Shoppers' Experiences of Digital Signage-a Cross-National Qualitative Study

Digital signage, sometimes known as a Digital Communications Network (DCN) or private plasma screen network, has been little researched to date. This paper puts forward the view that signage is a very important facet of modern life due to its ubiquitous and visible nature to advertise the names of brands, services and the corporate names of supplier organisations and high street stores, to direct people as to where to go for special events and so on. The paper focuses on how consumer shopping behaviour can be enhanced by an atmospheric stimulus and the ways in which digital signage can affect consumer perceptions about the brand names or image of shopping malls. A qualitative study is carried out with empirical results evaluating how digital signage screens can improve the image of shopping malls and create a favourable shopping atmosphere. The findings showed that the effects are influenced by the audio and video contents and also by the locations of the screens. In addition to the obvious application to shopping malls in improving business-to-consumer appeal to shoppers the findings are of use to suppliers of digital signage in business-to-business marketing of their systems to shopping mall tenants.