IN-STORE MOUNT DESIGN
High street stores have to wow and entice their customers in-store with dynamic digital display designs. This offers up mounting challenges, not only in the fluidity of change but also in the numerous building types and structural conditions that many retail stores occupy.
With the retail sector on-line sales outpacing in-store growth for the last four years and the uncertainty of Brexit having a mixed impact, greater emphasis is being placed on analysis of customer habits at the point of sale.
Changing dynamic content to match customer needs in an attempt to increase footfall is the only way some see of saving the high street from further decline. Of course, as competition in the retail sector is so fierce, all ways of gaining an advantage must be considered and keeping up with the latest technology is a position few can ignore. So what can a mount manufacturer bring to this signage party that is more than a wall or ceiling mount?
THE RETAIL SPACE
LED module video walls have become more popular by creating the wow factor. Until the price falls for smaller pixel pitch modules, ultra-high resolution and 4K content will continue to be played on 80in to 110in displays. Retailers need to increase their engagement with customers across all platforms to deliver a seamless shopping experience.
So how does this relate to mount design? Well, store windows and interiors are changed regularly so mount design needs to be flexible in approach and solutions adaptable to meet such needs.
When lingerie retailer Boux Avenue asked Unicol to provide a mounting solution for a variable position 65” screen in their shop windows a track system called Roller-Trac was produced. This allows screens to be moved from side to side or backwards and forwards, swivelled and rotated within a shop window environment. It provides shop window dressers flexibility with their dynamic content. This same concept was also used by Hugo Boss to move a 1x3 suspended video wall back from a window for cleaning and maintenance.
Retail space is expensive and has to be optimised so as LED video walls become more popular and affordable they will require moving either out from a wall for maintenance or back from a window for a tile replacement or cleaning the window. In London floor mounted Roller-Trac versions have already been installed to move large LED video walls.
THE OPTIMISED DESIGN SPACE
With over 50 years experience Unicol has standard in-store mounting solutions for wall, floor, ceiling, floor to ceiling and kiosk installations. Taking this further Unicol have looked to Japanese interior design for inspiration. Fusuma are vertical rectangular panels, which can slide from side to side to redefine spaces within a room. These are traditionally made of wood and paper but there is no reason why this concept could not be used with large format displays mounted to the Unicol Roller-Trac.
Businesses want to see a good ROI from the technology they have bought into so when the store interior needs changing or refurbishment why not simply move the displays to a new position?
To help architects and consultants to design stores in this fashion, Unicol designs its products using 3D software. When custom builds are undertaken designs can be exchanged or networked with clients and it has already unlocked more efficient ways of working at all stages of the project lifecycle.
Digital signage is all about technology connecting people together to educate or influence their behaviour. What tends to be forgotten, when your future is in the cloud, is that you need quality, well-engineered mounts to support you. Unicol can add value throughout the project cycle. Talk to us first, says Unicol - you will be surprised how a down to earth conversation is vital for success!