A standard display will broadcast content, typically playing images and movie content in an endless loop. Highly effective at grabbing the attention of a shopper, demonstrating product and boosting sales, displays are becoming more and more common across all retail sectors.

An interactive display builds on these powerful marketing tools by changing in response to the action of a customer. This provides the means to deliver more targeted information to customers at the point of purchase. Both compelling and persuasive, the clear benefits of interactivity in many retail environments are outlined in the slideshow above.

One of the simplest forms of interactivity is the sensor. The customer does not interact with the display itself, but the display will change in some way when a customer is close or picks up a product.

Buttons and touchscreens provide a higher level of interactivity with the customer opting consciously to interact with the display and allowing the marketeer to deliver much more targetted information on a single display.

Other forms of interactivity include barcode scanners, QR code readers and lift-and-learn sensors. All have the same things in common:

• Content on the display changes in response to a customer action allowing relevant and highly targeted content to be presented
• All can be provided on standard AD Series displays without additional software or processing overhead
• Interactivity data can be captured and reported, particularly useful for understanding time of day or day of week trends and for use on battery power.

So, read through the slideshow on this page and browse the product tabs to see how interactivity represents a high value marketing win for a low incremental cost.

Meet the humble push button. At less than $1.50 each buttons are a very low cost but highly effective way of adding impact to your POS, creating value for your customer and differentiating your displays.

Add up to 5 buttons to any standard display, framed or open frame. The content to be played when buttons are pressed is defined by a simple file naming convention for the files stored on the SD card/internal memory. There is no additional software required, no additional processor costs, no mapping complexities just simplicity.

Common Applications
There are a number of ways buttons can be used, here is one of the most common. Video 1 plays in a loop attracting customers to approach the products on display. A single button is labelled 'Push for latest offers' or 'Push for demonstration' or 'Push for available colours'. When the button is pushed, Video 2 plays. When Video 2 is finished, Video 1 resumes. Very simple, but with a single button your customer has interacted with your marketing and you have communicated twice as much information.

The same can be repeated with up to 5 buttons providing a simple product index or product selector for a customer. Multiple buttons can achieve the same depth as a simple touchscreen application but for a much lower cost.

AD Series Value
We have manufactured thousands of displays with buttons and have a lot of experience of what works. An AD Series display will deliver:

• instant content load on button press
• intelligent parameters if buttons are pressed multiple times
• seamless interworking with other features such as motion sensor
• superior performance with battery power

Buttons can be simply integrated into the casing of a framed display or provided on trailing leads to be placed in more elaborate housing. For volume orders, buttons options include colour choice, lighting, style, position and more.

Touchscreens are now highly familiar to the majority of consumers who use them intuitively. A well designed touchscreen application has a high impact and will deliver highly targetted content when and where the customer needs it.

AD Series Value
AD Series Simple Touch applications were developed in response to customer demand. Customers wanted the benefits of robust and high value touch applications for instore promotions but with none of the cost or management overhead of a kiosk or pc-based display. So, with Simple Touch there is no additional software required, no additional processor costs, no mapping complexities, just simplicity. The content to be played when different areas of the screen are touched is defined by simple file play naming conventions for the files stored on the SD card/internal memory. Touch points and content can be easily changed and updated. The only additional hardware requirement is the touchscreen membrane which is generally around 30-35% of the display cost.

Common Applications
Simple Touch can be used for basic navigation and to provide additional information on a product range. It can incorporate a 'home' button. It can also be used to deliver more complex, multi-layered applications such as product selectors.

Standard touchscreens are resistive.

Motion sensors are a low cost and unobtrusive way of achieving a number of key benefits in the retail environment. They can be added to any display and can be used on their own or in conjunction with buttons or touchscreens.

Common Applications

• To deliver additional content A motion sensor can trigger a display to play different content when a customer approaches. A video to attract shoppers plays as standard and changes to a further video as they approach. With appropriate content, this can be highly successful at grabbing a customer's attention.
• To control sound Constant sound in a retail environments can be difficult to manage and may even result in shop staff switching displays off. A motion sensor can be used to regulate content delivery so that visual content is always present but sound is only added when customers are near. The start of the audio will also help attract a customer's attention.
• With battery power All displays running on battery power have a need to conserve energy. A motion sensor will allow a display to 'sleep' until shoppers are close by. As market leader in deploying battery-driven displays, AD Series has developed a set of intelligent parameters within its Clever Play software to optimise play opportunities whilst minimising power usage.

AD Series Value
We have worked with motion sensors for many years now. Our standard Clever Play software which provides intelligent parameters for the use of interactive components links motion sensor activation to sleep mode preserving power and display wear when no one is present such as overnight.

Other interactive technologies include:

• Lift sensors where a display changes in response to a product being lifted by a customer
• Barcode scanners
• RFID (similar to barcode identification)
• Queue control switching
• Serial data integration
• Content with QR codes allowing pass off to mobile

All of these technologies can be used to switch a display from one state to another. The most common example is to play a different piece of content, but other applications include switching sound on and off or changing the display from a 'sleep' mode. As with buttons, touchscreens and motion sensors, all can be delivered on AD Series displays with no additional software required, no additional processor costs, no complexities, just simplicity.

Displays can also be used in conjunction with other switched components such as lights to create a fully integrated interactive experience. Impressive to a customer, POS combining displays, lighting and sensors can in fact be relatively simple to implement.

Other more complex interactive applications include the ability to 'push' instructions to the display via a human operator and interactive applications delivered on network connected displays.

Most of the interactive applications above involve some degree of customisation as they can be very specific to a particular environment. Please contact us to discuss your ideas.