Using technology at the POS is a strategy that helps your company achieve better results. Proposing and investing in point-of-sale innovations is a great way to grab customers’ attention, make your space more appealing, drive more foot traffic to the store and, as a result, close more sales.
Today, when consumers walk into a store, they’re not just looking for products. The shopping experience and the way they interact with the business are key factors that will influence their purchase decision. This means that even if someone doesn’t buy anything on their first visit to a store, a positive experience can bring that person back.
If a little more than half of consumers don’t convert right away, we shouldn’t overlook that slice of the market. By using resources like technology, it’s possible to transform and enrich their experiences so they’re surprised and moved by what they see.
There’s a lot you can do to impress the shopper. Check out some of the innovations that become possible when you use technology at the POS, and get inspired!
1. Interactive holographic projections
How about getting the chance to interact with a brand’s spokesperson and get information that really makes a difference in the purchase decision? This is one of the most unexpected ways to impress potential customers and make their in-store experience much more meaningful.
To tackle this challenge — bringing new meaning to the way consumers interact with the product — Alice Wonders used an interactive holographic projection to create a version of the Sensodyne dentist that answered shoppers’ main questions in the store.
By pressing one of three buttons, customers could get information about sensitive teeth right there, such as what to do to relieve the problem, how a specialized product’s technology could help, and what causes the condition. Being able to interact with an authority figure, capable of clearly conveying the product’s benefits and building an emotional bond with the consumer, meant this POS technology delivered impressive results for the brand.
Every location where Sensodyne’s interactive holographic projection was installed saw a significant increase in sales. Three times as many consumers took the product home and were surprised by the experience they had in the store. Can you imagine seeing similar results?
The point here is that the technology was used to surprise potential buyers. Rather than being a mere way to grab their attention, it was used to win them over and convince them of the product’s real benefits. We need to think of solutions like this — ones that tell a story and use the most effective design to drive conversions.
2. Virtual reality and 3D glasses
How about visiting a major event without having to travel? Does the idea of transporting your customer to the place they most want to be, watching all the action unfold with nothing more than technology, appeal to you? That’s exactly how Volkswagen brought hundreds of consumers to its booth at the auto show, with a mix of Google Street View and virtual reality.
Its interactive point of sale let users travel to Detroit to see the biggest booth at the event and discover all the new things the brand had to offer its customers. Wearing 3D glasses or navigating a virtual map, they could keep up with what was happening and have an immersive experience at the show.
3. Sensor-based interaction
Applying technology at the POS means we need to think about how to give customers not only a memorable experience, but also a way to differentiate the products we’re trying to sell.
With computers, this is a particular challenge, since many consumers don’t know exactly how to choose the machine that best suits their needs and end up buying products that exceed or fall short of what they expected, based on easily understood factors like price and processing power.
To help consumers understand why an Acer computer was the best choice, creating a pop-up store where there was no need to interact directly with the PCs was a huge success. Using motion-capture sensors, customers were given the opportunity to operate laptops and computers without ever touching them.
The idea, somewhat futuristic and very different from what we’re used to seeing out there, turned into a fun activity and a rich experience for potential consumers. Through it, they were able to better understand which features to look for in a computer and which device was best equipped to deliver them.
In the past, using technology at the POS was a very difficult task. Investing in these activations could mean very costly campaigns for brands that were hard to replicate across many stores — when what’s needed is to achieve results that matter, not just a cool case study. Today, however, the equipment a good point-of-sale interaction requires is much cheaper to acquire and can deliver returns quite quickly.
When we experience unexpected tech interactions, we feel like we’re in the future and get the chance to see firsthand the benefits a brand is trying to sell. Converting therefore becomes easier, and so does attracting consumers who otherwise wouldn’t stop at your point of sale. Creating meaningful, lasting impressions that can translate into loyalty and long-term profit is another result of starting to think about introducing technology at the POS.
Promoting a product with the help of technology brings other advantages, too. People who visit your store are more likely to post about it on social media or share an activation that catches them by surprise. And this free promotion, combined with the influence of shoppers who spread the word about an intriguing point of sale, turns the cost of POS technology into an investment.
Technology at the POS can put your space in the spotlight and help you achieve better results. Did you like what you saw here? Share your thoughts on these cases with us in the comments!
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