Interactive technology is transforming the look of retail stores. This is not simply a battle between e-commerce and brick-and-mortar. This is the best of both worlds.

Top physical retailers are already using interactivity and data-rich content to attract modern customers and enhance their in-store experience. This includes the use of interactive mirrors, video, touchscreens, etc. to enhance the in-store experience for shoppers.

Just some examples:
• Apple embarks on the mobile wallet phenomenon
• Bloomingdale introduces smart fitting rooms with iPad devices.
• Ralph Lauren offers interactive shopping experiences with its window display
• Gucci sets an 'Infinity Flowers Wall' that lets shoppers interact with digital petals

A store is not just a place to make a purchase; interactive retail turns it into a place to have positive experiences. It creates a seamless customer journey so that customers will return even when they do not have a specific need in mind. Take a look at the future of interactive technology in the retail industry.

Interactive Wayfinding Directories

Customers do not want to waste time figuring out static maps; they want to quickly search a menu for what they need. They want a search engine which is simple and informative, giving them control over their experience. The reduction of shopping stress and anxiety increases the odds they will make purchases. Every business owner knows that a relaxed customer is a paying customer.

• On-Demand Touchscreens: Aside from being an indoor wayfinding map, retailers are using their digital screens to bring interactivity and engagement. Providing on-demand information to customers enhances their shopping experience.

The use of interactive self-service kiosks is already becoming popular in retail stores. They meet the customers demand interactive features and freedom when deciding to make a purchase.

As an example, Tesco tested touchscreen kiosks that allow customers to check stocks and order items. They also use interactive mirrors that enable customers to try clothes on 'virtually' using a gesture-based interface.

Mobile Functionality

Consumers are always on the go. No doubt, mobile smartphones are now the primary device for many, especially millennial and modern consumers. They are getting more sophisticated in using their gadgets - not just to research a product, check its price, or make comparisons. Consumers are using their devices for inspiration, idea-generation, and social interaction. An increasing percentage of customers base purchasing decisions on the reviews of other customers.

Mobile is not a channel, but an engaging relationship. Retailers need to understand what shoppers want and need from their gadgets.

• Mobile Searching: Consumers are using their devices to search for promotions, coupons, reviews, and the best deals. Retailers who are providing this information front and center are at the top of consumer's short attention span.

• Kiosks Integration: Major retailers have also invested in interactive directories that integrate with customers' mobile devices to deliver a seamless experience. Making information readily available every time a customer needs it.

• Beacons and georeferencing: Retailers are now using iBeacon and GPS technology to time personalized messages to shoppers.
For example, Walgreens Pharmacy stores have a detailed 3D view of their in-store maps. Shoppers who are using an app while navigating inside the store, or those near the store, receive notifications on discounts, offers, and other contextual information as they pass by.

• Personal Point of Sale (POS) Checkout: Mobile check-out apps significantly help reduce waiting time, providing convenience and enhancing customer service as well. It allows retailers to accept any form of payment with a mobile device anywhere. Checkout Kiosks are also commonplace.

As examples,

Some Wal-Mart stores have a Scan & Go app that allows users to scan merchandise and pay at a self-checkout counter.

Rebecca Minkoff store allows shoppers to check out through a mobile device. They can also scan clothing tags to receive complementary recommendations.

Nordstrom cut check-out queues down by using mobile POS devices in its stores to enable staff to check out customers anywhere.

Analytics

Obtaining records of online activities and other customer touch points allows business operators to understand the behaviors and desires of their customers. Analytics technology gives retailers the ability to identify and understand changes and drivers of customer behavior, among other things.

• Demographics: Customers information related to gender, age, income, etc. can easily be determined based on the retailer's scanning system.

• Daily customers: Retailers can also determine the number of clients entering the facility and the transactions made.

• Popular destinations: interactive technology makes it easy to track customer searches on interactive kiosks, mobile or website.

• Traffic flow: Marketers and staff can use information searches to determine the flow of traffic to an individual location by using the beacon tracking app or GPS tracking device.

• Conversion rates: Interactive POS and kiosk directories allow marketers to analyze the effectiveness of the promotion. It helps them identify the ads that generate the highest conversion rate. It is the easiest way to increase sales over time.

• Pooled Analytics: Analysis from multiple locations, segments and devices are now possible through interactive technology. Traffic reports, advertising results, consumer data and movement, marketing campaigns, etc. can be synchronized under one comprehensive report.

