News & Trends

This article originally appeared in AV Magazine on May 4, 2020.

Finding its way in the post-lockdown world, digital signage is exploring new avenues. Joan Aixa, Director, Maverick AV Solutions Iberia, takes a look at the impact on businesses and what they should do to survive.

Most businesses are facing the biggest challenge they’ve encountered in the last five decades and the digital signage industry is no exception, being one of the largest IT sectors to be affected by the pandemic. With most retailers closed around the world, airports and train stations without travellers, restaurants and entertainment locked down, and thousands of digital circuits underused; the key players (CMS, integrators, distributors, vendors) are evaluating what the impact on their businesses will be and what they should do to survive the next 12 months and beyond.

This evolution can be described in three phases we call Now, Next and New.

Now:

Over the last few weeks, the Western world has gone into lockdown, and the digital signage “pure players” found themselves with installations delayed indefinitely, advertising channels shut down and monthly revenues evaporating. Like the rest of the business world, digital signage companies have shifted energy and resources into trying to bypass the crisis. Major CMS companies are launching free of charge content to raise awareness about the sanitary measures using their current circuits. Brands are using large-scale DOOH to promote social distancing campaigns: Coca-Cola, Audi, McDonalds, to mention a few. Finally, from a business point of view, it’s time for renegotiating conditions with both customers and suppliers.

Next:

In a matter of weeks, we have seen the launch of a new kiosk-type display with integrated sensors, built for a world in crisis. For example, displays with temperature sensors and real-time person-to-person distance tracking.

Signage has also emerged as the perfect tool to collect data about indoor occupancy, a critical aspect to adhere to local government rules and guidelines. In addition, mobile phones will become our signage remote control for more than just payments; tech which has been around for some time but its significance only just being realised.

After more than a month of lockdown and countries getting ready for a slow de-escalation, major retailers are ushering in a new long “Black Friday” with the objective to win back the customer confidence in their in-store experiences and investing a huge amount of money to battle for a leading market position.

What will this look like? In-store pre-arranged appointments? Enhancing the “buy and collect” experience? Whatever avenue they choose will determine the feeling of security tentative shoppers experience.

New:

The million dollar question! With less occupancy and the expected surrounding legislation regarding usage, digital signage screens will have a broader role than simply displaying promotions and menu boards. Buy and collect will increase the share, and different types of way finders will be required.

As mentioned before, mobile integration will play a bigger role in our in shopper experiences. The (not) new technologies will emerge, and the evolution from touch interactivity to voice, gesture and haptic will become a reality. Customers will probably spend less time in the shop and so digital signage companies need to figure out how maximise this experience. IoT and data analytics will become more integral, with swathes of data to analyse coming from different sources, again, nothing new, but never implemented at scale before.

Corporate communications is another possible area of major growth. While most of the companies are thinking about how to utilise their spaces in this “new normal”, signage will become critical to display room occupancy, health metrics or routes to different areas.

Nobody can predict exactly what’s next, but in every crisis new ideas, stronger companies and innovative products emerge, and when it comes to the future of digital signage, there’s a lot to look forward to.