Retail: The Latest AV Technologies to Stand Out from the Crowd

It’s impossible to argue against the fact that we are living in the most competitive business environment in human history.

New technologies – pioneered by the internet – have completely and totally transformed business environments the world over. Old barriers of entry have fallen by the wayside completely, playing fields have been levelled clear across the board, and individuals have at their disposal the same kinds of tools and technology to reach billions of potential customers all over the planet that used to only be available to mega corporations with bottomless budgets.

At the same time, this dramatically overhauled business landscape has led to a ridiculous amount of competition. Sure, it’s easier to start and build a business these days – but it’s easier for everyone else to do the same.

There’s never been quite as much competition as there is right now and all one has to do is look at the way the retail world continues to evolve and change on an almost daily basis to see just how competitive and just how cutthroat business can be.

In an effort to gain any competitive advantage possible plenty of companies are leveraging new technological solutions, including digital signage, holographic advertising, 3D imaging and video – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

New AV technologies are pioneering new marketing and advertising approaches, with companies investing a significant amount of money to leverage these solutions before their competition can.

Digital Signage is Changing Everything

The “old school” billboard – nothing more than a flat, printed image stuck upon a roadside somewhere – is dying faster than anyone would have thought possible even just a decade or so ago.

Replacing these legacy billboards are a revolutionary new wave of digital signage, signs that utilise modern LED technology, projection solutions, and energy-efficient power packs (sometimes run off of solar energy) to provide much more interactive, much more engaging, and much more responsive advertising than ever before.

These new “video boards” not only allow businesses to market in a new way, creating advertising that has a much greater chance of capturing the attention of those driving by these billboards, but it also provides those that own these marketing solutions an opportunity to sell more ads than they would have been able to before.

Many of these billboards “shuffle the deck” on a regular basis, showing motorists cutting edge advertisements from half a dozen or more different companies depending on who has purchased space in this new advertising medium.

This kind of digital signage is popping up elsewhere as well, especially in Asia. The Japanese and Chinese retail markets are really starting to pioneer some exciting new options, including 3D and hologram point-of-sale components that engage with customers in a way that wouldn’t have been possible even just a few short years ago.

A new company in the digital marketing space called Kino-Mo has been specialising in these digital and holographic displays, establishing technology that allows hologram images to “hover” in front of customers while at the same time opening up new opportunities for interactive engagement with retail customers.

Not only are these displays obvious novelties that are going to capture the attention of potential customers just because of how new and interesting they are, but they also take advantage of modern retail psychology and consumer behaviour to trigger a release of endorphins that can (when used correctly) influence customers to purchase more or more frequently.

Location Specific Digital Advertising is Big Business

A lot of the new AV technologies that are helping retail organisations separate themselves from the rest of the pack also take advantage of responsive advertising solutions, ads that are going to be tied to a location specific data and details.

Mobile advertising in particular is red hot right now. People spend hours and hours on their mobile devices every single day, and when marketing is paired with GPS and relevant location data to serve appropriate ads at the right time – proximity advertising, in particular – businesses are finding them to be a lot more effective.

Interestingly enough, however, is that businesses are pairing holographic cutting edge point-of-sale solutions with these kinds of location specific technologies.

Proximity marketing components are being deployed to serve hologram ads related to specific items or merchandise that a customer may be holding their hands, with RFID/NFC technology relaying information from the price tag on that merchandise to the holographic setup so that it knows exactly what ad to serve at just the right point in time.

Retailers today are always looking to create new cutting-edge solutions that are going to serve customers the most relevant information possible while at the same time pushing them deeper and deeper into the sales process, ideally without ever coming across as a “slimy salesperson” along the way.

Technology like the algorithms used by search engine giants such as Google to serve up the most relevant information at just the right time is being used in these cutting edge 3D/hologram marketing components, technology design to make customers feel as though they are being spoken to directly rather than being blanket marketed to by a faceless entity.

Holographic marketing components are still relatively brand-new, and a lot of the 3D and interactive point-of-sale technology options are designed to work in conjunction with modern mobile devices. But as we’ve seen with the technology around us new solutions are right around the corner that stand to revolutionise everything we know about retail advertising today, and it’s certain that new AV solutions are going to continue to be taken advantage of to push us even further into the future in just a few short years.

The only thing any of us can know for certain is that the retail experience of the future is going to be wildly different than the retail experience any of us grew up with, or that any of us are experiencing right now. We may not know exactly what the future holds, but if these AV solutions are any indication at all the retail world is going to get a lot more fun, a lot more interesting, and a lot more “futuristic” sooner rather than later.

Conclusion

At AVM, we understand technology is advancing at a rapid rate. This is why we strive to keep up with the shift in technology, especially AV technologies. Therefore, when you choose us, you are guaranteed cutting-edge technology with all our solutions.