The 7th international conference “Digital Signage – no alternative!” was held in Moscow on June 8, 2017 . This year, for the first time, the conference was organized in a new format, as part of the Russian Retail Week.
Most businesses today are already well familiar with digital signage. That’s why this year, unlike previous events which mostly discussed trends, speakers focused on more pragmatic aspects: how to maximize return on investment from digital signage projects; analysis, statistics, case studies and practical advice on implementation.
The conference was opened by a special guest from marketing association POPAI UK, Phil Day. He said 70% of shoppers still plan to shop in brick-and-mortar stores, despite competition from on-line shopping. However, 76% of customers would like to use interactive digital signage while in stores.
The challenge today is to create digital signage networks that would help achieve tangible business goals. Drawing examples from UK retailers’ networks (Heinz, Unilever, Vodafone, Boots and others), Phil Day gave practical tips on each step of digital signage deployment, such as planning, execution and measurement.
Digital signage end-users presented their success stories. Moscow Jewelry factory shared its expertise in using digital installations as part of store interior. The factory’s CMO Egor Vaganov said LED columns in its new flagship location helped increase customer traffic to the store and improve conversion.
Andrey Ushakov, Digital Marketing & E-commerce Manager at McDonald’s Russia, told the delegates how digital signage enabled his company to execute its new concept “Made for you”. Thanks to this new technology, patrons can now customize each order to their specific tastes and change the ingredients of the menu items, for example, exclude onions from their burger.
As a result of this digital signage deployment, McDonald’s Russia was able to improve the quality of products and services, cut down customer waiting times, use personnel more efficiently and increase sales.
Nikolay Alaev of LG Electronics and CEO of Horizont shopping mall Dan Polonskiy presented a new approach to managing visitor traffic and navigation inside shopping malls. They demonstrated a new way-finding system that used a network of ceiling-hung digital signs. Not only the screens helped customers find their way around the mall but they also informed them about sales events and special offers in different stores.
In his revealing and controversial presentation, Denis Sologub, executive director of Azbuka Vkusa chain of supermarkets, explained the reasons why his company have been reluctant to deploy digital signage in the stores.
Damian Frunza (Eutron, Romania) and Stefan Pittl (easescreen, Austria) spoke about important details and pitfalls that often get overlooked by companies planning to implement a digital signage network. They stressed that a digital signage project must be flexible, scalable and have a functionality that would allow the system to be upgraded.
The speakers presented a digital signage project in the largest Romanian bank as an example. A network of more than 900 displays in 523 branches has been successfully running for more than 2,5 years, while the system is being improved and updated.
A team from Intel shared their vision of retail technology trends. They demonstrated how the fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) offers unlimited opportunities for personalized and targeted communication with consumers.
Gamification and interactivity have also become hot trends in digital signage. This way or another, every speaker touched upon some interactive technologies for retail; among them – interactive shop windows, augmented reality, touch screen-enabled kiosks, to name a few. Dmitry Schklyar of Screemo Israel told the audience about the possibilities the above technologies offer in retail.
All speakers agreed that any digital signage project would be a waste of time and money without the right content. Alexey Panfilov, commercial director of World Mirror Group, presented a case study of Oceania shopping mall. While deploying the mall’s digital signage network, World Mirror Group managed to maintain the balance between branding and advertising content, take into account specific properties of different digital surfaces, and get the attention of visitors as a result .
Every technology discussed at the conference was on display. Major industry players demonstrated their solutions for retail: electronic price tags, touchscreen kiosks, LED and OLED screens, digital way-finding signs and much more at the Digital Signage exhibition during the Russian Retail Week on June 6-8.
“We were thinking about how to breathe new life into the conference, because we realized that after several years it had outlived itself. We found a great partner in Russian Retail Week, whose leaders suggested a new format. Our new partner also helped us attract interesting speakers for the event. I think as far as the quality and usefulness of business information go, this year’s conference is one of the best”, – said Vladimir Kozlov, CEO of DigiSky group and founder of the Digital Signage Moscow conference.
We would like to thank our partners and sponsors for their participation in the 7th international conference “Digital Signage – no alternative!”: LG Electronics and easescreen (Platinum sponsors), Intel (Gold sponsor), SES-Imagotag, CTC Capital, iiyama, Софтинг, Addreality, LOOK, Shuttle, IMS, АМС, Nexcom, BenQ, initium (Silver sponsor), Viosobox (Partner).
Press contact:
Anna Kuzina
+7 495 937 63 09 (ext.202)
+7 903 664 51 93
For more info, please visit: www.digitalsignagerussia.ru
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