What Are Interactive Retail Displays?

• Interactive retail displays are key to creating a more tactile, memorable in-store shopping experience. 
• Demo displays, digital displays, and easy access displays are some common types of interactive retail displays.
• Interactive retail displays can help brands differentiate themselves from competitors, increase customer recall, and leverage critical consumer insights. 

Creating a more engaging in-store shopping environment is important for brands to distinguish themselves and make a positive brand impression. Eye-catching retail displays can certainly capture attention and reinforce brand identity, but interactive retail displays take things one step further, creating a more immersive, memorable experience. 

Nearly 50% of consumers say they value the ability to touch or interact with products in brick-and-mortar stores. This is encouraging brands to think in a more interactive way about how products are displayed and the role interactive retail displays can play in elevating the shopping experience.

Here, we’ll look at the different types of retail displays and how brands can benefit from taking a more interactive approach to their display design and fabrication. 

What are the different types of interactive retail displays?

Interactive retail displays can take a variety of forms or functionality, but there are a handful of more common interactive display types that help brands engage customers and enhance the in-store customer experience. 

Demo displays

Interactive demo displays prioritize the ability for customers to test or experience a product in a hands-on manner. Demo retail displays are ideal for products where a tactile sense of how the product works is key in advancing the consumer’s decision-making process. For example, demo interactive displays can be extremely valuable in retail environments like: 

• Sporting goods
• Tools
• Electronics
• Health and wellness products

Demo retail displays empower consumers to make more confident, informed decisions, enhancing the level of brand trust and loyalty. Our dedication to end-to-end retail display manufacturing — everything from design to delivery — allowed us to create this demo display for a leading golf brand to help customers test and evaluate clubs before making a purchase. 

Digital displays

A digital retail display is a technology-driven display that uses touchscreens, video walls, interactive kiosks, or digital endcaps to help customers access additional information about products or services, or experiment with how to use a product or service in a digital environment. 

Digital interactive displays not only make it fast and easy for customers to compare similar products or services, but they can also streamline point-of-purchase processes like checking out, completing warranty information, or registering for customer reward programs. 

Easy access displays

An interactive easy access display is commonly used at the actual point-of-purchase to encourage impulse purchases. This type of interactive display works on the same principle as a traditional point-of-purchase display, but it prioritizes the ability to quickly and easily touch, feel, and test a product. 

For example, a tool brand could create an easy access display for a handheld drill that allows customers to experience the process of fitting different drill bit styles and sizes onto the drill. This lowers the buying barrier and increases the chance that customers purchase drill bits, the drill itself, or both.   

How can companies benefit from using interactive retail displays?

Yes, interactive retail displays provide customers with a more engaging customer experience, one that can be a true engine for increased sales and growth. But interactive retail displays provide a handful of additional benefits that save time and reduce costs. Some of the benefits include: 

• Consumer education in a less intrusive way. Interactive retail displays give customers the freedom to learn about and experiment with products at their own pace or in ways that best align with their preferences or priorities. This can endear customers to a brand in a more effective way that promotes brand loyalty and advocacy.
• Differentiation from competitors. The brick-and-mortar retail space is crowded and competitive. Differentiation is key and interactive retail displays can be an effective way for brands to set themselves apart from their competitors in ways that turn into positive word-of-mouth. 
• Stronger brand recall. Interactive retail displays capture and hold a customer’s attention, enhancing brand retention and recall much more effectively than static displays. This level of brand recall can prove beneficial downstream, particularly for larger ticket products where customers are more prone to a longer consideration cycle before making a purchase.  
• Deeper, more accurate customer insights. Interactive retail displays — particularly demo displays — can provide a more vivid picture of customer interest or satisfaction with a product or service. Interactive displays can provide savvy, observant brands with boots-on-the-ground insights into how customers feel about the features or capabilities of a product. This is the kind of insight that can help brands evolve products to meet the needs or preferences of their customers. 

Franklin has decades of experience in end-to-end retail display fabrication, from design and prototyping to manufacturing and warehousing. Our dedication to innovation and the highest-quality fabrication materials means we can create custom retail displays that help your brand get a leg up on the competition. 

Browse our project gallery to explore the kinds of retail displays we create, or request a quote for your custom display.