David Weinfeld: Do Smartphones Make Interactive Digital Signage Irrelevant?

With the growth of Apple’s application marketplace and the heightened development of Android-based apps, product comparison, retail wayfinding, and real-time couponing tools are flooding the consumer market. The advancement of mobile shopping tools have led some to question whether increased smartphone adoption threatens the utility of interactive digital displays at retail.

A recent article from technology and advertising blog PSFK asks whether or not retail-focused smartphone applications make self-service solutions redundant. Even though the piece makes positive mention of Microsoft Surface and Intel’s intelligent digital signage proof of concept, it lists six reasons why retailers should exclusively focus on mobile development:

1. The phone is personal. It already knows who you are and can access what you like and even your purchase preferences like clothing sizes. With an interactive display you often have to start from the beginning.

2. The phone is social. The phone knows who your friends are and allows information before and after purchase to be shared between you and your peers. Sure, interactive displays can be connected to social media but are you really going to put your password to Facebook into an interactive display in a store that you visit once a month?

3. The phone is touchable. Would you rather tap away at the screen on the phone only you use or would you want to touch the smudged screen of the chain-store retailer where thousands of people pass through each day?

4. The phone is consumer-powerful. The phone keeps the power in the hands of the consumer while the interactive display offers the controlled world of the retailer. The interactive display doesn’t provide access to the world of group buying sites, deal services or comparative pricing apps.

5. Because a retailer can doesn’t mean they should. Just because WalMart stores have TVs throughout with advertisements running, it doesn’t mean that this service must be replicated across all retailers. Stores want to program specific environments that create subtle experiences that drive sales. A TV blasting ads – even if it’s interactive – might actually be a turn off for shpppers in many instances.

6. The phone is becoming sensitive. Technology is evolving to allow the phone to notice RFID tags and other ‘internet of things’ technology.

The above points are valid, but they look at the retail sector from a singular perspective. Smartphones are becoming an increasingly integral component in how we shop. They are not, however, the end all and be all of the consumer shopping experience. Just as the functionality of cellphones are growing more advanced so too are interactive digital displays. Retailers are right to focus significant energy on developing applications for mobile phones, but they must also devote resources to alternative in-store communications channels. Mobile is great, so too is digital signage.

What were once little more than computer stations in retail stores are evolving into immersive multi-touch gateways. Interactive video walls and intelligent self-service solutions are beginning to be integrated seamlessly into store environments. Their flexibility begets their utility. They function as integral parts of a store’s atmosphere. They can exist as omniscient sales associates, multi-user entertainment systems, or large-scale online catalogs.

Mobile phones and interactive digital signage should not be looked at as being mutually exclusive at retail. One doesn’t diminish the other. In reality, when they are positioned to enhance each other, consumers reap the greatest benefit. As I detailed in an earlier post, mobile applications and digital signage are allies, NOT adversaries. Whereas the mobile channel is geared around one-to-one interactions, digital displays at retail can be used to extend the engagement to a broad segment of consumers.

Mobile Applications and Digital Signage are Allies, NOT Adversaries

An in-store digital signage network is a one-to-many communication platform, yet still has the potential to foster a deeper connection than a one-to-one mobile interaction. Such is the nature of advertising when the medium is part of the message. It doesn’t mean that one platform, mobile or digital signage, is better than the other. It just illustrates that they offer alternate means of achieving the same goal: Lead Customer X to Purchase Brand A.

Rather than looking at the two platforms as adversaries, one harnesses each technology’s full value when pairing them as allies. Two arrows are always better than one. And, when one medium can increase the impact of another – use them together.

There are times when a brand may be better suited to use mobile instead of digital signage, and vice versa. But, in reality, given the fragmented nature of today’s media environment, its best to develop content for multiple platforms and target your message to reach consumers across various outlets.

Integrating Mobile and Digital Signage: Opportunities Abound

When given the choice of viewing content solely on a smartphone or interacting with the same content on a massive multi-touch display, which would you choose? I would go for the interactive digital signage, selecting the option that extends the boundaries of the user experience. What can be considered more exciting than selecting one option or the other is alternating between the two. Using a mobile phone to interact with a digital screen can create a unique experience that draws in multiple users and builds significant brand awareness (SEE: Locamoda, MegaPhone, Snaptell, Akoo)

Thanks to the portability of content, and innovations in the realm of cross-platform communication, shoppers can move between mobile applications and digital signage without skipping a beat. Each platform can function as a unique retail touchpoint, whereby each shopper has the ability to choose his own digital path though a store.
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