Acquire Digital

Acquire Digital, a leading provider of self-service, interactive digital signage, and software solutions firm, and Adomni, the leading programmatic digital out-of-home advertisingplanning and buying platform, have announced their partnership to enhance Acquire’soffering with a streamlined process for out-of-home advertising. Acquire DOOHAd is a content management system that was developed by…

One of the things that are absolutely needed for the success of any quick service restaurant is excellence in serving. Since the behavior of customers is changed due to the more connected and autonomous world, the importance of self-ordering and fast serving has become even more required. Because of this, many restaurants started adopting Quick Service (QSR) Kiosks.

What Is a Quick Service Ordering Kiosk?

A quick service ordering kiosk gives power to the customers to order and pay for services themselves. You can see these systems in fast food restaurants – they are made of a touchscreen that is equipped with an easy-to-use digital interface. On the screen, you will find the menu of the restaurant. The screen display will also guide you through the whole ordering process – how to build your meal, to payment and pickup. As you build your order, on the display you might notice different promotions or menu modifiers that you might have not known about otherwise.

How Quick Service Ordering Helps in Reducing Cost? QSR self-service is not exactly new, but it is on the rise because of its ability to reduce costs and increase sales in restaurants. According to McDonald’s, their restaurants that introduced quick service ordering kiosks experienced a 5-6 percent lift in sales. And when Chili’s added QSR, it recorded a 20% increase in dessert sales.

The reason for this is that getting food supplies and funding individuals to make and serve the meals are the ruthless math faced by an industry on the knife’s edge of the economic relic. Now, in order for the business to survive, both prime costs – food supplies and labor have to be lower than 60% of the total cost. If you add a higher minimum wage to the mix, there will be only two solutions – either the menu prices need to go up or work hours/jobs have to be cut.

In order to avoid this, many restaurants decided to keep labor costs under control with automation. This is where QSR ordering systems come into play. It can automate 54% of the manual time-consuming tasks, which will help reduce employee turnover.

How can QSR Kiosks Help Improve the Customer Experience? In the past few years, especially since the start of the pandemic, customers got used to the speed of online ordering. This means that now they started expecting the same level of control and personalization when they visit a restaurant. Therefore, on their side, these solutions make it easier for them to quickly place and pay for orders.

This automation system speeds up the ordering process and improves the customer experience by showing food pictures and an intuitive user experience. What happens is that restaurant kiosks are specifically designed to provide this experience, which makes them in a perfect position to meet customer’s expectations and needs.

This is required by customers of all ages. According to a study, 65% of those customers would prefer to visit a restaurant more often if it offers self-service kiosks and 30% of consumers would rather order from a self-ordering kiosk than cashiers if the lines are equal in length.

The Important Benefits Quick Service Ordering Kiosks have their own important benefits: 1. Reduce Revenue Thanks to the display suggested upselling that occur during the ordering process to increase total order price, the restaurants see a 10-30% increase in their sales.

2. Reduce Human Error Since the customers are directly involved in the ordering process and receive a guided menu experience that displays a lot of confirmations, they feel like orders are more accurate.

3. Reduce Long Lines A set of QSR can help speed up the check-out process by offering guests multiple places to order.

4. Reduce Labor Costs Reduced labor costs can be achieved when check-out employees can be used in more important positions while leaving the ordering process up to the kiosk.

5. Showcase Promotions To improve the customer experience, this automation system will showcase the promotions to the guests. They can view the newest menu item and specials. They can also sign-up for customer loyalty programs to enhance your restaurant’s marketing experience.

6. Better Data Since the self-ordering kiosk is an automation system, it can provide a wealth of information about your customers’ ordering, when they are ordering it, or how they pay. Therefore, your data will be more accurate and you will know which steps to take next.

For some restaurants, quick service ordering kiosks may require a bit of an upfront investment, but it certainly will be justified in a short period of time. Many experts predict that this automation system is not going away any time soon, on the contrary, after the COVID-19 pandemic is sunk, QSR’s are expected only to grow even more in popularity due to the many benefits they offer to customers and restaurants.

