reason to invest in the technology. Most importantly, it would help if you thought of installing storefront digital signage. Depending on how creative you are with the placement and content, storefront digital signage can be the magnet that attracts passersby into your store. In any case, case studies show that about 8 out of 10 customers have entered a store because digital signage caught their interest.

If you’ve been considering storefront digital signage but are still determining if it’s worth the investment, this post is the answer you have been looking for. It explores why you should have storefront digital signage and why it is worth the investment in the long run.

Reasons to Invest in Storefront Digital Signage

Digital signage and corresponding digital signage software open a world of opportunities for store displays. They can make a real difference in customer experiences. Notably, the signs do a lot more than traditional printed signage. Since they can be interactive, you can use them to boost customer engagement and gain insights into what your customers want.

So, here’s a breakdown of what digital signage can do for your retail business:

Reduce Marketing Costs and Improve Efficiency

The price of digital screens for commercial-scale advertising has drastically reduced, making the screens accessible investments for retailers. However, some people argue that installation costs for digital signage are high. While this could be true, it’s also true that digital signage marketing is less costly in the long run.

For example, you don’t need to pay a dedicated team of digital signage experts to manage your screens and software. You also don’t need a team of expert content creators to make suitable content to display on your screens. With the right content apps, affordable cloud-based signage software, and creative ideas, you can seamlessly display the message you want to pass to your customers.

The ability to update digital content in real-time allows you to save money on printing and distribution costs. Additionally, digital signage marketing is eco-friendlier than most traditional marketing solutions.

Tailor Content to a Specific Audience

With content tailored to your target audience, your storefront digital signage displays can effectively attract customers to your store. Dynamic storefront displays can be altered immediately, enabling you to tailor content that speaks to your audience in real-time. Instead of waiting for an advertising slot between your biggest competitors, you can call the shots and determine which content to display and when.

For example, your store may have a different kind of audience in the morning during the weekdays than on a Saturday afternoon. You can effectively increase foot traffic and sales by choosing a content playlist that best suits the most common shoppers at specific times. Besides, you can change product information as it comes in or as new products enter the market.

Create Brand Personality

Your storefront fascia says a lot about your brand. While it gives your retail store a name, that’s barely enough for the uninitiated. That’s why store window displays were invented, leading to a high regard for “visual merchandisers.” Visual merchandisers like how easy it is to use digital signage to change a store’s ambiance and boost brand awareness.

In other words, fabulous storefront digital signage does all the heavy lifting for you. It’s an effective way to create personality at the storefront, giving people a reason to come in and explore what you offer. Some ideas on creating content that radiates your brand personality include but are not limited to the following:

• A display of your customer’s cat walking to model some of your products
• Interviews with your teams
• Images of your products
• Displaying social media feeds with positive feedback about your store from customers

More creative ideas entail getting your product images out in the real world. For example, display how your product would look in people’s lounges or places where they spend most of their time. Once your customers can visualize how the product fits into their daily lives, they can be influenced to purchase it.

Boost Sales

Storefront digital signage can effectively boost your store’s overall sales. Studies have shown that 40% of shoppers say that digital displays influence what they buy. Displaying relevant information about your products at the storefront might change a buyer’s initial purchase decision. They may settle for what you just advertised instead.

In addition to using storefront signage to advertise your products, consider having interactive digital touchscreen kiosks at the entrance. These can effectively boost wayfinding to direct your customers to where specific products are. That would save them time and eliminate the need to look around the store for one item.

At the same time, you can incorporate QR codes and link them to online engagement and purchase opportunities. Doing so would provide the omnichannel experience customers value, opening up an opportunity to upsell and cross sell.

Repurpose Social Media Content

Social media is an effective strategy for retailers to influence and entice shoppers, but it can be challenging. While you may put less effort into digital marketing than an online store, digital signage empowers you to benefit as an online store does. The idea is to put in valuable social proof, such as your social media posts and online reviews. Then, you can repurpose and display the content at the storefront to connect with your customers without distractions.

As an illustration, you can use your Twitter search app to select your feed, a hashtag, or a phrase showing a live tweet stream. A multi-channel social media dashboard would have a more significant impact. Effectively repurposing your social media content can help you eliminate your online competitors vying for your customers’ attention.

Storefront Digital Signage is Worth the Investment

Before investing in any solution for your retail business, you want the assurance that you will get a return on your investment. You’ve probably delayed installing storefront digital signage because you don’t know if you can derive any tangible benefits. However, the benefits of digital signage speak for themselves. Therefore, you should go all out using storefront digital signs.

Remember that screens enable you to display engaging and eye-catching content better than static signage. Ultimately, you can deliver a consistent message that speaks more deeply to all who see your brand. Generally, storefront signage is marketing that speaks for itself.