Unconventional Advantages of Wayfinding Signage in Retail

Author: Steve

Sep. 09, 2024

Unconventional Advantages of Wayfinding Signage in Retail

Discover the surprising benefits of wayfinding signage beyond just giving directions. This exploration will delve into unconventional advantages that go beyond the expected.

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Did you know that 75% of shoppers feel stressed when they can&#;t find what they&#;re looking for in a store? Wayfinding signs can change that. Studies show that using these signs can reduce customer stress by 20%, making shopping a more enjoyable experience.

Discover how clever signs can improve shopping, exploring the unique benefits of wayfinding for a more enjoyable and profitable retail experience.

Short Summary

  • Wayfinding signage in retail extends beyond navigation, reducing customer stress by 20% and enhancing familiarity with a store, making shopping more comfortable.
  • Unconventional benefits include self-service facilitation, providing a canvas for brand identity, aiding in better merchandising decisions, and freeing up staff for customer engagement.
  • Digital wayfinding solutions and future tech like augmented reality promise more interactive and personalized shopping experiences, improving navigation and product discovery.
  • AIScreen, a prominent digital signage provider, shapes the retail landscape by emphasizing the hidden advantages of wayfinding signage, transforming shopping experiences.

What is Wayfinding Signage?

Wayfinding is finding your way from one place to another. Wayfinding signage, like signs and tools, makes it easy for people to know where they are and how to get around.

As per AIScreen research, wayfinding signage boosts in-store efficiency by 40%, enhancing customer satisfaction and dwell time.

At AIScreen, we see wayfinding signage not just as a tool for direction but as a means to empower customers. Our digital wayfinding solutions enable shoppers to independently navigate through stores, reducing reliance on staff assistance.

This self-service approach not only streamlines the shopping experience but also allows customers to explore the store at their own pace, increasing their comfort and satisfaction levels.

At AIScreen, we&#;re not just tech enthusiasts; we&#;re advocates for making your shopping journey seamless and satisfying. We&#;re here to turn every aisle into an adventure, ensuring you have the freedom to explore and discover in your comfort.

Five Key Types of Wayfinding Signs

Overhead Signage

Big stores like supermarkets use overhead signs to help you find things easily. These signs hang above sections to show what&#;s below them.

They work best when they&#;re high enough to be seen from a distance, and you need to be careful about shelves blocking the view.

Aisle Signage

Stores use aisle signs to help you find things in smaller sections, like the dairy aisle. These signs are more specific, pointing out exactly where products like milk and cheese are. It&#;s all about making shopping easier for customers.

Freestanding Signage

Big stores with multiple floors use freestanding signs to help customers find their way. These signs can be a mix of small ones for aisles and overheads and bigger ones like totems and frames.

It&#;s important to put these large signs where customers can easily see them, like in lobbies, near elevators, and at the top and bottom of escalators, to make finding directions easy.

Wall and Door Signage

Having signs that show customers where important things like bathrooms or checkouts are can make your store look better to customers.

Just make sure the signs are easy to see for those who need them but not too distracting for others.

Digital Wayfinding Solutions

Many stores use windows digital signage at the checkout, which are great for updating information. For wayfinding, you can use a touchscreen so customers can zoom in on a map to find what they need.

Non-Obvious Benefits of Wayfinding Signage

The Importance of Familiarity

People like going to stores they know because they feel comfortable. Even though stores like Walmart and McDonald&#;s might seem the same, it&#;s a good thing because our lives change a lot, and having familiar places helps reduce stress.

Digital signage retail like directory apps can be used to make stores both personal and familiar. They show where things are, even if they move, and keep the store looking and feeling the same everywhere, which makes people feel at home.

Self-Service Stores

Lots of people in stores like to do things on their own. You&#;ll see folks with headphones in, kind of in their world.

The store&#;s signs showing where things are help them find what they need without bothering the staff.

A Full Canvas

Using big screens in the store is a great way to show everything about your brand in one place. It keeps the store&#;s style, the online look, and what the brand stands for in one spot.

The screens in the store also help people find their way around and see what&#;s happening there. You can learn about different parts of the store, find out about events or new things coming, and even get important info like safety notices, all on the big screen.

At AIScreen, we&#;re not just talking about screens; we&#;re creating a visual symphony that harmonizes the brand&#;s identity and guides through the store experience.

We&#;re here to turn every glance at the screen into a moment of discovery, ensuring you&#;re not just shopping but engaging with a story, all at the convenience of a big, beautiful canvas.

Better Merchandising

Making a store layout can be tricky, but using signs as part of the design can show if there are any issues. If the digital plan doesn&#;t look good on one screen, the real plan won&#;t either.

With digital signs to guide you, you can easily try out different layouts and names for sections. This helps you understand how the whole store will feel, making it easier to show customers later.