London, UK, 16th June 2022 – Acquire Digital, the provider of smart interactive digital signage has announced that they recently delivered the iconic rebranding of the live status screens for the new Elizabeth line of The London Underground.

Travelled on the new Elizabeth line yet?

If you haven’t done so already, try to make some time to frequent the iconic Elizabeth line and see if you can spot the new live status screens. They look great and are worth checking out!

The new Elizabeth line has been a long time in the making, but it’s finally open to the public and is expected to allow more than 1.5 million to be closer to their places of work in the West End, Canary Wharf, and the City. To help make things as smooth as possible for travellers, Acquire Digital created the live status screens at the stations along the line, using their industry-leading Acquire Editor software.

In this instance, these screens provide information on train delays, cancellations, and changes in service so that people can plan their journeys accordingly.

The project was a collaboration between Acquire Digital and Worldline to deliver the solution for Transport for London, to update the UI design and to the new Elizabeth line branding.

Using a specifically modified version of Acquire’s digital signage messaging CMS, the screens are connected to several APIs to collect data from different train operating companies and TFL itself. The CMS then converts this data from the different providers into a standardised, uniform feed which is presented to the travellers entering an existing the stations. The information is structured to allow people to quickly view and understand everything about the station and connections in their busy commutes.

The displays are designed to provide travellers with this important information on travel statuses and really play a key part in helping to improve the overall passenger experience.

CEO of Acquire Digital, Neil Farr had this to say about the project “It has been, and continues to be, a great honour for Acquire Digital to be supplying key solutions to assist travellers on the oldest underground transport network in the world. It was a pleasure to provide the London Underground with an updated solution that celebrates the Queen’s Jubilee”

What about when all doesn’t go to plan?

Using the specifically modified CMS that connects via several APIs to live data feeds, the system intelligently displays content on the screens using a combination of rules and TFL can push alerts and updates to any of the units across the transport network, promptly and efficiently. This truly helps keep travellers in the know in real-time. It can even minimise the impact of incidents if travellers can re-route accordingly before arriving at the bottleneck.

Acquire Digital has also created onward travel screens for people leaving the station. These screens show local maps and live public transport information, whether that be by bus, taxi, or water taxi. Multi modal transport information was a key requirement for TFL, and Acquire Digital were pleased that they successfully incorporated it into the CMS with ease.

About the Elizabeth line:

Crossrail Ltd.’s new railway was a much-anticipated addition to the transportation infrastructure of London. Spanning more than 100km, the railway will stop at 41 accessible stations – 10 of them new – and is expected to serve up to 200 million people each year.

The new railway will connect London’s East End with its West End, as well as providing links to Heathrow Airport and the London Underground network. In addition, the new railway will ease congestion on existing lines and provide greater capacity for future growth.

This is a fantastic use of technology, and it will be exciting to see how it helps improve the overall passenger travelling experience.

About Acquire Digital:

Acquire Digital is a global leader in innovative digital signage software and interactive experiences, having delivered many transportation and travel projects. With over 24 years of experience in the visual solutions and digital signage markets, the company is known for its industry firsts. Its passion for reaching beyond the boundaries of digital signage has played a key role in shaping Acquire Digital into the globally recognized company it is today. The company produces world-class UX and UI solutions that create an interactive and immersive experience.

