MaxMedia and Barco Deliver a Connected Customer Experience with Retail Innovations at NRF 2016

MaxMedia and Barco Deliver a Connected Customer Experience with Retail Innovations at NRF 2016

ATLANTA – January 15, 2016 – Global visualization technology leader Barco, in collaboration with digital retail experts MaxMedia, will share its solutions for creating engaging shopping experiences designed to maximize sales and drive brand loyalty at this year’s National Retail Federation “Retail’s Big Show 2016” to be held January 17-20 in New York City.

Today’s shoppers require a new retail paradigm

There is a widespread belief that online shopping is causing the demise of brick and mortar stores, with more than 6,000 shops closing their doors last year. But retail experts at MaxMedia and Barco believe that e-commerce isn’t the disruptor; rather, it’s the fact that many retailers have not kept pace with consumers’ changing behaviors.

“A new type of shopper has emerged, and we call them ACES: Always Connected, Experience-seeking Shoppers. Of course, they’re never more than an arm’s reach away from their treasured technology, but it’s important to remember that they also crave experiences, stories and share-worthy moments when they shop,” comments Ed King, VP Strategy at MaxMedia. “Retailers that embrace this phenomenon and connect with their customers on a more visceral, emotional level can drive more meaningful – and profitable – shopping experiences.”

A holistic retail model

With MaxMedia providing strategic planning and dynamic content creation and Barco supplying the enabling tools and technologies to deliver these compelling experiences, retailers can create, manage, and deliver real-time content from any source to any screen to engage customers in an entertaining, emotionally satisfying shopping experience. Continual feedback from the system allows retailers to analyze audiences, stores, campaigns and more, adapting content and tailoring messaging to customers in the store.

Tapping consumers’ emotional CENTER

MaxMedia has designed an Emotional Experience CENTER Model to understand what shoppers truly crave in a shopping experience, identifying six emotional triggers that appeal to the non-conscious brain: Comfortable, Easy, Novel, Tactile, Engaging and Rewarding. These triggers turn disconnected browsers into engaged shoppers, and engaged shoppers into loyal buyers. MaxMedia uses this model to diagnose, prescribe and execute customer digital experiences that live up to the increasing demands of the ACES.

Making the digital connection with dynamic retail visualization

In-store digital signage delivers digital storytelling that activates shoppers’ buying brains by maximizing relevance in the retail environment.

“’Relevance’ is the positive connection resulting from images and/or messages that touch the emotional center of a shopper in the store,” comments Bas Van Heek, Strategic Marketing Manager for Retail & Advertising at Barco. “With bi-directional digital signage, we can directly appeal to customers’ triggers, engaging them in their own personalized story and predisposing them to purchase a product or feel a sense of brand loyalty.”

Barco’s Intelligent Display Network™ is the end-to-end solution that empowers retailers and brand owners to deliver the ultimate, connected customer experience. IDN employs bi-directional communication to better understand shoppers in the store and respond to them with a constant stream of real-time adaptive content. The backbone of IDN is Barco’s cloud-based X2O platform, the visual communication platform that delivers real-time visual communications to the right audience, at the right time, on the right device, displayed using Barco’s LED, LCD and Projection display solutions.

See it in action at NRF!

Visitors can experience Barco IDN, featuring the X2O system and Barco display solutions, presenting MaxMedia’s dynamic content in Booth #246 at the National Retail Federation (NRF) Retail’s Big Show 2016 from January 17-20 in New York, New York.

1 Pradeep, A.K. The Buying Brain: Secrets of Selling to the Subconscious Mind. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Print.

About MaxMedia

MaxMedia offers diagnostic, strategic planning, measurement and interactive content creation services for retailers, restaurants, hospitality, and museums who are looking to bring effective digital solutions in store. They think, craft, write, design, edit, produce, publish, and measure on any screen you can imagine. Ed can be reached at eking@maxmedia.com for more information.

About Barco

Barco, a global technology company, designs and develops networked visualization products for the Entertainment, Enterprise and Healthcare markets. Barco has its own facilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and APAC. Barco (NYSE Euronext Brussels: BAR) is active in more than 90 countries with 3,300 employees worldwide. Barco posted sales of 1.051 billion euro in 2014.

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