Newsletter no.2 issued October / 2021
Shop design: Active product worlds as a POS success factor
Baden-Baden, October 13, 2021
The corona pandemic has once again accelerated the digitization of many areas of life and brought about innovative virtual usage habits – especially in marketing and sales in stationary retail. The strongest growth in sales promotion on the Internet and at the POS can be seen in moving image formats. "This development towards moving image formats such as video enables stationary retail, with the help of suitable POS media, to perfectly connect and link Internet content on the one hand and active experience scenarios at the POS on the other hand. The experience worlds, which are built up in pictures on the Internet, find their practical implementation in the brand store – thanks to digital POS media," says Werner Vogt, Managing Director of Permaplay Media Solutions GmbH, analyzing the current situation.
In view of the highly competitive pressure from e-commerce and the like, retailers must offer customers a coherent experience: Products and their presentation must give the appearance of having been made from a single mold. The location plays a decisive role. "The 'greenfield euphoria' of recent years and decades seems to be waning, and top city center locations with all their advantages are once again in demand," says Werner Vogt. People have rediscovered the inner city as a preferred shopping environment. This re-urbanization is subsequently driving the development of new store concepts, so it is no wonder that around 80 percent of retail is back in the city centers again – including furniture stores and discounters. Because it is clear to everyone: Inner cities are developing into new living spaces.
No wonder, then, that stationary retail has a certain key role to play where "Buying with pleasure" is to be celebrated. "Increasing online sales and POS enhancement through intelligent store design are aiming in the same direction: To offer customers something special, an active experience at the point of sale. Because not only the product range has to be tailored exactly to the target group, but above all the appearance of a shop. Sales-active multimedia tools that combine shopping with infotainment and a visual experience help to achieve this goal," says Werner Vogt, summarizing the requirements of contemporary POS marketing.
Innovative store designers have the necessary know-how for a coherent overall store concept, and Permaplay Media Solutions offers the sales-active POS media along with decades of experience in the conception and implementation of customized POS campaigns. "The key to overall success," according to Werner Vogt, "is creating harmony between the display hardware, the content design and the architectural environment."
A Bitcom survey shows how important the combination of digitization and event shopping is: 73 percent of Germans would like to see more digital technologies when shopping in stationary retail stores. At the top of customers' wish lists are free WiFi and real-time information on smartphones, but interest in sustainability is also growing as consumers want to learn more about the manufacturing and production conditions. Again, POS media help to optimally meet customer requirements.
Werner Vogt: "It is fantastic to see how today's stationary POS is being raised to a whole new level through a combination of innovative, experience-oriented shop design and service-oriented media. In the end, the decisive factor for all concepts is the added value for the customers, for the respective target groups. This creates a whole new digital-media-connected alliance of consumers, retailers and brands."