As the in-store experience evolves, retailers needs to find more ways to engage the consumer. While the associate continues to have an increasingly important role in interacting with — and educating — the consumer, they often have non-customer-facing tasks to take care of.
Adidas Golf took some of the heat off its associates by implementing interactive digital signage displays in seven Canadian locations to promote its line of Adidas Boost footwear. With the displays in place, consumers can make an informed purchasing decision at the point of purchase without having to rely on floor staff at all times.
“Whether at an actual retailer or a golf course, we are finding that there are fewer staff members on the floor and they are getting pulled in different directions at once,” said Lesley Hawkins, Brand Director of Adidas Golf and Ashworth for Canada. “We needed to find a way to give them a piece at the point of purchase that would assist in their selling efforts.”
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However, associates who aren’t too busy have themselves been aided by the digital experience. In fact, the technology has helped many employees close sales thanks to the clear presentation of product information, according to Hawkins.
“The displays allowed the associates to have one more reiteration of what they were trying to explain to the consumer,” Hawkins said in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “When there’s such high turnover, particularly in a seasonal business, and there’s so many part time staffers, product knowledge is difficult to explain on an ongoing basis with rotational staff. This unit helped them to be more well-versed in our product than they would potentially have been without it.”
Designing And Deploying The Display System
Digital signage software provider Dot2Dot Communications and design firm Shikatani Lacroix worked together to design the interactive experience for Adidas using the Lift and Learn technology from Scala.
The modular display concept shelves four individual shoes on platforms equipped with LED light sensors. When the consumer lifts a shoe off the shelf, the display’s 42-inch commercial grade LG LCD screen provides details specific to each shoe, including specifications and price. The display also highlights how the shoes appear as pro golfers wear them on the course. Customers can even compare two different shoes side by side by lifting an additional shoe.
“In golf retail today, everything is still static,” Hawkins explained. “Having a 42-inch screen allows us to show the product in a more meaningful way, and it has helped to bring the whole footwear area in the stores to life. All of a sudden, the floor is no longer a static area, and it’s helping to drive traffic and sales.”
Adidas rolled out the signage in different types of store environments, including its Adidas Sports Performance store in Toronto, its corporate store in Woodbridge, Ont., an outlet store in Ottawa, numerous “green grass” golf course pro shops and third-party Golf Town stores.
The different store types served as a pilot for Adidas to identify what types of consumers are most responsive to the display. Additionally, the brand can measure how often the on-screen content needs to change and determine the effectiveness of specific features.
“We purposefully placed these units in a variety of different locations and geographies to garner as much feedback as we could,” Hawkins stated. “We could then assess the pilot results to determine what the next rollout of digital experiences will look like.”
In listening to consumer feedback, Adidas Golf has since made changes to various displays with regard to sizing and mobility of the units, so that they can be moved to different areas of the store when necessary, usually depending on golf season.
Adidas Golf plans to roll out the digital experience to more Canadian store locations in 2016, in Adidas branded retail stores or green grass shops. As part of the expansion, product assortment will vary depending on the location of the display within each store.