Acquire Digital deliver iconic Elizabeth line rebranding and live status screens

London, UK, 16th August 2022 – Acquire Digital, the provider of smart interactive digital signage has announced that they recently delivered the iconic rebranding of the live status screens for the new Elizabeth line of The London Underground. Travelled on the new Elizabeth line yet? If you haven’t done so already, try to make some time to frequent the iconic Elizabeth line and see if you can…

Shoptalk to Deploy Acquire Digital’s Wayfinding Technology at their upcoming Shoptalk Tradeshow in Las Vegas

Las Vegas, NV, March 2022 – Acquire Digital, the global leader in digital wayfinding and location intelligence solutions, announced today that it will deploy its industry-leading Wayfinder technology at the upcoming Shoptalk retail tradeshow in Las Vegas, NV. Building upon the deployment of Acquire’s Wayfinder platform at Shoptalk’s smaller Groceryshop tradeshow in the fall, the Acquire team…

Las Vegas, NV, March 2022 – Acquire Digital, the global leader in digital wayfinding and location intelligence solutions, announced today that it will deploy its industry-leading Wayfinder technology at the upcoming Shoptalk retail tradeshow in Las Vegas, NV.

Building upon the deployment of Acquire’s Wayfinder platform at Shoptalk’s smaller Groceryshop tradeshow in the fall, the Acquire team will continue their initial success by implementing an upgraded solution to improve visitor engagement at the upcoming retail show in Las Vegas. In collaboration with Freeman, the interactive digital mapping and show directory software will be deployed on nine 55″ interactive kiosks located at the entrance and throughout the show floor.

The goal is to create a seamless experience for tradeshow attendees by making it easy to navigate the venue’s large show floor and numerous event spaces. The digital wayfinding solution will provide visitors with an overview of the tradeshow layout with turn-by-turn directions to help locate specific exhibitors, events, and restrooms. In addition, the informational kiosk will highlight Shoptalk sponsors with engaging company information, product photos, and videos.

Acquire’s extensive background creating digital experiences within the retail space offered a great opportunity to showcase its Wayfinder platform in a tradeshow environment. In addition to wayfinding, Acquire has built many digital applications for retailers across the globe to improve the shopping experience and create an omnichannel link to online shopping.

“The Shoptalk tradeshow is a great opportunity to show how our platforms and solutions can help retailers connect with their customers in new and innovative ways,” said Neil Farr, CEO of Acquire Digital. “We’re looking forward to demonstrating how our platform can help retailers create a more seamless shopping experience for their customers, whether they are Malls, large big box stores or smaller intimate shopping environments. We are seeing an increased demand for utilizing custom wayfinding combined with data-led digital signage and endless aisle solutions within the retail markets to help bring digital transformation into their bricks and mortar locations. Additionally, new, lower cost technologies enable LED installs like the one we installed outside of the Forum Shops on the Strip as retailers adapt to make their shopping experience become a go-to destination.”

Retailers continue to look for new and innovative ways to connect with their customers. At this year’s retail tradeshow, Acquire’s team will be meeting with multiple retail companies to discuss how it’s solutions can help create a more seamless shopping experience for their customers.

“We are excited to continue the partnership with Acquire to bring innovative digital technology to augment the overall tradeshow experience,” said Ryan Hopkins, Group Head of Video and New Media at Hyve Group PLC; Shoptalk’s Parent company. “It is a great opportunity for us to showcase technology that will improve the show experience and is relatable to what future in-person retail experiences will look like.”

With the help of Acquire’s technology, Shoptalk’s tradeshow mapping solution will create a more efficient and enjoyable experience for all attendees. The show is taking place MARCH 27-30, 2022, in Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV.

About Shoptalk: Thousands of professionals attend the Shoptalk tradeshow each year from almost 3,000 established retailers and brands, startups, tech companies, investors, real estate operators, media, Wall Street analyst firms and more. They come to learn, collaborate and create the future of retail with four days of highly relevant content, curated meetings, productive networking and facilitated social engagements. The event provides a platform for retailers and manufacturers, startups, tech companies, investors, media and analysts to learn, network, collaborate and evolve.

About Acquire Digital: Acquire Digital is a global leader in innovative digital signage software and interactive experiences. With over 23 years of experience in the visual solutions and digital signage markets, the company is known for its industry firsts. Its passion for reaching beyond the boundaries of digital signage has played a key role in shaping Acquire Digital into the globally recognized company it is today. The company produces world-class UX and UI solutions that create an interactive and immersive experience.