More Staff Opportunities

When you check out how online marketing works, there are four stages in how customers go through it. It starts with getting the attention of people who don&#;t know about you, goes to making a sale, and then there&#;s the fourth part, making customers happy, called &#;delight.&#;

In stores, we usually focus on getting attention, making sales, etc. But the important part is making customers happy, so they tell their friends about the store. Studies say recommendations from friends are the best advertising.

However, store staff are often busy, and that&#;s where signs help. If signs handle basic things like directions, staff can spend more time making customers happy, which keeps them returning.

The Road Ahead: What the Future of Retail Wayfinding Looks Like

Exciting things are happening with technology to make shopping better. New stuff like augmented reality (AR) is changing how we find our way in malls.

With AR, you can get directions and info about products in real time, and smart algorithms can suggest things you might like and help you find them easily. As these cool features keep growing, we can expect an even more fun and personalized shopping experience in the coming years.

Conclusion

In conclusion, wayfinding signage in retail goes beyond just guiding customers&#;it&#;s a powerful tool with numerous benefits. Whether it&#;s reducing customer stress, enhancing familiarity, or providing a canvas for brand identity, signs play a crucial role in creating a positive shopping experience.

As we navigate this retail journey, AIScreen stands out as a leading digital signage provider, shaping how we experience stores for years. Explore the hidden advantages of wayfinding signage and embrace the positive changes it brings to your retail space.

For more details, visit our contact us page.

Improving Your Shopping Malls With Indoor Mapping

Indoor maps do more than just help shoppers get from point A to point B. Learn how indoor maps can benefit shopping malls and the shoppers that frequent them.

Indoor Map Use Cases: Shopping Malls

When you&#;re making your way to a shopping mall, navigation is straightforward. All you need to do is grab your and open a GPS app.

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However, the case isn&#;t the same for indoor navigation. In especially large malls, the sheer number of stores and confusing layouts can make it hard to find your way. And while static map boards may help people navigate an indoor space, they&#;re not always easy to read and follow.

Digital indoor mapping solutions like Mappedin can fix that problem. In fact, indoor mapping does more than just allow visitors to navigate &#; they have a myriad of other uses, from increasing accessibility to facilitating promotions. 

Read on to find out how your shopping mall can benefit from indoor mapping. 

Wayfinding and Directions 

Wayfinding is a combination of navigation aids and information systems that help someone to find their way to a particular place. It encompasses many disciplines &#; architecture, landscaping, lighting, signage, and graphic design, to name a few. 

Indoor wayfinding uses elements such as indoor maps and building directories to help visitors navigate. Color coding and clustered signage are also used to assist people in getting around extensive, complex facilities like transport terminals or office buildings. For shopping malls, indoor mapping makes it easier for shoppers and visitors to get step-by-step directions to their desired store.

Wayfinding for Shopping Malls 

In the context of retail spaces, wayfinding does more than allow customers to navigate. Good wayfinding in shopping malls help people find specific retail stores and create an efficient shopping route.

Plus, customers won&#;t just find their way to their favourite department stores &#; they&#;ll also be notified of ongoing promotions. You can set up notifications to trigger when they pass certain areas, like discount vouchers for a nearby restaurant. 

One-way Pathing 

Malls are designed for the shopper, not for the store. Most malls are built with a one-way layout that allows shoppers to enter and exit without weaving around obstacles. This design reduces congestion in back hallways and helps shoppers find their way to different retail and grocery stores. 

One-way pathing via an indoor mapping solution ensures that shoppers don't get lost. It can help keep your shoppers from getting too frustrated or disoriented by providing them with clear directions from point A to point B. This type of wayfinding is beneficial for first-time visitors since it gives them clear, unambiguous instructions. 

Multi-destination Wayfinding 

People rarely visit a shopping center for just one thing. While one-way pathing can help new shoppers go from the entrance to the store they want, what if shoppers want to visit different stores? 

That&#;s where multi-destination wayfinding comes in. With an indoor mapping solution, shoppers can create a route that goes through multiple stores. Their path will be optimized, helping them save time and energy with the most convenient route possible.

Drive Additional Traffic to Your Website/Mobile App 

Another benefit that mall owners can get from indoor mapping solutions is extra online traffic. Most digital maps are accessed through shoppers&#; mobile devices, so you can drive more traffic to your website or shopping mall app by hosting your maps there.

In addition to increasing visitors to your website and improving the user experience, your website can be an information hub. Shoppers can find store information and plan out their shopping journey before even stepping foot in your mall. 

Touchless Directions with Kiosk QR Code

Wayfinding kiosks are often used in conjunction with the mall&#;s mobile app or website. Using QR codes, shoppers can easily get directions to their destination store without going through complicated menus.

