According to a new study conducted by RSR Research (and backed by HP), 70% of retailers are empowering their employees with technology-enabled touch points to help their businesses differentiate and evolve. The study was conducted among 100 retail executives from around the world. Businesses are continuing to understand the value that in-store technology like digital signage, self-service kiosks, mobile devices and advanced POS systems, can provide.

Key finds of the release include:

• Retailers see valuable support in self-service kiosks (43 percent) and cross-channel customer and inventory synchronization technologies through real-time updates (70 percent).

• Seventy-eight percent of retailers listed their modern POS systems as an important factor in the customer experience. Offering in-store rewards or coupons also is seen as critical (75 percent).

• Fifty-seven percent of retailers believe delivering information to store-owned phones, tablets and PDAs has a lot of potential value. In 2010, only 21 percent perceived these solutions as valuable.

Did you know? In rVue’s media planning platform, there are over 72 million daily impressions to be reached within the Retail Audience Mindset category alone. Reaching audiences at the point of purchase can be the difference between making a sale or not. And with new mobile technologies emerging, such as QR codes and NFC, adding DOOH advertising to a retail location will become crucial.

But reaching an audience with a retail mindset isn’t necessarily just happening with in-store digital signage. Consumers are empowered, in this day and age, to find the best deal possible at the click of a few smartphone buttons. Popular places for retailers to reach a captive audience (outside of in-store screens) include mall networks, subways/trains (where dwell time is long) and even on digital billboards. Sending targeted messages at the right time and right location can draw new customers in to a retail location - and then a retailer can provide a one-two punch with some in-store digital signage.

Ashley DiVeronica - Digital Media Strategist