Survey suggests digital signage sales could rise in retail

Trade association unveils comprehensive study of indoor digital signage in UK retailers

Opportunities still exist for the channel to sell digital signage screens and related offerings into the retail sector, according to a survey from a retail trade association.

Point of Purchase Advertising International (POPAI)’s 2010 UK Digital Signage Survey polled 100 major retailers, brand owners, shopping centres and screen network operators.

The poll – sponsored by LG – found that the number of indoor digital signage screens had leapt 28 per cent to 131,560 since 2007, but only 10 per cent of retailers overall are using the technology.

Nick Gale, chief executive officer at digital signage agency Realisation and head of digital for POPAI, said the number polled included 111 indoor digital signage networks totalling some 47,000 retail outlets.

“There are an average of three screens per site [of those that have digital signage],” Gale said. “Forty per cent said the major benefit of the screens was sales uplift. Very few – just six per cent – indicated the screens did not benefit sales uplift.”

Further, 22.4 per cent of the retail professionals whose outlets do not yet have digital signage screens said they were considering deploying the technology, and 34.1 per cent that do have digital signage said they intended to add more screens in the next 12 months.

Another 9.4 per cent that use screens intend to carry on using them.

Some 29.4 per cent of those surveyed said they were not sure whether to deploy digital signage screens. Just 3.5 per cent said they didn’t use them and did not plan to, with 1.6 per cent saying they wanted to get rid of theirs.

“Retailers that used the screens in 2007 have significantly increased the number of screens they use since then, which is a very, very positive indication,” Gale said.

He said that many respondents were marketing professionals. On being asked what digital signage technologies they were interested in deploying over the next 12 months, touchscreens held the most appeal (30.5 per cent said ‘yes’, 42.7 per cent said ‘possibly’), followed by multi-touch and 3D.

Emerging concepts such as gesture and holographic technologies brought up the rear, with only 7.3 per cent saying they would be interested in deploying such offerings in the next 12 months.

Warren Lewis, UK sales director for LG Business Solutions, said digital signage deployments are expected to rise ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

“There will be a big improvement across digital signage and screens across London. Retailers are also becoming more sophisticated,” he said. “Three years ago, digital signage was quite rare.”

The POPAI survey excluded digital signage displays on ATMs, transport, entertainment outlets such as bookmakers, casinos and cinema, estate agents, lifts, outdoor signage, shelf edge labels and EPOS systems, public information systems and trade-only outlets.

These are by far the bulk of current implementations and would skew the results away from retail, Gale said.