5 Technologies That Will Boost Your Retail Marketing

We reviewed the current retail marketing trends and decided to introduce you to the most efficient technologies that can bring the desired boost to your in-store marketing.

When it comes to retail marketing, people tend to forget that technology can be their best friend. If you choose the right retail marketing strategies and support it with the latest market technologies, you’ll be able to deliver excellent results. Your business can be more efficient than you think, and we know how you can achieve that. 

Having a well-thought retailing strategy is not enough; you’ve got to have the required tools to power your retail marketing machine. Here are our thoughts on the technologies that can have the most significant impact on your retail business.

1. AR & VR technology in retail marketing

Since VR and AR technologies are becoming more widespread, retailers tend to consider this one of the most effective parts of their in-store marketing. Depending on the products you sell, you can use these technologies differently. 

Let’s say you’re selling shoes or streetwear. Then you can use AR and offer your users to see the 3D model of those shoes using just their smartphone. This directly affects their decision to make a final purchase, since they have a chance to review the product in detail and do in-depth research on whether they want those or not. 

Every business and niche can find VR and AR technologies useful; they can bring your retail marketing to a whole new level. 

For example, home renovation companies that sell home goods and supplies can offer their clients to have a virtual tour of the renovated kitchen, so they could imagine how great it would be. This helps them seduce them with a beautiful picture of the new kitchen that they’ve dreamed of for a long time already.

2. Digital signage technology for in-store marketing

Digital signage entered the market in a bullish way, meaning that they have a great run conquering more and more retail niches. Retail business owners consider digital signage displays the most significant improvement of the out-of-home advertisement in years. 

The idea is simple; you can put a few displays for in-store marketing and make the client’s experience way more interactive than ever before. 

There are lots of use cases for signage screens in retail marketing. You can use them as interactive help desks, bring more information regarding the products available in the store and, of course, deliver promotional materials to your users in a more elegant way. 

Since interactive signage can help you deliver tons of promotional materials without the need of printing them out, this is not only efficient, but also quite affordable. You can now find lots of marketing strategies that include digital signage for retail as one of the marketing tools offering the most significant boost to your in-store and outdoor retail conversions.

3. Try Points-of-Experience, not just Points-of-Sale

While points-of-sale help you improve the upselling and checkout experience, we want you to consider the point-of-experience. Those bring your visitors not just the convenience of the purchasing process but also support your clients while they shop. 

Points-of-experience can have different forms. As an example, we offer you to take a look at some of the biggest Lego stores. One of their key retail marketing techniques is the installation of the interactive displays that allow you to participate in entertaining surveys. For example, people really love the interactive Lego screens that offer them to check how they would look if they were a Lego hero.

This is just one use case, but it’s enough to get the overall points-of-experience idea. You should make your retail marketing more interactive and valuable for the client.

4. Cross-channel marketing strategies create a hybrid experience

Retail marketing can include cross-channel techniques creating a hybrid experience for your clients. You can offer your store visitors to use your mobile app or website and get additional services in your offline shop. 

Did your visitor just found those Nike shoes attractive? Place a QR code on the shelf that he could scan with your mobile app and get additional information, product care advice, or even a small discount for signing up to your newsletter. Combine these experiences and play with them to get the most out of both worlds.

Basically, many offline stores currently leverage this kind of digital technology as a part of their retail marketing plan. So it’s a common thing to be offered to sign up on their website through their tablet while they finish the order paperwork. This way, they get clients hooked to their newsletters and online product offerings. 

5. Smart shelves

This is a relatively new technology that may reinvent the way we interact with the products in our favorite stores. As of today, we have to deal with the regular paper labels and cannot get more information about the product on the shelf without using the smartphone. 

However, the smart shelves technology in retail marketing can offer a client:

• Additional information per client’s request
• An automatically updated price tag
• An extensive list of product features

These things will allow retailers to have more marketing materials at their disposal on each shelf of their store. Eventually, any client will be able to get a comprehensive product review right by the product shelf without unnecessary moves.

Summing things up

Retail marketing is not that scary when you have some great technologies under the hood of your strategy. There are numerous ways to apply those in any niche and industry. Depending on the scalability and size of your business, your retail marketing plan can include either one or every technology from this list. 

Once you apply one of these technologies to your business, you should continuously check up on your retail marketing results and make necessary adjustments to improve the efficiency of the technology you use.

Make a huge step towards becoming a leader in the retail marketing of your business niche — be more tech-savvy!