In the wake of the pandemic, it wasn’t at all surprising that there was a huge emphasis on reviving footfall. In order to get customers back into physical spaces after a period during which sales migrated significantly to online platforms, it was determined that stores needed to be distinctive and eye-catching – requirements that often translated to the specification of technologies that support immersive and/or interactive environments. Things have moved on considerably since then, of course…
Make no mistake – spectacle remains very important to retail, especially in higher-value categories such as fashion and electronics. But over the last year or two, there has also been a growing awareness of harnessing digital signage, AVoIP, analytics platforms, AI-assisted content management, audio systems and sensor-driven environments in order to achieve fully dynamic media installations where there is frequently a great deal of alignment with the online presence.
In this article we speak to leading vendors about the rise of a more analysis-driven approach to retail and the ways in which AV infrastructure is now facilitating everything from dynamic pricing and audience targeting to operational flexibility and omnichannel brand consistency.
EMBRACING OMNICHANNEL
There is a consensus among vendors that retail – and its relationship to AV – is in the midst of a profound transformation. Davide Quarto, solutions engineering manager at Powersoft, describes it succinctly: “The physical retail store is evolving from a point of sale into a point of engagement. Retailers increasingly view physical locations as owned media channels where they can influence customer decisions in real-time through coordinated audio, video, mobile integration and digital signage.”
Nevil Botschinsky, business development manager at LG, says that successful shops are “embracing omnichannel”, seeing themselves as live platforms more than fixed environments. “They exist to build a relationship with the consumer, communicating messaging with the intention of influencing future revenue, instead of simply focusing on making a sale at that moment,” he says.
Not surprisingly, this trend is particularly evident in certain categories – including luxury fashion, consumer electronics and automotive – which lend themselves to dynamic content, promotions and brand storytelling that can be adapted in line with audience and time of day. All of this is in the service, notes Quarto, of an era where customers “need to feel the identity and be part of the brand they are choosing”.
SIGNAGE EVOLUTION
One of the most important methods via which retailers are negotiating this new kind of relationship with customers is digital signage. Far from being geared largely to the straightforward playback of content, modern digital signage platforms can adjust what they display in accordance with audience analytics, touchless integration, operational monitoring and intelligent wayfinding.
Nils Karsten, business segment lead retail at Sharp Display Solutions Europe, remarks: “The tech that will create sustainable value in retail are the ones tied directly to measurable business outcomes: higher conversion, operational efficiency, better audience targeting, and lower deployment complexity.”
Rather than pursue individual-level personalisation and facial recognition advertising – which Karsten describes as “mostly overrated” – there is an opportunity, not least with dvLED becoming more affordable, to create large-scale experiences based around brand identity. This is especially common in flagship stores where there is a greater focus on digital surfaces to “foster impact and emotions”.
Karsten goes on to cite the example of Sharp’s work with Breitling, the luxury Swiss watch brand, to launch a pop-up activation in Zurich. The interactive ‘Then & Now’ exhibit offered visitors a journey through the history of the brand, so the quality and reliability of the displays, such as a large LED wall, were integral to a successful installation.
For LG, retail business development manager Phil Clark highlights some other areas of retail where digital signage deployment has also advanced recently. “It’s especially noticeable in grocery and QSR (quick service restaurants), where displays are used to drive supplier campaigns and generate new revenue streams,” he says. “In a typical visit to a QSR, consumers can expect to order on digital menu boards, with promotions fully embedded.”
Ultimately, digital signage can now be used more effectively than ever before in order to build and retain relationships with customers. Andrea Barbuti, global product manager EMEA at PPDS, remarks: “Using signage displays to provide the best of digital, while also creating unique and personalised experiences, still supported by real people, are crucial for building better brand loyalty and keeping those customers coming back for more.”
MEASURABLE GUESSWORK
Botschinsky offers an especially insightful perspective on the convergence now taking place between signage, analytics and customer insight. For retailers, a core benefit is “the ability to move from guesswork to something more measurable”. Historically, trends like this have been harder to quantify in stores than they have online, he says. “In 2026, retailers can bring in analytics to identify which content is working, where people are engaging, and where they’re not.”
Through deciphering how many people have their attention captured by the screen, retailers can gain a better understanding of customer behaviour, using it to enhance the effectiveness of campaigns, create a more meaningful experience, and make informed decisions about product placement in the store.
Quantifiable data has also allowed core processes to accelerate – a very useful capability in a period when consumer behaviours are more capricious than they used to be. Hence, decisions can be made more quickly, and it’s easier to alter content based on factors such as time of day and location. There is also a boost for maintenance and trouble-shooting, with automated notifications able to be sent when problems occur.
Summing up the primary advantages of the convergence around digital signage and data, Jason Cremins, chief product officer at Navori Labs Group, remarks: “The biggest benefit is that it closes the loop. Digital signage on its own just broadcasts. Add anonymous audience analytics and customer insight and a retailer can establish who is actually in front of a screen, change what plays to suit them, and then check whether it resulted in sales uplift.”