The demand for interactive technology in the retail industry cannot be stopped. This shift provides versatile, faster and efficient solutions that both customers and retailers benefit from.

For retailers to be successful in today's competitive environment, they should also embrace an omnichannel approach to catching up with the millennial. Modern day consumers want the best of the world in their terms and expect consistent and equally captivating experience across all channels. Businesses who can meet these needs, undoubtedly gain customers and more importantly, advocates.

Today's travelers are looking for authentic experiences and easily accessible information. This is where a Virtual Concierge plays a pivotal role in the Hotel and Resort industry.

Providing the best experience to guests means meeting their every need. Their visit can be a huge success before, during, and after their stay. It goes beyond their experience within the property. Virtual Concierges cover this often over-looked or too readily simplified area of the guest's experience.

What is a Virtual Concierge?

A virtual concierge serves guests the same way a traditional concierge does. Except hotels which integrate virtual systems experience increased guest satisfaction, loyalty, and ROI. Solutions can consist of mobile applications, website features, within your hotel lobby, or a screen inside hotel rooms. Implementing these systems improves the guest's experience and the hotel benefits from improved loyalty and increased ROI.

A virtual concierge serves as the present and future of guest's communication.

The Misconception: The common misconception is that having a virtual concierge makes your existing concierge irrelevant. No, it does not have to be that way.

The Fact: A virtual concierge works to complement what you already have - it can have a positive impact even before guests arrive at your property. With a virtual concierge, guests will no longer wait until they arrive at reception to make requests, changes or reservations. Let the technology do the heavy lifting.

What a Virtual Concierge Can Offer?

As a hotel owner, you are familiar with the usual information that guests need, such as restaurants, attractions and hotel amenities. By placing this information at the fingertips of your guests, a virtual concierge brings more efficiency to your daily operations and even provides an opportunity to earn ROI from outside vendors. It gives guests access to your hotel before they arrive. With the option to make requests and reservations within your facilities, they can create their itinerary while staying in your facility or before they arrive which allows them to forget about their worries.

• Guests can find what they are looking for by using the devices they are already comfortable with.
• Provide guests with a feel of the city and its offerings
• Access photos and videos of your property
• Locate directions and view property layout
• Showcase events and meeting room schedules
• Make restaurant reservations and book other hotel services
• Message the front desk or housekeeping for requests
• Check recommended places to visit
• Get information on all hotel amenities
• Change hotel rooms or add additional nights to their stay
• Make pre-arrival, on-stay and departure arrangements
• Discover local area attractions and events
• Games to entertain children
• Advertising space and ROI potential
• Plus, a whole lot more!

A virtual concierge is also a big help for event planners, removing stress associated with planning, booking, coordinating, room blockings and requests.

Major Features and Functions of a Virtual Concierge

1. Pre-Arrival Requests
Guests can send requests through the virtual concierge. This reduces time spent waiting at the front desk.

2. Local Info
First-hand knowledge of the local scene benefits guests. In fact, this is one most sought after services that a traditional concierge provides. Through the virtual concierge, you can provide information for recommended or affiliate: restaurants, nightlife, activities, a list of attractions, financial services, etc. - which they can access quickly instead of sorting through traditional search engines.

3. Hotel Amenities
Virtual concierge is a good way to promote all the amenities that your property provides. Support it with stunning images, cuisine overviews, salon offerings, etc., which guests will surely love. Have them check all these and make reservations 24/7.

4. Housekeeping and Room Services
Guests can easily place an order with the click of a button. Customers love confirmation of orders received and estimated wait times for requests such as pillows, linens, and sundries among other things.

5. Trip Planning
Your recommendations will be valuable to your guests. With the help of a virtual concierge, guests can create their itineraries by checking out activities based on your recommendations and affiliate offerings. This can include - "Local City Nightlife Activities,"Places where the Locals Shop,"Sight-Seeing for the Family,"Kid-Friendly Museums," and anything that will ensure that their trip will be a memorable one.

Virtual Concierge Platforms

For example, Hyatt Hotels have a twitter-based virtual concierge service, while Marriott hotels have a virtual concierge through website and apps.

Mobile
Mobile apps offer the most convenient way for guests and visitors to engage and interact with your property. Apps can be custom-designed and integrated for iPad, iPhone, and Android to suit whichever device your guests are comfortable with.

