With the rise of e-commerce, many say that the future of brick and mortar is grim. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, consumers spent $513.61 billion online alone. But, despite this shockingly high number, 85% of shoppers still prefer to purchase in person. This shows, that despite our lives being digitalized, we still crave physical experiences that involve interaction with products, places, and people.
Retailers are pressured more than ever to have stores that are engaging and ready to cater to sophisticated shoppers that come from a generation of technology, innovation, and digitization.
Smart visual merchandising is the art of enhancing a shopper’s retail experience. This blends creating appealing storefronts, interior displays, lighting, and floor plans with the principles of marketing to create more sales.
Integrating smart materials into the customer experience provides a unique space that not only attracts shoppers but keeps them in your store and encourages return customers. Smart Glass, also known as switchable glass, is a film that is embedded into or onto glass allowing it to switch from transparent to opaque. When opaque it provides an HD screening surface or privacy. When transparent, it allows the glass to be a transparent window.
Here are three ways smart glass can be integrated into stores, supporting advanced visual merchandising concepts.
Speak to Customers Without Blocking Merchandise
Traditional storefront advertising solutions are either static prints with a single message, or LED mounted screens. Both options obstruct retail windows and in-store displays and therefore, merchandise. No matter how descriptive an ad is, nothing says what a product is more than the product itself. Switchable glass allows for ads to appear and disappear so products are at the forefront of a display without compromising the opportunity to communicate with shoppers.
Customize Messaging to Attract Buyers
When paired with projection, smart glass is the ultimate screening surface with HD quality imagery and 180-degree viewing angles. Global brands can geotarget advertisements worldwide, speaking to customers in a way that feels relevant. Dynamic retail window displays can also utilize recognition software to present relevant advertisements: a father and son will see a kid’s department ad whereas a woman will see 15% off all summer sandals.
Dressing Rooms
Switchable privacy glass dressing room doors make a shopper’s experience luxe and sophisticated. Changing room doors can be transparent when vacant to indicate availability, and opaque for privacy when a shopper enters. Other privacy options include the use of projection — projecting in-store advertisements reminding customers of additional sales, or encouraging them to “share the look” on social media with hashtags that support organic brand awareness.
Improving The Retail Experience With Smart Glass
Humans process visual data better than any other form of communication. Displaying the right message, at the right time, while a product remains visually accessible draws window shoppers inside and increases customer purchases. Smart glass allows for 100% utilization of window displays: the flexibility for transparency when they want it, and messaging when you need it.
Your retail windows are your store’s most prime real estate. Explore how to utilize them with LCG® smart glass today. Contact Gauzy for a quote.