INTENTIONAL AUDIO
Whilst it’s true that a lot of innovation is taking place around visual media, the shift that has taken place with regard to in-store audio should not be underestimated. Once again drawing on wider consumer research and retailers’ own data, there is now greater recognition, according to Davide Quarto, that sound “influences dwell-time, customer perception of quality and purchasing behaviour” – hence what he describes as “the transition from background music to intentional audio design”.
As a result, immersive and spatial audio are increasingly popular in flagship stores and environments which wish to create memorable customer journeys. More often than not, this is in conjunction with networked audio platforms that afford considerable flexibility and efficiency.
“The broader transformation is operational,” notes Quarto. “Networked audio and cloud-based management platforms are becoming standard because they allow centralised control, monitoring, and content distribution across hundreds of locations. This is a clear signal of the IT/AV convergence and is strongly influencing the design phase for all those projects where increasingly the IT department is involved and in charge of it. Scalability, flexibility and operational efficiency are now as important as audio quality itself (and sometimes even more important).”
HUGE PRIORITIES
Meanwhile, some rather more eternal considerations have also come back into sharp focus. Durability and sustainability – both for environmental and economic reasons – are inevitably huge priorities for retailers of all kinds, especially in the post-Covid trading era. The solutions they choose need to be robust and versatile, able not just to last for years but also adjust to evolving requirements. There is also a recognition that retailers’ sustainability credentials and operating principles are now an important factor in many people’s buying decisions, so progress in this area needs to be transparent and frequently updated.
Karsten confirms that sustainability is increasingly “top of the agenda” for decision-makers and includes the entire lifecycle of signage solutions. “Product design increasingly focuses on durability, modularity and repairability to extend hardware lifespan and reduce electronic waste,” he says. “We are prioritising recyclable materials in manufacturing, and now 97.4 percent of the material used can be recycled, which is a real differentiator for Sharp displays in the industry.”
A similar transformation is also underway in audio – an area that could be seen to have something of a head-start, given the always pivotal nature of energy efficiency to products such as amplifiers. Quarto says that sustainability is increasingly “a major design driver”, with smart amplifiers, efficient devices and intelligent sensors helping retailers reduce operational costs and environmental impact, integrating more audio solutions into architecture and interior design to “seek both performance and aesthetic excellence”.
Also with a view to improving efficiency and reducing downtime, there are plenty of signs that retailers are reviewing how they maintain and support their on-site infrastructures. Karsten says: “Maintenance strategies are evolving through remote monitoring and predictive support, reducing unnecessary onsite service visits and downtime. With a variety of RDM solutions and many supported operating systems, the clients can choose from a respective set of APIs and CEC commands. We give end users many choices to monitor, control and secure an installation for a long period of time.”
As seems almost inevitable at this point, there are expectations that retail infrastructures will undergo a further period of transition as AI matures. “It’s still early, but the direction is already quite clear,” asserts Clark. “At present, AI is helping with efficiency, from content scheduling and recommendations to basic optimisation. Over the next few years AI’s value is likely to become more dynamic, supporting content adaptation based on live inputs. Retailers will still hold a level of control, especially from a brand point of view, while AI brings ideas and analysis to the customer experience.”
Meanwhile, the underlying technologies will continue to develop, not least with the emergence of Edge AI powered digital signage, which will bring benefits from an energy efficiency perspective. Barbuti explains: “That’s because the integrated Neural Processing Units (NPUs) are optimised for parallel AI operations while consuming significantly less power than traditional CPUs or GPUs. This makes them ideal for always-on digital signage applications that require continuous operation with minimal heat generation and lower operational costs. Compact embedded systems with integrated NPUs also simplify installation design and reduce the need for additional hardware – and its draw on power.”
Karsten also sees Edge AI as a game-changer for retail: “With cloud AI, information such as video feeds or sensor data is sent to a remote data centre for processing before results are sent back. With Edge AI, the analysis happens directly inside the display or device itself. That difference brings several important advantages such as faster response times, improved reliability and better privacy protection.”
COMPELLING PREDICTIONS
But the future is not all about the advance of AI. Cremins offers three compelling predictions for the coming years: “First, in-store retail media becomes a standard, board-level revenue line rather than a marketing experiment, and more of it trades programmatically alongside the retailer’s online inventory. Second, measurement catches up. Shared currencies for in-store impressions and attention will emerge, because brands won’t fund the channel at scale without them. Third, AI shifts from novelty to plumbing: personalisation, content generation and audience measurement stop being differentiators and become things everyone is expected to have, so the contest moves to who can run them reliably, at scale and within tightening privacy rules.” Running under all three, Cremins expects retailers to consolidate onto a single platform, with digital signage, e-paper, sensing and media sales managed in one place rather than as separate systems that each answer to different goals.
Whilst there’s no doubt that retail is currently undergoing a profound technological transformation, it is equally clear that the new reality is one of continual change. Powered to varying degrees by AI, the next wave of innovation will almost certainly introduce new experiences. Although high streets continue to face significant challenges, there will always be compelling reasons for consumers to visit physical retail spaces. The retailers that succeed will be those that embrace tech not as an end in itself, but as a means of creating more engaging and memorable in-store experiences. As digital and physical channels become increasingly intertwined, technology’s role will be not simply to make shopping more efficient, but more valuable, enjoyable and ultimately worth leaving home for.
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