Room TV displays
For guests who choose to unplug from their mobile devices, they can access the virtual concierge through their rooms' TV displays using the remote control. You can turn each room into a fully connected, interactive information and entertainment center.

Touch screen interactive kiosks
Bring interactivity and engagement into your lobby displays. Provide guests with access to all the information they need including interactive entertainment, hotel services, local information, and other features.

Website
Adding elements of a virtual concierge to your website and showing them as guests' log-in from the hotel Wi-Fi will help them feel at ease.

Major Benefits

Industry leaders believe that a virtual concierge is also the best way to reach the new millennial and global travellers. Benefits include:

• Showcase your property in style
• Enhance guest's and visitor's experience
• Improve business image

With a virtual concierge, not only will your property receive 5-star ratings but will stand out as a leader in the hospitality industry.

Touchscreen interfaces are becoming increasingly popular in people's lives.

As users depend on the interactivity of their mobile devices, they come to expect the same experience wherever they go.

This is one major reason interactive touch screen solutions are becoming popular in many places such as malls, retail stores, hotels, universities, hospitals, and airports. The users instantly recognize these systems and intuitively know how they work.
Interactive touchscreen solutions serve as the signature technology of modern digital communications. Part of this has to do with people's familiarity with their smartphones, but also because of the versatility and commercial value offered only by digital signage.

Wide Range of Touch Display Solutions

In the signage industry, real-time content updates can now be managed locally or virtually from anywhere. Through the power of touch, self-service can be enhanced for customers, guests, and viewers. Activities such as making reservations, retrieving information, concierge services, and even wayfinding can now be fulfilled with the press of a button.

An interactive screen can be surface mounted or incorporated into kiosks, and deployed in a broad range of screen sizes, from tablet-sized screens to large-scale display walls which are accessible to multiple, simultaneous users. These systems, simple or complex, improve operations and can deliver high returns for many industries:

Retail Stores

Owners of interactive kiosks in retail stores benefit from the ability to reach customers with targeted information, increase revenue, and sales opportunities, and improve loyalty through enjoyable customer experience. Customers use touch screens to check product pricing, availability, and feature comparison, as well as discover special offers relevant to search queries. Store owners can analyze user data to track consumer behaviors and shopping information. The most common use of touch screens today is at the point of sale, which is a lost opportunity for those above. Therein, retailers are beginning to deploy more advanced touch screen systems earlier in the customer's shopping process for a greater array of advantages.

Corporate Settings

Display solutions are ideal for collaboration and strengthening corporate communications. They help to enhance efficiency, productivity, and safety within the premises. Deployments commonly take place in the lobby, boardrooms, conference rooms and showrooms, and are used to impress clients, visitors, and shareholders. Product portfolios, sales performance, project and program status, team building, branding efforts, event scheduling, wayfinding, employee directory and recognition, websites, videos, safety and policy guidelines, and message boards are common among successful communication initiatives. Some corporations even use their message boards as a lost and found the directory, solving subtle nuances in the workplace and creating an overall improvement to corporate ecology.

Food Service

Touch displays allow customers to sort through menus, place orders, take advantage of offers, and even transact. Consumers prove to be highly responsive to media-rich experiences, such as images, video, and scrollable text descriptions; desiring to sample a greater portion of the menu which enables the potential for increased sales and repeat visits. Restaurant owners find the ease of offering new promotions, breakfast and lunch specials to be an additional benefit of a digital system. Themes, branding, special events, and even menu content can also be easily adjusted without additional costs for those restaurants which host private parties or frequently change the menu.

Educational Settings

Digital whiteboards and interactive displays are attractive in campuses and universities. They help to improve the learning process and encourage students to participate, improving collaboration between teachers and students. School-wide communication and safety are increased as well. Event schedules, policies, staff and class directories, wayfinding-campus and local area, resources, message boards, lost and found, branding efforts, visitor welcome, and quick information kiosks are highly common in universities across the world. Touch screens and special software prove to be an invaluable resource for programs which are dedicated to the continued learning of students with disabilities.

Health Care

Hospitals utilize touch screens to allow visitors to locate quickly appointments, find departments, and stay up to date on the latest health care programs. A wayfinding system can tie directly into an existing database to provide up to date information regarding schedules for clinics, physicians, and other meetings. Typical uses include multi-building wayfinding, service directories, health and nutrition guidance, support groups, branding initiatives, history, bus schedules, and other user experiences which are designed to help alleviate the stress of a hospital visit. Hospital operations require tremendous commitment from the staff; therefore internally directed touch screen tools are also popular such as staff and patient scheduling, task lists, and other internal communications.