How Retailers are using Wayfinding Software to Improve the Grocery Shopping Experience

It’s no secret that American consumers are changing. The average customer expects to find what they need, when they need it, and how they want it. Many of us have been to a grocery store where you get lost and can’t find what you’re looking for. Retail stores often have long corridors, crowded shelves, and poorly designed layouts that make it difficult to find products on the shelves. Innovative…

Eight weeks ago we couldn’t have predicted the impact COVID-19 would have, the industry is experiencing major change and the team at Acquire have been busy ensuring that our products are responding to the changed world and how people can still interact with technology safely.

Over the last several weeks our developers have expedited background features, and have been working hard to add features across our family of products. We are excited to be able to offer our clients and partners support to enhance the safety of public spaces during COVID-19 and beyond through a range of solutions including, Mobile Quick Launch Maps, Acquire Assist, Heat Recognition & Voice Assistance. We have also been in discussions with our hardware partners who are offering antibacterial coated screens for both indoor and outdoor kiosks.

Acquire have been busy so that people can still interact with technology safely

Eight weeks ago we couldn’t have predicted the impact COVID-19 would have, the industry is experiencing major change and the team at Acquire have been busy ensuring that our products are responding to the changed world and how people can still interact with technology safely. Over the last several weeks our developers have expedited background features, and have been working hard to add features…

It’s no secret that American consumers are changing. The average customer expects to find what they need, when they need it, and how they want it.

Many of us have been to a grocery store where you get lost and can’t find what you’re looking for. Retail stores often have long corridors, crowded shelves, and poorly designed layouts that make it difficult to find products on the shelves. Innovative retailers around the world are implementing digital wayfinding solutions in their stores to help customers easily navigate the store by providing directions to locate items on the shelves. Not only does it help the average consumer, pick and pack employees have seen improved efficiencies for quickly finding products and fulfilling customer orders.

In addition to helping employees find and fulfill online orders, these types of solutions will improve customer satisfaction because information on how best to navigate through the store can be easier than finding an employee to ask. Retail wayfinding maps in a grocery store can be used on a retailer’s website or within a mobile application to give shoppers the ability to set shopping lists prior to arriving at the store to find the most efficient route to each product.

The simple to use software solution can also be rolled out on endless aisle touch displays or large format kiosks. Grocery and big box stores have seen many benefits for using custom store mapping including increased customer satisfaction and productivity gains by helping order fulfillment workers increase efficiency through optimized routes with the least walking distance possible.

With integrations to inventory management and planogram systems, the mapping solution will automatically update product data, inventory and location within the store. Retailers are looking for ways to improve the shopping experience while gaining efficiencies and indoor wayfinding software is one solution that is easy to implement, manage and update.

On the backend, digital mapping solutions collect various data points that help retailers understand how a customer moves throughout the store and the type of products they are looking for. Using these data points can help create personalized shopping experiences for customers while understanding how they shop.

How to Effectively Utilize Digital Wayfinding and Signage Solutions in Airports

Airports are one of the most complex commercial spaces, but also one of the most relied upon for daily travel. Airport operation teams constantly work hard to improve the visitor experience and one big initiative is to provide passengers with guidance and information to help them navigate through the airport efficiently. The use of digital signage and wayfinding solutions within airports is…

Airports are one of the most complex commercial spaces, but also one of the most relied upon for daily travel. Airport operation teams constantly work hard to improve the visitor experience and one big initiative is to provide passengers with guidance and information to help them navigate through the airport efficiently. The use of digital signage and wayfinding solutions within airports is common, but it’s rare to see airports properly utilizing digital experiences to drive revenue and provide clear messages across their signage network.

This blog post will explore how indoor navigation and signage systems work at airports , what they include, their benefits over traditional methods, as well as their limitations so that you can decide if this is a good fit for your airport!

