An average increase in purchase probability of 8.1 percent: Tech start-up Cyreen conducted an extensive study to investigate how in-store retail media influences customer purchasing behavior.
Instore Retail Media: Study Proves Impact of Digital Signage
German Start-up Cyreen investigated the impact of in-store digital signage for retail media purposes in a study. The result: digital in-store advertising increases the likelihood of customers purchasing advertised products by an average of 8.1 percent.
Unlike traditional price promotions, which often lead to delayed purchases, digital signage proved to generate additional purchases and also had a positive effect on other products of the same brand or category.
The study also examined the profitability of digital signage: with an advertising elasticity of 0.18, the effect was around 50 percent above the industry average for traditional brand advertising.
More than 6 years in the making
Cyreen says that the study is based on more than six years of research, 237 advertising campaigns and the evaluation of around 30 million customer journeys in food retail.
According to the findings, in-store advertising is particularly effective for products purchased spontaneously and emotionally, such as snacks or cosmetics, for new or inexpensive items, and for well-known brands that consumers trust more quickly.
Timing also plays a role: particularly strong effects were seen on weekends, in the afternoon, or in the evening, when attention is high and willingness to buy is greater. Good weather and crowded markets further enhanced the effect, as did emotionally designed campaigns.
GDPR-compliant technology
For the study, Cyreen used its own CAP technology, an RFID technology for structured data collection, and the GS1 standard GTIN, formerly EAN, for product identification. The basis is a GDPR-compliant tracking system that works without personal data: RFID chips on shopping carts record which commercials customers see near a display.
The first-party data collected is then linked to the purchases made, which are identified at the checkout using the GTIN (Global Trade Item Number). This allows the actual incremental advertising impact and conversion to be immediately tracked and evaluated.
The full study was also published in the Journal of Marketing (Paywall).
