Making an Impact at Retail with Digital Merchandising

Walk into any retail location and you're bombarded with messages and visual cues all vying for your immediate attention. In Paco Underhill's book Why We Buy (Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, New York, NY, 1999), the fast food industry has studied the effectiveness of signs and found that consumers spend on average less than two seconds reading a sign as they enter a retail establishment. For convenience stores, the average amount of time for a consumer to walk in and make a purchase and depart the store is between three and four minutes, according to a 2004 field study conducted by Clickin Research.

It is research like this that has led many retailers and brands to digital communications as a means to grab customers' attention. Images or messages with motion are said to draw up to 10 times more eye contact than traditional static signage. But in the retail industry, looks aren't enough - we need people to buy. How can we continue to develop our digital strategy - whether we're on our third generation or just continuing our first - so that we make a compelling impact at the point of purchase?

The key is recognizing and respecting the potential of this dynamic and flexible medium, and using it not as the strategy, but rather as an amplifier of a strategically developed communication and promotional plan. Digital helps to deliver our strategy effectively, with more accuracy, more relevancy, to more of the right people in a more compelling manner. But first, a purpose must exist.

Learn more about Purpose-Driven Digital Merchandising, by requesting a free copy of our latest white paper "Making an Impact at Retail with Digital Merchandising". In it you'll discover ways to use digital merchandising to support marketing objectives, the "recipe" for successful digital solutions, and the critical importance of content strategy to the overall effectiveness of your digitial merchandising effort.