Keys to Implementing Digital Initiatives within Airports

When you integrate wayfinding and directory solutions with digital signage correctly, passengers should have a clear picture of real-time flight data and information about points of interest with easy-to-understand directions to their end destination. A big component of implementing a successful indoor navigation system is to show relevant information specific to each traveler and their current location within the airport. The solution becomes an asset to airport operations and travelers when you synchronize what is being shown on the wayfinding kiosk to other digital signage in the area. This can be accomplished through trigger-based messaging and what we would call “smart” signage.

A Personalized Experience with Offers and Digital Out of Home Advertising When you extend the indoor wayfinding and navigation to a travelers mobile device, trigger-based offers and marketing messages can be utilized when travelers enter specific stores or areas of the airport. Using proximity marketing triggers helps promote deals and discounts and drive foot traffic to stores and restaurants. This is a powerful data-driven solution that connects with consumers at just the right time and place.

Personalization can be taken even further by sending notifications to individual travelers letting them know about nearby food options, and flight delays or gate changes. This information can help travelers make adjustments to their plans or itineraries before arriving at the gate, reducing stress and frustration.

With the use of large-format kiosks, an airport can use the wayfinding and directory kiosk to display DOOH (digital-out-of-home ads). These systems can drive revenue streams with targeted advertisements, allowing advertisers to reach their ideal audience. Additionally, reactive advertisements can be utilized within the wayfinding application that adjust based upon what a traveler is searching for. For example, if a traveler is looking for coffee they can be shown an advertisement for a nearby Starbucks.

By installing a microphone and camera into the kiosk enclosure, travelers can utilize the guest services button to have a two-way video call with a customer service agent. This feature can bring an additional level of customer service travelers need in order to have an enjoyable, stress-free travel experience.

Whatever the use case is, digital wayfinding and signage solutions provide airports with dynamic capabilities that take the experience to a level never seen in the past.

Tailoring Flight Data to Consumer Decisions Airports have been using wayfinding and digital signage to guide their passengers for decades, but it’s always lacked an experience that was personalized towards the user. Typically, these systems can be a data overload to a common traveler because much of the information they show is irrelevant. By combining FIDs (Flight Information Display Systems), travelers can access real-time flight data by scanning their boarding pass at the wayfinding/directory kiosk or via their mobile device. This is a huge improvement for travelers, as they can access flight and gate information with a simple scan of their boarding passes. Additionally, this technology has been implemented at baggage claim areas to show real-time location updates on luggage belts that are closest to carousels where passengers will be picking up their bags from.

Insights and Analytics that Improve the Experience: The implementation of these types of systems comes with a vast range of insights and analytics that can be used to improve airport operations in many ways. One of the most beneficial aspects is that it allows airports to track and map passenger flow patterns throughout different areas of their airport. This helps gather information about where passengers are going, which routes they take when moving from place to place in the airport, how long it takes them to get through a certain area or terminal, etc.

The backend platform records all screen touches and becomes good data points for retailers and restaurant options. Similar to Google analytics, airports can determine their top-performing stores, restaurants, and more. For airports, this is an ideal tool because it can help them determine where they should put new restaurants or shops.

During the initial months of 2020, retailers dealing with essentials were left with very little time to act and put in measures to safeguard the health of their employees and customers. On the other hand, non-essential retailers were making every possible effort to move from the traditional, physical environment to a digital one. With the arrival of June, e-commerce stores were way ahead of the usual brick and mortar stores with more than 4X sales.

While this pandemic posed many challenges for physical storefronts, technological advances are accelerating the digital transformation of the retail industry. These technologies power the enhancement of customer personalization, physical store shopping, and contactless service.

An interesting fact worth mentioning is that these experiences aren’t just limited to hyper or superstores or high-end retailers; midsize and small stores all need to change their focus and shift toward these next-gen technologies to serve their customers in a better way in the wake of a new normal.

Key Challenges for Brick & Mortar Stores

For retailers, it is critical to understand that the traditional shopping experience is changing, and expecting things and businesses to return to ‘normal’ is futile. Even before this pandemic struck the world, traditional retail stores were already under attack, thanks to e-commerce giants like Amazon.

