Projections show that the global retail market will reach a size of $29.45 trillion by 2025. It’s a huge industry, and there’s a lot of competition. To stay at the top, you need to show customers that you’re better than your competitors. You can do this with interactive retail technology.
Retail technology is proving to be incredibly useful. This is because consumers crave self-service, customization, and spur-of-the-moment purchases.
For a guide on interactive retail technology, keep reading.
Why Use Interactive Retail Technology?
Over the years, we’ve seen many major advancements in technology. Different advancements are suitable for varying applications and industries. There are several that can be used in retail environments.
Technology in retail provides a way to improve the productivity, and therefore profits, of a business. Ascentic Retail Engineering specializes in developing and implementing technology to help retail businesses.
Our solutions can help your brand stand out from your competitors. This will establish you as a cutting-edge company in the industry.
The Benefits of In-Store Technology
More and more brands are implementing retail technology in their stores. This can be in the form of interactive displays, lighting effects, media hubs, and more. Integrating such things in your store can bring a number of benefits.
Entertainment, Movement, and Motion
These days, most people are accustomed to shopping online. When doing so, there are certain things a customer can do that they may not be able to do in a physical store without some kind of interactive technology.
On a website, a user may be able to interact with rotating images or view videos of products, for example. You can use interactive displays in a store to allow the same kind of thing. This might not be necessary depending on the product in question and how customers can interact with it in-store.
If you have signage to promote products and sales, you can enhance this with color, lights, and movement. This will catch people’s attention and draw them in. You could also use video displays to show products in action or present further details.
An interactive shopping experience will create a more memorable encounter for the customer. This will increase engagement, helping to drive sales.
Slow Down Shoppers
The “slow shopping” theory suggests that people are more likely to spend more money if they shop slower. One way that some businesses encourage this is by partnering with another company, such as a coffee brand. If a customer is in a store and they purchase a coffee there, they’ll then be more likely to browse more slowly and test out different products as they do.
You don’t want to just provide customers with products but also an experience. Interactive technology throughout your store will get people to stop and engage. This will also increase the amount of time they spend in your store.
Getting people more interested this way will increase the likeliness that people will want to buy your products.
Higher Productivity and Lower Labor Costs
Productivity and costs are two of the most important factors for any business. Making improvements here is always ideal. With time, technology tends to become cheaper, but the cost of wages increases, keeping things reasonably balanced.
Many people prefer to make purchases without needing to interact with anyone. This can often be put down to things like social anxiety. It presents an opportunity to improve the customer experience by allowing them to interact with technology.
Self-service checkouts have become quite common over the years. Interactive displays that provide product information aren’t seen as much.
With these, customers can look at the details and specifications of a product. They can do so in their own time, without the need to interact with any employees.
Many customers prefer this, and it also ensures they always get correct information. In some retail environments, employees may not know everything there is to know about certain products. These displays with accurate product info will make sure a customer always knows what they’re buying.
Analytics and Shopper Behavior
One major advantage that eCommerce is that it allows companies to collect much better information on customer behavior. Analyzing this data can provide insights that can be used to improve a business.
The use of interactive retail technology brings this to physical stores. You can collect data based on customer engagement.
Your marketing team, purchasing agents, and product developers can analyze this data to see what’s working well and what isn’t. They can then make changes to business strategies to make them more effective.
Immersive Experiences
An interactive shopping experience is more immersive for the customer. Rather than just looking at what products you have for sale, they’ll be having a full experience that will be far more memorable. This can help in several ways.
Social media platforms are among the best marketing tools available these days. When customers have a better experience, they’ll be more likely to post about it on social media. People who use social media while shopping are also more likely to make large purchases when provided with a good digital shopping experience.
Some brands use additional strategies to encourage such things. For example, using displays where customers can send selfies and see themselves on a big screen. While things like this don’t directly drive sales, the increased interaction and engagement are beneficial for your brand.
Types of Interactive In-Store Technology
At Ascentic Engineering, we’re always working to provide better interactive retail solutions. We have a range of tools already available and ready to go. By observing retail technology trends, we can keep developing better ideas for the future.
MediaHubs
Our MediaHubs are fully interactive displays that can be programmed for various experiences. They include user controls and lighting effects so customers can engage with them. You can also use them to play audio or video content.
The majority of our MediaHubs have BrightSign built-in. This helps give customers a more enhanced experience.
User Interfaces
We have solutions that offer a range of ways for customers to interact. This can be through touchscreens, touchless sensors, and even serial commands from other devices.
Speaker Switchers and Amplifiers
Audio switching was the technology that helped Ascentic get off the ground in 1976. Since then, we’ve only improved on our capabilities, allowing us to supply the best solutions available.
We have a range of devices with different functionalities. If you need something different, we’ll be able to source the perfect device for you.
Headphone Switchers
Many headphones manufacturers have improved their products significantly in recent years. Headphones are a typical example of a type of product that people like to test before purchasing.
Our headphone switchers provide ideal amplification and frequency levels. This gives customers a clear demonstration of the quality of different sets of headphones.
Customers can use our demonstrators to listen to audio from either digital or analog sources. They also provide aux inputs, so customers can connect and listen to their own devices. Most of our headphone switchers can be chained together, so you can increase the size of the display as you see fit.
Lighting Effects
Lighting displays are becoming more common in retail settings and various other environments. They’re a great way to direct customers’ attention and enhance the appearance of products. We can set up lighting displays so that they coordinate with audio/video, as well as user interaction.
System Control
You can use interactive technology to control various aspects of a system and view important details. This can include lighting controls, power monitoring, system health info, and more.
BrightSign Accessories
Most of our systems have BrightSign built-in or support BrightSign integration. You can implement various controllers, buttons, sensors, adaptors, and more into your system. We also provide software that’s compatible with BrightSign, and we can get your system fully up and running, so it’s ready for you to use.
Should You be Using Interactive Retail Technology?
Interactive retail technology can provide various benefits for almost any company. It increases customer engagement, improves productivity, reduces costs, can provide analytics, and more.
The exact systems you might want to install will depend on the type of products you sell. We can help you determine what the most ideal solutions might be.
At Ascentic Retail Engineering, we provide the best retail technology solutions available. We can discuss your business and your goals so that we can develop the most suitable strategy for your brand. To find out more about how we can help you, click here to contact us today.