After a difficult 2020 holiday season, the retail industry is expected to rebound this year. While retailers will be watching closely how sales fared during Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, business experts believe holiday shopping will at least approach levels seen before the pandemic.

But, with the COVID-19 virus still a reality and with concerns over the new Omicron variant, some shoppers could be hesitant to return to in-person shopping. To entice shoppers back to stores, retailers are transforming holiday shopping into an exciting "experience" and they're leveraging DOOH promotions to do so.

In Los Angeles, the Holiday Market at Century City shopping center has worked with the Westfield media and experiential team to bring together valuable partnerships with notable brands such as Reese Witherspoon's Book Club and the AfterPay AR scavenger hunt. Westfield and Holiday Market hope the interactive experiences will attract more shoppers, which should boost sales for other businesses throughout the shopping center. Westfield works with brands to deliver results-oriented promotional campaigns and helps deliver those campaigns to retailers and consumers.

Miller, provided

Loren Miller, SVP, U.S. media and strategic partnerships with Westfield, said a growing trend for blending hybrid experiences with DOOH in physical experiences sparked the idea for the Holiday Market displays.

"We've had several partners capitalize on Westfield's premium physical assets while utilizing the power of the Westfield Network to heighten awareness, including Netflix's 'Army of the Dead,' and upcoming experiences with Afterpay and Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine brand for the holidays," Miller said in an email interview with Digital Signage Today.

The Afterpay AR holiday hunt features two-dimensional "hidden helpers," placed throughout the shopping center. Each stop unlocks a 3D character, which includes a special retail promotion redeemable on site.

Afterpay, founded in 2015 in Australia, is a platform that allows users to pay off purchases in four interest-free payments, rewarding shoppers who pay on time. They can pay 25% at time of purchase and pay off the rest later. David Di Bene, VP of retail marketing for Afterpay, said the idea for the platform came after the 2008 financial crisis threw some Millennials into crushing credit card debt.

"Today, there is an obvious acceleration in online spending but there is also a tangible shift away from credit cards — just like 2008," Di Bene said in an email interview. "Millennials and Gen Z are demonstrating a clear aversion to financial risk — especially for lifestyle purchases. We've seen the economic climate accelerate the demand for flexible shopping and payment options, and Afterpay provides a solution that allows consumers to continue shopping responsibly without the stress of credit card debt."

Di Bene said the AR shopping experience through Westfield combines both fun and engagement, along with more freedom and convenience for shoppers.

"The AR experience is also about supporting retailers during the busy shopping season," he said. "After a customer completes a phase of the scavenger hunt, they receive a discount code for one of the participating retailers, ultimately driving traffic to their in-center locations."

Hello Sunshine, another featured promotion, includes a pop-up store for Witherspoon's book club that includes merchandise and activities.

"Here shoppers will be able to pick up RBC's latest Gift of Reading box, any of Reese's book picks, and a curated collection of over 30 female-led, book-positive brands and gift ready products," Miller said.

2020 holiday season shifts priorities

While the pandemic took a toll on retail shopping during the 2020 holiday season, it did allow retailers to step back and think about how they're reaching consumers.

DOOH advertising was especially hit hard as businesses shifted their ad dollars to other mediums. Miller said another change occurred as more campaign transparency and real-time reporting affected how retailers used DOOH. Westfield embraced the shift by unveiling an "impression guarantee" on its digital campaigns.

Di Bene, provided

"We also used this time to promote our privacy-respectful anonymized video analytics platform, which provides a unique ability to target creative and capture live data in real time for in-market optimization, to answer the needs of our partners," Miller said.

The rise in QR code usage, according to Miller, was also an emerging trend during the midst of the pandemic. She said QR codes can drive consumer engagement from DOOH ads to mobile screens.

While consumers stayed away from stores in large numbers last season, retailers are banking on shoppers returning to in-store experiences after missing out a year ago. Retail experts believe there are specific aspects of going to physical stores that can't be replicated through online shopping, such as trying on clothes, for instance.

"There's still a demand for in-store shopping, so we want to be there to help retailers maximize the success of this channel as much as online," Di Bene said. "This means offering the ease and convenience of Afterpay in the in-store setting, and intersecting that with fun and engaging experiences that get shoppers excited about returning to stores."

Copyright © 2021 Networld Media. All rights reserved., source Industry News