Reinventing retail: How Samsung’s transforming shopping using state-of-the-art technology
The world of retail is changing. What once required a physical trip to a store can now be done virtually from a computer or smartphone. Convenient, yes. But fun? Not really. Shopping is so much more than a practical tick-box exercise. It’s also a social, interactive, and emotional experience. Buying online may be convenient but it can’t replicate the concept of a “day out”. Or generate the satisfaction of finding the ideal item, buying it on the spot, and carrying it away immediately.
That said, it’s no longer enough to rely on that sense of instant emotional gratification to lure consumers away from their digital devices. Retailers need to do more. And here's where technology comes in.
Using digital display solutions, retailers can elevate and improve all aspects of the consumer journey. A key driver for enhancing the seamless experience of customers, they help businesses grow their value proposition. And grow profits by generating a more modern experience shoppers will come back for.
Smart shopping
To optimise and elevate the in-store customer experience, tech-giant Samsung has designed a portfolio of digital signage solutions that blend the benefits of online shopping with the allure of the traditional shopping “trip”.
From capturing a shopper’s attention to providing product details and real-time offers, its digital displays support customers, and address crucial touchpoints, throughout their retail experience.
Reflecting these key consumer trends, Samsung’s suite of specialised products falls into one of the following categories: Smart Attraction, Smart Promotion, Smart Information and Smart Service.
Let’s break these down.
Smart Attraction
Before securing a sale, retailers must generate interest. Competition for interest is just as tough on the high streets and in shopping centres as it is online. And encouraging consumers to enter a shop is the first crucial step in winning their custom. Which means first impressions count.
With Samsung’s internal and external signage solutions, retailers have everything they need to kickstart a positive and powerful relationship with customers. And nurture it throughout their time in store.
Promoting clear and compelling messaging, distinctive visuals, and a strong brand identity, Samsung’s customisable displays can be used to attract a shopper’s attention, set the tone for the ongoing in-store experience, and keep them engaged and interested once inside.
Outdoor LED signage
When it comes to outdoor signage, Samsung’s OH75A and OH46B LED displays uphold the highest quality standards in even the most challenging of external conditions. Verified for outdoor visibility, both have brightness levels over 3,500 nits, built-in auto brightness sensors that adapt to external lighting, and anti-reflection technology. Both products also offer advanced colour accuracy. The OH75A also comes with Dynamic Crystal Display, allowing viewers to enjoy a wider spectrum of colours up to one billion shades.
Durability is factored into the construction. Both products undergo rigorous environmental testing to ensure uninterrupted performance. And, with certified IP56-rated protection, they’re robust, reliable, and able to withstand physical impact as well as dust and water.
Indoor LED signage
Through in-depth colour management, Samsung’s IF series preserves the constant graduation of images to ensure pictures are true-to-life and compelling. Using technology nearly twice as bright as the standard LED, it excels in showcasing brand information and advertisement. The series also applies dynamic peaking technology to remove interference from natural lighting.
Videowall displays
With a suite of products featuring a range of tight bezel widths from 0.44m to 5.5mm, Samsung’s videowalls provide a robust display that’s impactful but not intrusive.
Creating a deeper visual impact, and a seamless picture across multiple screens, these configurable and cost-effective videowalls make retail messages stand out.
Providing an immersive and dependable viewing experience, the VMT-U series offers a slim depth and 500 nit brightness to ensure images and messages have high impact in a wide range of challenging settings. Non-glare, and with high contrast ratio and enhanced uniformity, these displays can be customised to create distinctive displays unique to each retailer.
Smart Promotion
Whether it’s in-store or online, consumers love a bargain. They also want independent assurances of quality. Receiving real-time promotions and reviews for items while shopping is an important part of the retail experience. And digital displays are an effective way of delivering this in shops and retail outlets.
Using Samsung’s range of outdoor, semi-outdoor, and Crystal UHD displays, retailers can deliver memorable and meaningful real-time content that converts interest into sales.
QLED signage
Available in 55”, 65” and 75” dimensions, Samsung’s ‘Terrace’ QLED outdoor TV gives retail promotions the prominence they deserve. Power by a Quantum 4K processor and 2,000 nits of brightness, it also comes with an IP55 weather resistance rating and anti-reflection screen. This means that messages won’t get affected by rain, dust or heat.