The pandemic has simply widened the gaps and has made the situation critical for retailers to adjust to market demands. With more and more consumers opting for online shopping, retailers are in no position to be in sit-and-watch mode. For the first time ever, more than a quarter of holiday sales will occur online.

According to Digital Commerce 360, online holiday sales are expected to surge to 43% in 2020.

Retailers looking to bridge the gap need to focus on improving the in-store experience to drive online sales. We’ve seen the emergence of retailers like Bonobos who use physical locations to increase awareness and allow users to try on, and touch and feel the products before purchasing online or through a ship-to-home purchasing model.

On the other hand, larger retailers should be taking a closer look at how consumers navigate their stores and make purchasing decisions. Utilizing the advancement in digital technologies can assist retailers with these changes.

A New, Redefined Baseline: Before anything else, traditional stores have to ensure that their operations comply with the necessary health-and-safety regulations while meeting the basic consumer expectations. This involves maintaining a proper physical distance, mask-wearing, controlling the number of customers in the store, enhancing the speed of service, initiating contactless transactions, and introducing self-service and eCommerce options.

Rethinking In-Person Experience: Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, retailers have to ensure that the in-store experience they are providing to their customers is simply extraordinary. In other words, retailers have to give their customers a compelling reason to visit. Only such in-store experience would break the inertia of consumer behavior that they adopted during the early days of the pandemic.

Digital Technology is The Ally in Tough Times

Similar to other industry verticals, digital technology has become the savior of the retail industry as well. Retailers are utilizing many existing technologies to elevate the customer experience while safeguarding the health interests of their employees.

In recent months, Acquire Digital, has released enhanced digital solutions to blend the benefits of physical stores and eCommerce to improve the overall shopping experience. Let’s review the solutions to see how they can benefit the physical store experience.

Shelf-Edge Inventory and Pricing Label Displays: Shelf-Edge dynamic digital pricing label strip displays. Remotely connected to the store’s inventory management system, these digital price tag displays are located on shelves, under every product. These screens provide the ability to display pricing, content tailored towards the product, and advertisements.

Retailors can easily configure shelf displays with engaging content using the Shelf-Edge CMS which provides the ability to design price labels using the label designer tool. and gondolas for manufacturers to manage the number of shelves, width, and much more.

Solution Advantages:

Improve inventory management controls,

Remotely update content and pricing,

ePOP integrations for auto pricing updating,

Mobile platform for inventory staff to update pricing content,

Easily manage hundreds of shelf displays remotely.

Endless Aisle Interactive Signage

Endless Aisle is a concept that’s been around for years, but has yet to be perfected. Through the use of interactive digital screens, the solution merges the benefits of e-commerce with traditional, brick, and mortar stores to provide customers with an uber-rich shopping experience.

Innovative touch display technology located throughout the retail environment allows users to access thousands of additional products online if they can’t find exactly what they are looking for in-store.

The key advantage of the endless aisle concept is that customers have a huge product range to select from, quicker services, and easy selection without a customer rep in tow.

Solution Advantages:

Increased sales conversions and footfalls,

Decrease in sales loss,

Increased cross-sell/upsell opportunities,

Better customer experience with a wider product range,

Enhanced sales assistance,

Captures more and better customer insights,

As an add-on to Endless Aisle technologies, Acquire has improved and tailored its classic Wayfinder software to provide an awesome retail store mapping experience.

Retail Wayfinder: As retailers push to help visitors find products quickly and efficiently, Acquire’s Wayfinding and Retail Directory platform provides a 3D mapping experience with highlighted routing and mobile functionality to help visitors find what they are looking for quickly. By integrating the retail Wayfinder with the in-store devices, retailers can easily develop a truly unified customer experience to find product information with ease.

