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Audiovisual Technologies Create Better Retail Outcomes With a Personalized Shopping Experience

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Leading brick-and-mortar retailers are utilizing the latest audiovisual (AV) technologies to drive traffic, reinforce branding, and offer customers experiences that can’t be had online. Purveyors of products as diverse as home storage solutions, cosmetics, and mattresses are all benefitting from interactive digital experiences that help customers make decisions, test options, learn about product benefits, and connect the in-store experience with online shopping.

At the 2018 International Retail Design Conference, AVIXATM, the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association, moderated a panel titled “Embracing Audiovisual Experiences to Fuel Retail Growth,” that featured brand representatives from the Container Store, Sephora and Sleep Number who explained their newest retail technology innovations.

Here’s a look at these top retailers’ latest AV-enabled interactive experiences.

Putting Everything in the Right Place
To help customers shop smarter and faster, the Container Store’s flagship Dallas location added significant interactive technologies during a recent renovation. It starts at the entrance, where a large digital screen puts customers at ease with the message, “Welcome! We’ve reimagined our space to help you maximize yours.”

The redesigned store includes 18 digital screens, many of which are touch-capable, that provide product information, interactive design assistance, before-and after room visualizations, project ideas, and inspirational tips — creating a deeper connection between customers and the physical store.

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The store’s brand new Organization Studio features two large tabletop touchscreen displays where a sales associate can peruse customer-provided home photos and help choose the best products for their needs.

The Perfect Beauty TIP
While the Container Store uses technology to help make customers’ homes look better, Sephora is leveraging augmented reality (AR) technology to give customers an easier, faster way to find the perfect cosmetics.

The most innovative technology in the new store design, which debuted at Manhattan’s 34th Street flagship location, is an AR experience that allows customers to digitally sample a variety of cosmetics in real time. Each AR station includes a camera connected to a TV-sized vertical touchscreen that displays the customer’s face. They then use the touchscreen to select and sample lipstick, blush, mascara and other cosmetics, which are immediately applied to their on-screen image. Besides being inherently fun and futuristic, this AR experience saves customers valuable time by eliminating the need to physically test, remove, and retest multiple products.

Making Sleep Exciting
Sephora works hard to help people look and feel their best on the outside, but at the newest Sleep Number flagship store in Manhattan, AV technology is showing customers how better beds improve wellness from the inside out. It begins with a large digital map that shows real-time local sleep statistics, including wake-up and go-to-bed times, based on Sleep Number’s sleep tracking technology.

The pièce de résistance is the Sleep Number 360 smart bed section, where Sleep Number’s proprietary IndividualFit 3D Imaging software and a 95-inch glass screen projection system display how the adjustable bed alleviates their bodies’ pressure points in real time, as they lie on it.

After passing through the Sleep Number 360 smart bed area, touchscreens allow customers to explore bedding options so they can mix and match pillows, comforters, sheets and more to sample colors and determine their desired motifs.

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Evolution Creates Growth
In an increasingly digital marketplace, brick-and-mortar retailers must develop new, compelling retail environments that deliver meaningful digital experiences and provide substantial benefits over online shopping. By offering personalized recommendations, combining interactive technologies with knowledgeable sales associates, and using interactive tools to reduce frustrations and shopping fatigue, retailers can reinvigorate their in-store experiences and create brand differentiating moments.

AVIXA is helping retail designers create a more successful future through the integration of compelling audiovisual experiences. AVIXA represents the $178 billion global commercial AV industry and produces InfoComm trade shows around the world.

For more information,visit avixa.org/retailAV.

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