The retail sector has been particularly hard hit by Covid restrictions. From curbside pick-up to moving business online, retailers have made major adjustments to create a safe shopping experience. Now that customers are returning to in-person shopping, retailers still need creative solutions to keep them healthy, happy, and coming back.
What Are Retailers Doing to Create a Safe Shopping Experience?
Balancing the need for social distancing with the personal, face-to-face nature of many shopping experiences is one of the largest challenges facing retailers. In cities where masks are still required, personalized and clear communication is even more difficult.
For larger stores, paging systems—such as Vocia, from Biamp—can help improve communication while keeping everyone safe. Adding capabilities such as zoned paging and text-to-speech can create more targeted, personalized shopping experiences when needed.
How Can AV Technology Help Retailers Create Unique Shopping Experiences and Increase their Revenue?
The music and other audio cues in a store can have a big impact on the brand and the shopping experience, said Ashley Smith, regional sales manager at Biamp.
“As a retailer, you’re going to have greater success–and increased revenue –with music that appropriately targets your intended audience. For example, if the store skews to a younger audience, consider playing more current music,” she said.
Other audio, such as sound effects or sonic logos, can also impact the shopping experience. For example, many grocery stores play the sound of a thunderclap in the produce section before misting the produce to keep it fresh.
“Even small effects like that can have a noticeable influence on whether a store gets repeat business or not,” Ashley said.
Here are some other ways audio can impact retail sales:
- Higher tempo background music results in people shopping faster and buying less
- Slower paced background music creates an atmosphere conducive to browsing and increases sales by as much as 38%
- Shoppers spend, on average, $33 more per visit when music is playing
- Grocery store shoppers buy more when sad or melancholy music is played
- Playing country or classical music has resulted in measurable drops in vandalism and repair costs in or around retail establishments
- Playing music that’s perceived as clashing with a brand can reduce overall sales by 4%
- Playing music that’s perceived as complementary to a brand has been shown to increase sales by 5%
What Biamp Solution Can Make a Difference for Retailers?
Any AV solution retailers choose needs to prioritize speech intelligibility. If the paging system in a store is unintelligible it not only hinders effective communication, but it deters from a positive shopping experience. The quality of the loudspeakers has a significant impact on speech intelligibility.
Biamp has a huge offering of loudspeakers for both indoor and outdoor retail applications. Biamp’s Community loudspeakers, for example, are the best in the world for outdoor settings like shopping centers, sidewalks, and parking structures. Offering a perfect mix of performance and durability, other benefits of Community loudspeakers include:
- Premium audio coverage for demanding applications
- Exceptional speech intelligibility
- Versatile point source, line array, and subwoofer models
- Music, voice, and paging solutions
- Durable, weather-resistant models
- Amplified loudspeaker controllers for combined power, processing and system management
To learn more about the best AV solutions to make the retail experience you provide safe and profitable, contact us today.