Solution advantages:

Better traffic flow with the ability to update and change routes remotely,

Improved customer efficiency in locating products,

Integrations to inventory management and planograms for auto-updating,

Drives online sales for out of stock or larger products,

Ability to set shopping lists at home and find the best route while in-store.

The intuitive retail mapping can be integrated with the store’s website, on-site digital signage, or a mobile app to help customers find a product within the store. Retailers can include maps on their websites and mobile applications, and can also install QR codes anywhere in the store.

Combining all these solutions together and physical retail can expect to have a leg up on it’s competition. We are already seeing many large retailers go in this direction and Acquire plans to continually improve its solutions to be an industry leader in the space.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Deploy Smart Wayfinding and Digital Directory Kiosks

Industry leaders in interactive signage and digital self-service solutions, Acquire Digital has partnered with Flyin’ High Signs and Gable to deploy an innovative Digital Directory and Wayfinder kiosk program for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The teams have worked diligently to provide a custom digital directory and wayfinding solution to improve airport navigation and inform…

As many retail malls start to incorporate digital signage, wayfinding directories, and digital advertising platforms within their centers; many considerations must be taken into account to ensure you obtain the best return on investment while providing a great experience for your visitors.

Digital signage and directory solutions don’t need to be complicated, but with all the advancements in software technology, you must have a strong set of goals in mind for what you want your digital experience to accomplish.

In this edition of Acquire Talks, we dive into the world of retail digital directory solutions and take a closer look at some of the key considerations retail malls need to think about before deploying a new solution.

Aligning your team's goals

The most basic starting point is to align your team's goals and determine a clear vision for what your digital solution looks like. It is important to align the goals of the system with your internal marketing team, property management team, executive team, your tenants, and most importantly your mall visitors. Goals that are important to your tenants may be a disaster to your marketing team. Make sure your team aligns to determine the proper solution and features to consider when implementing a new digital signage system.

It all starts with each team developing a list of questions and scenarios that every aspect of your digital solution plans to solve. Some example questions could be:

A mall owner might ask what the expected return on investment is for mall advertisements. To dive deeper, they might want to know how mall advertisements or how consumer data collection on the kiosk will drive additional revenue for their centers?

A tenant store might wonder how a digital solution can help get a consumer from the entrance of the mall to their store faster.

Or a marketing executive might wonder how they can shape the design of the user interface to match the branding elements on their website. Or maybe it’s a question of how they can drive traffic from the kiosk user interface to their mall website.

As you can see, there are tons of potential questions to ask when it comes to a successful digital implementation. If your digital solution provider isn’t asking these types of questions then it might be time to look at other options.

When we look at digital signage within retail malls, there are 3 key points to consider when rolling out a new software solution. And it’s not just about rolling out the solution now; it’s making sure you’re implementing a solution that can grow and advance for many years to come. The topics below represent a quick snapshot of the key things you should be thinking about when you want to introduce a new solution (you might even find answers to some of the questions I mentioned above!).

Digital-Out-Of-Home Advertising:

Yes, this is a no-brainer! You should be thinking about potential digital-out-of-home advertising capabilities when you bring digital into your center. It’s not 1995 anymore, those old static poster boards are gone and digital will help bring your advertising possibilities to the next level.

There are many types of ads you can show on the displays including static, video commercials, internal branding, promotions, and interactive advertisements. For retail malls, you should consider one set of content to drive consumers to use and interact with the digital directory, and the second set to engage passing shoppers.

The goal of retail digital directories is to get consumers to use them which opens a new set of marketing possibilities. Some of these include marketing data collection, tailored advertisements, and the opportunity to push consumers towards YOUR tenant’s stores.

When you think of DOOH advertising , there are tons of options that can drive you to your goals. First, you need to understand if your internal team can sell advertising space internally or if you need to use a third-party platform to bring in national ad campaigns. Additionally, there are options to have a mix of both.

The pros of being able to sell advertisements internally are that you can pocket more of the ad revenue you generate but it does take more time and resources to sell the ad space. Plus, you can give priority ad placements to your internal mall tenants.