To get touchless directions, shoppers can simply scan a QR code to open the map in the browser of their mobile . For shoppers that have a hard time remembering directions, they can bring them on-the-go after building their route at a kiosk. The kiosk will generate a QR code that customers can scan using their to receive the directions. Combined with indoor positioning technology, this works just like a GPS app that can provide real-time location updates during the shopper&#;s journey. 

Shopping and Mall Management 

Implementing location technologies can provide a better customer experience for the shopper. Here are three ways that location-based services can help customers.

Highlight Amenities/Services

In addition to shops, mall amenities are just as important to shoppers. Hygiene-related facilities like hand sanitizer stations and bathrooms are especially essential because they&#;re often needed urgently. 

Using indoor positioning systems, shoppers can get the fastest route to the amenity closest to them. This eliminates the need to search for physical signage or go halfway across the mall to get to the washroom they are familiar with. 

Accessibility Mode

Designing malls with accessibility in mind is always a good idea. However, to make sure your mall accommodates shoppers that need them, you need to make disability-friendly routes more visible.

An indoor mapping platform can provide shoppers with an accessible route. If they choose that option, the mapping software will build a path that prioritizes elevators over escalators and stairs.

Line Management 

With social distancing protocols, lines can take up a lot of space. Indoor maps can offer line and space management options that allow shoppers to make reservations and save their spots in a line. This way, they can avoid the frustration of waiting for long periods of time, and you can save space (and encourage safe shopping) by eliminating crowded, physical lines. 

Promotional Uses 

Promoting goods and services in innovative ways helps your tenants and shoppers. Here are three examples of how indoor mapping technologies can help diversify your mall&#;s promotional methods. 

In-store Promotion for Shops and Malls

One of the benefits of having indoor mapping solutions is that you can promote a sale or discount and tell shoppers where to enjoy them. For instance, you can promote a discount at one of your mall&#;s restaurants while giving directions to its location. 

Promote Events

Not all shoppers are aware of the events happening at your mall. Indoor mapping can help notify them of future events and even give them the chance to reserve tickets or register! You can also notify shoppers of events that are currently happening to attract more attention.

Proximity Marketing

Everyone&#;s shopping routes are different. With proximity marketing, you can set up notifications that alert shoppers whenever they walk past certain stores. This notification can contain discount vouchers or other promotional items that may attract them to visit stores they didn&#;t initially plan to visit.

Added Services 

Indoor maps can improve the whole shopping experience from start to finish. With developments in positioning systems, your app can even help shoppers before they step foot in your mall!

Save My Parking Spot

Parking can be one of the most frustrating parts of the shopping experience. Thankfully, your mobile app can help shoppers find empty spots in your parking lot, so they don&#;t waste time searching for it themselves. In addition to that, the app can also save their parking spots so customers can easily find their way back to their car without getting lost. 

Curbside Pickup 

Curbside pickups are a staple of post-pandemic life. Indoor mapping solutions improve on it further by making the experience even more accessible. Working with your tenants, shoppers can request a curbside pickup through the app and get a notification when they should leave.

As the shopper makes their way to the mall, your tenant will get an ETA so they can prioritize their order. Once they arrive, shops can immediately deliver their purchases to the shopper&#;s car. 

By making the process as seamless and simple as possible, you can reduce dwell times and drive down parking lot congestion from cars waiting for curbside pickups. 

Data and Integrations 

Location-based services for shopping centers don&#;t just benefit shoppers. As a mall manager, you can glean important insights from the data you gather as well. 

Shopper Insights and Analytics

Using indoor mapping data, you can receive insights into how shoppers use the shopping mall maps. Are they more likely to search for a location or browse categories? How many shoppers search for "hats" and then select a specific location? If enough shoppers are searching for a specific retailer that isn't available at your mall, you might recognize the demand for that location and lease out a space. 

From the data, you can further understand shopper intent and behavior. In turn, this data can be used to make more informed decisions when developing or renovating your mall&#;s layout. 

Integrations With Conversational AI

If you&#;re looking to build AI chatbots for your mall app or website, location data from indoor mapping software can be a gold mine of resources. By providing your AI with real shopper behavior data, you can improve its ability to answer your shoppers&#; questions.  

Improving Customer Experience With Indoor Maps 

Indoor mapping can benefit various industries, including international airports and office buildings. Recent developments in indoor mapping and positioning technologies have made them incredibly indispensable for shopping malls.

Shoppers can benefit from the convenience provided by mapping services, from locating their favorite store to building a shopping route. Meanwhile, you can benefit from the data and insights gathered from the software. 

With years of industry experience, Mappedin is ready to take your shopping mall navigation to the next level. Our professional services can help make shopping more fun and delightful for your shoppers. Contact us today to get started! 

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Shopping Mall Wayfinding. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

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