For even more impact, the Samsung QLED 8K range offers ground-breaking, super-high resolution, 4 times higher than 4K UHD content and 16 times higher than FHD. With more than 33 million pixels, it provides exceptional depth and detail, resulting in a spectacularly immersive experience for customers in a retail setting.
Window displays and semi-outdoor signage
Samsung’s OMN series is designed with the shopfront in mind. Featuring 4,000 nit brightness and a high contrast ratio of 5,000:1, the displays remain bright and clear, delivering an uncompromised picture that captures the attention of potential customers – even in direct sunlight.
The slim 54.5mm depth ensures that signage seamlessly integrates into any display window. And the compact size makes the display a natural extension of the store, as opposed to an addition that ties up valuable space.
A built-in, easy-to-use content management system (the MagicINFO™ Player S6), backed by the powerful TIZEN operating system, boosts the display’s overall performance.
For extra versatility, the OMN-D series offers great marketing potential for retailers. With a double-sided screen, it optimises valuable floor space on shop floors. Displays can be easily mounted on a stand or hung from a ceiling, giving retailers more options for positioning. Plus, both screens can be adjusted to suit the environment in which they’re displayed.
Smart Information
Delivering detailed product information to customers in store is often something retailers struggle with. Providing accurate and accessible wayfinding guidance can also be a challenge. Samsung’s digital signage solutions increase shoppers’ knowledge of products and services which, in turn, grows confidence in the buying process. They also help shoppers navigate seamlessly from store to store.
Interactive displays
Increasing customer engagement and enhancing communication, Samsung’s QMR-T displays are touch-enabled. Their intuitive design, coupled with multi-touch functionality, provides shoppers with a fast, user-friendly experience based around real-time interactions.
UHD signage
Featuring Dynamic Crystal Colour in a billion shades, Samsung’s QMB, QBB and QHB series displays bring products and product information to life for consumers. With absolute accuracy of colour, every image delivers true-to-life variations, allowing customers to see every subtlety and feature.
Embedded with system-on-a-chip (SoC) technology, Samsung’s digital signage displays come with built-in computing and graphics components. Syncing up with the MagicINFO™ Player - part of Samsung’s multi-component content management system (CMS) - these smart SoC displays support the smooth and seamless play-out of scheduled media files. An all-in-one solution, this smart approach bypasses the costs and complications associated with external media player integrations.
Smart Service
Online shopping makes customers independent and it’s setting the tone for the future of the retail industry as a whole. No longer passive participants in the process, customers want - and expect - to have full control over their own transactions, wherever they are. Taking this expectation, the Samsung Kiosk has made self-service a reality in brick-and-mortar stores.
With a modular design, the Kiosk provides a variety of payment options including credit card, barcode, QR code and NFC tap. It comes with a responsive 24-inch touchscreen display and thanks to its built-in printer and speaker, additional peripherals aren’t needed. A popular, easy-to-maintain, all-in-one solution with advanced security, the device is available in three installation types – countertop, floor stand and wall mounting.
So, how are customers using it? Aimed at retailers, quick-service restaurants (QSRs) and businesses that operate on admission ticketing and queue management, the Kiosk has several different use cases.
In retail outlets, it works seamlessly with click and collect or buy online pickup in-store (BIPOS) orders. It also allows customers to source items in a shop and check them out themselves rather than wait in line for a cashier. A similar principle applies to returns. Using the Kiosk, customers can simply scan the barcode of the item they want to return, drop it in the return bin, and take their receipt.
In QSRs, customers can place and pay for orders. And in theatres and cinemas, customers can collect tickets and source on-demand answers to FAQs.
Bringing control to customers, the Kiosk also brings benefits to businesses. Specifically, it:
- frees up resources
- provides a more consistent service
- minimises mistakes made by human error
- boosts revenue by upselling higher-margin add-ons, and
- speeds up the average transaction time.
Supporting retailers by supporting resellers
Samsung’s digital signage ecosystem is vast and evolving all the time. Which can make matching the right products to the right retailer time-consuming. For guidance, or for more detailed product knowledge, our experts are on-hand to help. Get in touch or find out more on our Retail and Leisure portal.