For those of us that don’t have the time or resources to sit around and sell DOOH ad space, you’re in luck. Many ad placement networks can help you set up national and local advertisements. Do your research, they are out there! The only con to this is that they typically take a commission of the ads that are sold on the displays.

Airports are one of the most complex commercial spaces, but also one of the most relied upon for daily travel. Airport operation teams constantly work hard to improve the visitor experience and one big initiative is to provide passengers with guidance and information to help them navigate through the airport efficiently. The use of digital signage and wayfinding solutions within airports is common, but it's rare to see airports properly utilizing digital experiences to drive revenue and provide clear messages across their signage network.

This blog post will explore how indoor navigation and signage systems work at airports , what they include, their benefits over traditional methods, as well as their limitations so that you can decide if this is a good fit for your airport!

Keys to Implementing Digital Initiatives within Airports

When you integrate wayfinding and directory solutions with digital signage correctly, passengers should have a clear picture of real-time flight data and information about points of interest with easy-to-understand directions to their end destination. A big component of implementing a successful indoor navigation system is to show relevant information specific to each traveler and their current location within the airport. The solution becomes an asset to airport operations and travelers when you synchronize what is being shown on the wayfinding kiosk to other digital signage in the area. This can be accomplished through trigger-based messaging and what we would call "smart" signage.

A Personalized Experience with Offers and Digital Out of Home Advertising

When you extend the indoor wayfinding and navigation to a travelers mobile device, trigger-based offers and marketing messages can be utilized when travelers enter specific stores or areas of the airport. Using proximity marketing triggers helps promote deals and discounts and drive foot traffic to stores and restaurants. This is a powerful data-driven solution that connects with consumers at just the right time and place.

Personalization can be taken even further by sending notifications to individual travelers letting them know about nearby food options, and flight delays or gate changes. This information can help travelers make adjustments to their plans or itineraries before arriving at the gate, reducing stress and frustration.

With the use of large-format kiosks, an airport can use the wayfinding and directory kiosk to display DOOH (digital-out-of-home ads). These systems can drive revenue streams with targeted advertisements, allowing advertisers to reach their ideal audience. Additionally, reactive advertisements can be utilized within the wayfinding application that adjust based upon what a traveler is searching for. For example, if a traveler is looking for coffee they can be shown an advertisement for a nearby Starbucks.

By installing a microphone and camera into the kiosk enclosure, travelers can utilize the guest services button to have a two-way video call with a customer service agent. This feature can bring an additional level of customer service travelers need in order to have an enjoyable, stress-free travel experience.

Whatever the use case is, digital wayfinding and signage solutions provide airports with dynamic capabilities that take the experience to a level never seen in the past.

Tailoring Flight Data to Consumer Decisions

Airports have been using wayfinding and digital signage to guide their passengers for decades, but it's always lacked an experience that was personalized towards the user. Typically, these systems can be a data overload to a common traveler because much of the information they show is irrelevant. By combining FIDs (Flight Information Display Systems), travelers can access real-time flight data by scanning their boarding pass at the wayfinding/directory kiosk or via their mobile device. This is a huge improvement for travelers, as they can access flight and gate information with a simple scan of their boarding passes. Additionally, this technology has been implemented at baggage claim areas to show real-time location updates on luggage belts that are closest to carousels where passengers will be picking up their bags from.

Insights and Analytics that Improve the Experience:

The implementation of these types of systems comes with a vast range of insights and analytics that can be used to improve airport operations in many ways. One of the most beneficial aspects is that it allows airports to track and map passenger flow patterns throughout different areas of their airport. This helps gather information about where passengers are going, which routes they take when moving from place to place in the airport, how long it takes them to get through a certain area or terminal, etc.

The backend platform records all screen touches and becomes good data points for retailers and restaurant options. Similar to Google analytics, airports can determine their top-performing stores, restaurants, and more. For airports, this is an ideal tool because it can help them determine where they should put new restaurants or shops.