How retailers are using the latest technology to increase in-store spending

Your online world can be filled with ads that convince you to buy something with a simple tap on your phone. But beyond those personal displays, UK retailers are actually spend the most their digital budget inside their traditional brick and mortar stores.

For in-store marketing tools have gone beyond brightly colored signs and music toward a rapidly evolving set of tech techniques designed to help you spend.

One of them involves actively encouraging you to use your phone while in the store by offering free wifi, using QR codes, or sending you ideas on social media. This sounds strange—surely retailers don’t want you to look at your screen when you can look at what’s on their shelves?

In reality, our research suggests that distracting consumers can be quite profitable. Customers who used their phones in-store ended up spending 40% more than customers who didn’t.

We found that phone use had a significant effect on consumers’ mental state, distracting people to the point where they weren’t fully aware of their immediate surroundings. (This is why using your phone while driving is so dangerous.)

It turned out that shoppers who checked through their phones were three times more likely to return to the part of the store they browsed through and then leave. After interacting with the personal screen, they effectively start shopping from scratch—like hitting the “refresh” button on their spending experience.

From a retailer’s perspective then, every time you use phone and put it away, as if you just walked in.

screen time

Stores will also use their own digital displays to showcase their products (usually multiple products) in use. In research we’ve seen how shoppers are more inspired (to make a purchase) if they watch a short video of a product in use, than when they see the same item in a still image. This could be footage of a recipe made from a variety of foods, such as furniture displayed in a family setting.

Seeing products actually used seems to add an extra dimension that shoppers find appealing. It makes them even more likely to purchase more items to match what’s depicted on the screen—like a new pan with a new set of utensils, or a sofa with cushions. and side table.

Personal selling is another powerful tool in retail, with from research Handing out delicious grocery product samples can increase sales by up to 3,5000%. However, this comes at the expense of most of the increased revenue being swallowed up by staffing costs.

So why not digitize personal selling? As part of our work, we ran a test that used a large vertical screen showing a person’s recording in front of free samples. The results show that up to 80% of sales increase, even when the person is actually absent.

This idea could be further developed using multi-sensory holographic or “mixed reality” displays, where a digital scene is projected onto the real-life physical world. our research about this shows that shoppers relate well to a product to a higher degree when it is shown in front of them.

In testing, we fitted sophisticated projectors to the ceiling at the end of supermarket aisles, then offered customers a laser projection-style film, combined with sound and even smell. For example, the movie might talk about a pasta recipe, accompanied by the sound of cutting and frying, and the aroma of ketchup being cooked.

Visual stimulation alone drove sales by more than 60% for the products on display. Adding sounds and scents even enhances this.

digital day

All the things here Digital devices in a physical store contributes to what we call “experiential retailing”. The idea is to help shoppers see a product in use instead of just on the shelf and also to make the whole shopping situation more enjoyable.

So whenever you go shopping, expect the physical store to have more digital elements to inspire and support—but also push you to buy more.

And don’t underestimate the effect of that pipe music either. Studies have shown that that music increases a store’s total sales by about 3% at Christmas time. The effect is more pronounced if the music lifts the mood—so if you’re happy listening to a store-selected playlist, you’ll probably spend more money singing along.

This post was reposted from Conversation under Creative Commons license. Read original article.