Public Information Services

Interactive touch screens provide invaluable information to the general public. Libraries, transit centers, and government offices such as court houses and post offices now deploy touch screens to help visitors find information. A broad variety of applications are supported, including wayfinding, service directories, event schedules, news and reminders, policies and forms with printing capabilities, registry and sign-in. Entertainment venues and museum exhibits also deploy touch screens to guide, inform, advertise, and entertain visitors. These media-rich touch screens are unparalleled in effectiveness for conveying the spirit and intent of the venue through digital means.

Hotels and Hospitality

Interactive touch screens allow guests to access information and check themselves in from the lobby, lounge areas and even their hotel rooms. They can display guest loyalty programs, flight information, check-in/check-out protocols, stock tickers and other web widgets, onsite wayfinding, and local area amenity maps to enhance a visitor's experience. Additional common uses include meeting room schedules as well as tie-ins to local convention centers or other nearby event systems. The hospitality industry requires the utmost adherence to branding standards, and these requirements are often met with specialized fonts, designs, photography, and videos to create the most aesthetically pleasing balance.

Casino and Gaming

Gaming venues are recognizing the value of replacing the traditional table games with touchscreens as downtime reduction, and cheating have proven to be minimized. These screens can be used for poker terminals, loyalty redemption kiosk, and entertainment displays.

Payment and Ticketing

Touch screens serve a purpose in payment centers, movie theaters, airlines, entertainment venues, payment kiosks, etc. It also reduces the chaotic environment of a full payment and ticket venue.

All-Inclusive Touchscreen Solutions

We offer a broad range of interactive touch screen solutions. All of our displays are tailored to match customer's standards and the demands of their environments. Whether for entertainment, informational messaging, advertising, or wayfinding, our solutions can transform and enhance the experiences of visitors.

Being a full-service provider, we’ll work with you to find the best solution that meets your needs. Contact us and schedule an interactive demo to explore how touch screens enhance your communications, engage your audience, boost productivity, and conserve money at the same time.

Focus on the positive. Honor donors who have contributed to your non-profit organization's success and inspired others along the way. Engage with your viewers by highlighting your donors and encouraging generosity at the same time.

With digital donor boards and walls, those static lists of names or plaques will be transformed into an engaging and eye-catching display. Through digital donor boards, we avoid the unsightly, physical donor boards that viewers just don’t find time to look at.

The superior visual appeal of these screens easily grabs the attention of visitors and guests. Now, just imagine the reactions you'll receive from your donors when they feel a sense of recognition when their names and information are proudly displayed in full bright and color.

Interactive donor boards support a variety of information, and can be used for all of the following:

• Display personalized messages or thank-you notes in a thoughtful way
• Add photos and captions in donors' profile
• Build awareness of current and future programs
• Showcase project success to drive inspiration
• Promote donor programs and information for those who want to participate
• Share your company store and present your mission and values
• Enable search functionality for extensive lists of donors
• Quickly make updates as your foundation grows

Built-in Versatility and Cost-Effectiveness

While some donors prefer to remain anonymous and avoid the limelight, digital donor boards can be customized based on limitless preferences. The built-in versatility of these boards better serves the individual interests of your contributors.

Digital donor boards can be created in any format or theme. Whether a small screen installed in your lobby or a large touchscreen wall, digital donor boards can be brought to life through interactive media playlists or with full-screen animations.

Another advantage that digital donor boards offer is that they are relatively less cost intensive than updating printed signs or creating expensive plaques or plates. Costs and resources are minimized because digital boards allow information to be updated and showcased in real time.

The recommendation is to use a database to feed your donor boards. This can simply be an Excel spreadsheet, Google document, an XML file or a customized web interface. This approach allows the easy updating of changes, and the inclusion of additional content, ensuring that when information is updated new donors are instantly recognized. Please check with your provider for customizable design templates and streamlined content management options to simplify further content updates.

Digital donor boards can draw attention and greatly enhance the image of your organization. As you proactively display those contributions and the effort that your donors have put forth, you inspire and encourage additional generosity.

Donor recognition is more than being grateful; it is also making donors feel recognized, valued and involved. Digital signage is imperative in today’s world to ensure that donors are recognized and future engagement is encouraged.