Today, the vast majority of retail media budgets are spent online across a retailer’s website, social media channels, or app. Less than 1 per cent is spent within the retailer’s physical stores. 

Ben Allman, regional VP of sales at Broadsign, aims to get retailers, brands and agencies thinking more about in-store screens. He believes that increasing the in-store share of retail media budgets will deliver better results to retailers and brands. 

Broadsign specialises in software that enables brands, agencies and retailers to buy, sell and manage campaigns and content across in-store screens. Allman has five tips for those looking at in-store screens to improve sales and shopper experience. 

Localisation – tailor your message to local shoppers

Many retail groups display identical in-store screen programming across an entire network or at least multiple stores by state. However, tailoring the message to shoppers at an individual store level can deliver significant benefits. 

He says retailers have a wealth of data that can be used to optimise retail media campaigns. Connecting digital screens with external data sources can automate the delivery of campaigns and content, making it more relevant to shoppers at any time. 

“For example, many of the bigger FMCG companies own a diverse range of brands, which allows them to promote products like ice creams when it’s 25 degrees or tinned soup when it’s 2.5 degrees. That can be done easily, as long as you have access to the data, such as weather conditions, which is free to anyone.”

In another example, if a supermarket is selling a lot of beer on a Saturday afternoon, that’s probably a good time for Heineken to appear on screens, whereas, on a Monday morning, people might be stopping by to buy bakery goods to take to the office, so beer is unlikely to be top of mind. A combo offer of juice and a sandwich will likely induce sales. 

Not all the on-screen content needs to promote products. For example, it can introduce Dan, who has been running the deli counter in that store for the past decade, or post a message of support for a local sports team playing that day. “It creates engagement. It makes those screens more attention-grabbing while also adding a bit of utility. There’s a big opportunity to increase the relevance of what you’re running on your screens by tapping into localisation,” explains Allman.

“Store A is not necessarily the same as store B in terms of the type of people going into that store and the products they purchase. We’d love to see more brands and retailers tailoring the creative and the content to make it more locally relevant.”

Allman knows that the owner of a 1000-store network might think such a solution is prohibitively complex. It’s not. 

“Highly tailored content can be automated very easily. Several of our retail customers are beginning to experiment with templates built-in HTML, which can be updated automatically based on stock levels, pricing and promotional information, and screen location. Anything really. It’s not a case of having to create 50 different creatives for 50 different stores.” 

Link your network to point-of-sale and inventory data

Linking the screen software to inventory data can help a store promote products like produce that might be nearing its expiry date, for example – or that suspends a product promotion if stock levels are running low.  

“It is not a great customer experience to see something on special on an in-store screen and then discover the store has sold out of it. This kind of risk is relatively easy to mitigate, but in a lot of cases, we’re not seeing it being done. We want to inspire the market to do more with their digital screens because the technology is much more capable than most people realise. 

“In most cases, any mid-tier or larger retailer will have a program they use to manage that information, so it’s simply a case of connecting that with our platform. For example, avocados can go from rock-hard to guacamole in the space of a few days. That’s where those capabilities could be valuable.”

Carefully plan placement of screens in stores

The location of in-store screens is important if you want to drive a purchase decision on the spot. Placing them at the checkout might encourage people to sign up for loyalty programs or promote payment options, but they are unlikely to prompt impulse sales at the endpoint of the customer journey. 

Placement at the front of stores or in specific departments, like fresh produce, health and beauty, or liquor, will likely impact sales most. However, Allman counsels against placing too many screens inside a store, as it risks diluting their impact and even worse, it potentially impacts the shopper experience.  

“We are not suggesting putting screens everywhere. There’s a tipping point. There’s no one-size-fits-all. The approach depends on the store itself, the in-store environment and layout, and the customer experience throughout the store.”

Open the network to relevant, non-endemic advertisers

Allman sees opportunities for retailers to increase revenue from in-store screens by opening the retail media channel to relevant, non-endemic advertisers and brands. One Australian department store, for example, is running ads for travel and luxury vehicle brands – products relevant to the store’s target customer demographic but which it does not sell.  

“Maybe you have a lot of families going through a supermarket on a Sunday afternoon doing their weekly grocery shop. It could be a good opportunity for Disney Plus to promote its latest slate of family-friendly content.”

New Zealand-based retailer The Warehouse Group recently opened up its retail media network to relevant, non-endemic advertisers and is seeing positive results. It’s expected that more retailers will follow suit in 2025. 

Use dynamic content (not stills)

Allman says many retail media networks predominantly display static images on their screens. “Nothing is wrong with that; they can still be compelling if appropriately designed. But there’s a stack of research out there that proves that video is more engaging than static images. There’s a reason they don’t allow advertisers to run videos on roadside billboards in Australia – it’s more distracting for drivers. 

“Using more video is a big opportunity – even things like subtle animation where you take a static creative and add a little movement to it here and there can improve engagement.” 

He counsels that in-store screens are very much a glance medium. “People don’t look at these screens like they look at their TVs at home. In most cases, you get a split second of a shopper’s attention, so you have a very short time frame to convey a message. That means the creative is incredibly important. You need to think hard about the message you’re trying to convey and how you will convey it.”

• To learn more about Broadsign’s solutions for in-store screen advertising, take a look at the company’s website here.