What’s the ROI of Getting Shoppers Into the Holiday Spirit? 3 Ways to Influence it

Year after year, data from retailers shows that their investments in holiday displays and in-store visuals pay off in the form of increased foot traffic and higher spending. This leaves little debate that shopping environments influence consumers’ impressions of retailers and the products they sell.

What's up for debate? While retailers can see the overall positive return on investment, they don’t usually know which design and experiential elements have the most impact, and which have the least. Equipped with this information, they would be able to craft precision strategies around their visuals, just like they do their product selections, inventory and merchandising.

With in-store holiday shopping on track to grow by only about 3 percent this year, it’s essential that retailers know exactly how their visuals are contributing to getting shoppers through their doors and increasing their cart sizes.

This requires being able to answer questions like: Which displays worked best last year? And which trends should we focus on this holiday season?

Here are three data-centric and digital-forward ways retailers can confidently answer these questions to maximize ROI on their holiday displays.

1. Use insights from years past to inform the year to come.

Start with a comprehensive review of display decisions from last year and previous seasons. What were the most highly trafficked areas? What were the highest converting product placement zones? And which displays and visuals were used in both? (Looking at low-traffic and low-performing displays is often just as revealing.)

Reviewing sales data can also reveal insights into aesthetics that performed better over the years, including specific graphics, display types, lighting styles, and even display language.

All of this results in correlational data that can be used to map out the highest performing geographic areas, display types, themes and graphics — and ideally create even better performance this year.

2. Bridge the gap between shoppers’ virtual and in-store worlds.

Knowing that nearly every shopper is carrying a smartphone and is constantly influenced by the content they engage with on it, retailers should embrace opportunities for interactive moments and social media-inspired trends.

Retailers have demonstrated a high capacity for innovation on this front, from installing electronic visual displays that can be personalized to the preferences of the shopper viewing them to easily accessible QR codes that can be scanned to instantly unlock new experiences.

Not only do digital installations keep digitally native shoppers, such as Gen Zers, engaged, they can also collect behavioral data that tells retailers what’s working and what’s not.

3. Introduce experiences that can change in the moment.

Retailers using digital displays will begin gaining data as early as day one, and likely won’t want to wait until next season to act on it. The holiday shopping season also seems to get longer every year, and social media trends have the tendency to show up after retailers have already finalized their visual strategies.

All three of these facts are good reasons to make sure that some displays can be changed mid-flight. For instance, introducing SEG fabric and adaptable frames — which have unlimited design flexibility — easily lends to visuals that can be updated to coincide with TikTok or Instagram trends that often drive a frenzy of momentary sales before the next trend emerges. (Hi Labubus, bye Labubus.)

Adjustable displays aren’t just a way to make sure retailers can react to social media trends, however. Retailers that use geo-coupons, for instance, can see who is shopping in real time as well as the offers that are bringing them in. These insights can also influence in-the-moment updates to displays.

By combining today’s trends and newest technology with historical data, you can be sure you’re getting the most out of your holiday visual strategy this year.

Gerry Price is president and CEO, North America, The Look Company, creators of large-scale visual branding for big-box and chain retailers, as well as sports and event environments.