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Retail digital signage helps a shop from the street to the checkout: a pylon or shopfront sign and a window screen bring people in, screens inside help them find and compare products, and a screen at the counter suggests the extras while they pay.
A shop has a few chances to win someone over: when they walk past, when they come in, while they browse and when they pay. A digital sign can help at each step, as long as it is in the right place and shows the right thing. Here is how to plan signs for a store, from the window to the checkout.
What should each sign do?
Before choosing screens, decide what you want them to do. Common goals:
- more people through the door
- more people knowing your name
- helping shoppers find what they came for
- suggesting add-ons at the counter
- making queues feel shorter
Your goals can change through the day. Parents walk past on the school run in the morning, and office workers pass after five. A digital sign can show something different to each, and you can change the plan with the seasons or even the weather.
Decide how you will measure it, too. Count customers, compare weekly takings with the weeks before the sign went up, or ask people how they heard about you.
On the street
A pylon sign or a sign on the shopfront tells passing drivers and walkers who you are and what is new. Full colour signs show products the way they really look. See our outdoor LED signs and pylon signs.
In the window
A screen in the window catches people on the footpath and gives them a reason to come in. It can show new stock and seasonal lines during the day, and your opening hours at night. We cover window screens in more detail in digital window displays for retail stores.
Inside the door: help people find their way
A screen near the entrance can show a store map, where the new range is, or which aisle has the item from the window. It saves shoppers hunting around and saves staff answering the same question all day.
Along the aisles: product information
A screen beside a display can show what a product does, how to use it or how it compares with the one next to it. Video works well here: a short clip of a tool in use, or how a jacket looks on.
Add a QR code and shoppers can check sizes, colours or stock on your website from their phone, even when the item they want isn’t on the shelf. Information like this helps people make up their minds without waiting for a staff member.
At the counter: suggest the extras
The counter is where many small extras get added: batteries for a toy, a care product for new shoes, a gift card. A screen here can suggest them while the items sit within easy reach. It does the suggesting without staff having to push, and it doesn’t slow the queue down.
In the queue
Nobody likes waiting. A screen near the queue with short videos, new arrivals or store news makes the wait feel shorter, and gives people something to remember you by.
Change with the season and the weather
Digital content can match the moment. A clothing store can switch from holiday wear to school uniforms in a few taps. A hardware store can show fans and pools when a heatwave hits, then heaters when the weather turns. A food store can show breakfast lines in the morning and dinner ideas in the afternoon. Christmas trading hours can be set up weeks ahead and left to switch on by themselves.
Do LED signs cost much to run?
LED signs use very little power, and you never pay to reprint a poster again. Changing the message costs nothing, so you can try different content and keep what works.
Keep it on brand
Use the same fonts, colours and logo on every screen, inside and out, so the signs feel like part of your shop. Give one person the job of keeping the content current, and plan it a month ahead along with the rest of your marketing.
Shops we have worked with
Our retail projects include signs for IGA and Barbaro Butchers, whose owner bought three of our signs. Browse them in our projects.
See LED signs for shops and shopfronts, our LED screens for shopfronts and our indoor LED displays. You can buy, finance or hire. Talk to us about your store, or call Aaron on 0416 053 335 or the office on (08) 9335 7944.
