Digital signs to play bigger role in shopping decisions, experts say

In 2024, amid our post-brickand-mortar retail, signs, or at least digital signs, will play a bigger role than ever in terms of influencing our purchases and overall decisions.

That’s according to Nita Odedra, strategy director for Blue Rhine Industries, a Dubaibased system integrator for digital signage and customer passenger experiences.

Gone are the days of neon and light bulb-illuminated signs, and in are the days of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens with sensors that potentially work in tandem with the smartphones in the pockets of millions of customers.

“There’s a transition coming that will bring both mediums together,” Ms Odedra said, referring to physical retail stores and screens.

“We’ve seen this transition in the UAE especially, where you have these flagship stores where there’s less product on display, but there’s more experiences viewable on screens.”

Although LED and OLED screens already consume far less power than traditional signs and monitors, as more businesses and entities strive to reduce their carbon footprint and potentially achieve net-zero goals, Ms Odedra said signage technology will push the envelope on existing OLED designs to help make that possible.

Sensors in and near the screens and monitors will play a bigger role, she said.

“The sensors would trigger content to display only when someone is in close proximity in a store,” she said. “You’re also going to have screens contained in housing that’s more eco-friendly,” she added, noting the plastic that generally surrounds the screens.

Software that allows for the remote monitoring of signage too will play an increasingly important role.

Zayed International Airport is an example of what to expect in terms of demand for sustainable signage.

“They wanted to reduce energy consumption as much as possible ... so we designed something custom made, not only in the form of the LEDs, but also to reduce energy consumption,” she said.

Patent filings and plentiful prototypes suggest that interactive store sign experiences based on gesture control will also begin to hit a stride in 2024, said Ms Odedra.

Such technology will enable customers to interact with screens in stores without touching them, heightening the overall shopping experience with the wave of a hand.

She added that some of those signs will also be transparent.

“We’ve partnered with a company called Ameria AG,” she said. “And there’s this clear screen that’s in between two poles ... able to track gestures.”

Similar signage technology and shopping experiences were also previewed in 2022 at Mall of the Emirates in Dubai, through a partnership between Cisco and Majid Al Futtaim.

Ms Odedra said with the technology quickly evolving and prices coming down, gesture-controlled sign experiences will soon become more prevalent as well.

“It’s a Minority Report experience,” she said, referring to the sci-fi film.

Although it doesn’t fall squarely into the realm of traditional signage, Ms Odedra said that retail stores will be increasingly using the smartphone screens carried by customers for augmented reality experiences that will help to inform purchasing decisions.

“You could hover your phone over a screen or a mannequin, and it could give you information on that product,” she said. Proximity sensors and various beacons will also be a part of the shopping experience. “What you see [on the screen] might be hyper-personalised based on your interests,” she said.

Digital billboards will also be reliant on sensors and data that is contingent on things such as weather and events.

“If you’re somewhere in the UK where it’s not so sunny all the time, on those sunny days, you might suddenly see an advertisement for ice cream or air con units,” she said.

Billboards and signs might also be able to use automatic number-plate recognition and facial recognition to help display relevant information depending on what cars are driving by or who is walking near screens and digital signs, Ms Odedra said.

Interactive shop sign experiences based on gesture control will also begin to hit a stride next year