marketing and international sales at eyevis. He goes on to note the creative possibilities offered to retailers by his company’s omniSHAPES and squareTILES which allow images of almost any size or shape to be created. Other AV innovations for
the retail industry include Comqi’s delayMirror, a ‘video mirror’ that provides a continual delayed video feed which enables shoppers to see themselves as they were three seconds ago, allowing them to twirl and see the clothes they are wearing from all angles in a dressing room. Importantly, it gives customers an experience they can’t get online. Fashion retailer New Look
recently launched what it calls an “augmented retail experience” at its Marble Arch, London store, in which the Blippar mobile phone image recognition app is used to allow consumers to interact with model Kelly Brook’s new range of cosmetics. The concept is expected to roll out to over 700 stores across Europe. New Look is a perfect
example of how the holy grail for retailers and brands is to engage consumers, to interact with them and to create something close to a personal, one-to-one relationship. Now, consumers are not being advertised to – they’re being communicated with. Here too, AV technology is playing a key role. “Interactivity is an
important element of data
capture, increasing social media reach for brands and it helps to create a real physical link with the consumer which strengthens brand recall,” says Arcstream’s Manwaring. “It also enables you to record consumer choices and then use this to improve uptake, range or your retail strategy for the future.”
CREATING RELATIONSHIPS – AND BUYERS “I think we will see a big growth of intelligent control solutions within AV in retail for 2013,” adds Prysm’s Scorse. “RFID is one particular method which is already advancing and being used to
track movements around the store, identify which items made people stop, what they viewed and for how long. This will develop into more advanced ideas along with data capture in other forms to build a profile of the person such as age, ethnicity and body shape, so personalised recommendations can be made alongside the style choices they make in-store.” In other words: interactivity isn’t just for fun or to entertain consumers. Done right, it can directly influence shopping behaviour – and capture information that makes it possible to create,
The LFiT invisible loudspeaker from Amina provides high-clarity, room-filling sound for retail environments with zero visual interference
‘The more interest that is
created using AV technology… the higher the chance for the shopper to buy’ Scott Pickus, DynaScan