Founded in 1968 with over 5,400 specialist sports stores spanning 42 countries, Switzerland-based Intersport is among the world’s leading sporting goods retailers. Looking to intensify their consumer-centric approach to being the leading multi-category specialist sporting goods retailer, Intersport sought a holistic in-store solution to strengthen the connection with their target consumer. To achieve this goal, Intersport has been working with Mood Media, a global leader in maximizing customer experiences.
Mood and Intersport understand that creating memorable experiences that capture the attention of your shoppers requires a combination of media solutions that stimulates all of the human senses.
90% of shoppers say they’re more likely to revisit a business that leverages music, visuals and scent. This blend of sights, sounds, and other sense-stimulating interactions is known as experiential media marketing, and when used correctly, can have a major impact on the customer’s in-store shopping journey.
Together, Mood and Intersport utilize experiential media through a number of different sensory solutions to provide unforgettable shopping journeys.
Digital window displays
Before you ever set foot inside the store, Intersport’s digital media displays begin working their visual magic. The eye-catching displays capture the attention of passersby, enticing potential shoppers. Stores dazzle customers with both portrait and landscape orientated window displays, with all content delivery and scheduling handled through Mood’s Harmony Content Management Platform, ensuring seamless and reliable content performance.
Indoor digital signage and interactive displays
Once customers enter the store, they are greeted by a variety of in-store displays. In larger rooms, massive digital displays and video-walls wow audiences with both impressive size and style. At the checkout counters and in the Running Lab, digital display screens play relevant content and feature interactive solutions. Shoppers can engage with Intersport’s products through touch technology or the Lift & Learn digital shelf capabilities. These futuristic displays react as customers handle the physical merchandise, creating a personal connection to the product. When a consumer picks up a particular shoe, displays near that shoe automatically begin to play video content featuring that shoe in action.
Visual content is incredibly effective when it comes to influencing purchase decisions. 58% of customers say that engaging video content has a positive impact on their shopping experience. Almost half of consumers globally have been inspired to make a purchase based on digital content viewed while in store.
Custom music
Music is one of the quickest, easiest and most effective ways to create a true connection with your customers. In fact, 83% of US shoppers say they like hearing music when shopping in a physical store. In order to make that connection in their stores, Intersport opted to use a bespoke global music program, designed with the brand’s retail strategy and customer profile in mind. Each store uses a dayparted program, meaning a different playlist is played according to the time of day, which varies the tempo and sometimes even the genres within.
Intersport felt it was important to keep the selection of songs as accessible and recognizable as possible, but in order to honor the local music of their various locations, each store has up to 20% “national” music tracks incorporated into their program.
Finding the sound of your brand is a great way to connect to your customers. 1 in 3 global customers say that music makes them stay in a business longer. Nearly 60% say that music “lifts my mood.”
Working with a professional music provider can give you access to experts who can help you determine that sound of your brand and create playlists that keep guests engaged and in the mood to buy.
Systems
Interactivity in-store has always been, and will always be, a must-have for the Intersport brand, but managing multiple forms of content can become complicated quickly. To avoid using multiple control sites and vendors, all Intersport’s content, including all indoor screens and the Lift & Learn solutions, with special RFiD tags programming, runs with direct connectivity through Mood Media’s proprietary Harmony Content Management System, which synchronizes the multitude of players and content.
Giving shoppers the ability to touch and feel the products makes a big impact on their overall mood. In fact, customers are 50% more emotionally engaged when given the chance to interact with merchandise while shopping.
Scent
Scent is the most powerful sense associated with emotional memory and recall. Studies show that 75% of all emotions are generated due to smell and humans can recall scents with 65% accuracy after a year.
Through the use of professional scent diffusers from companies like ScentAir, a variety of custom scents and aromas can be employed to further immerse customers into the physical shopping space and create lasting memories.
Intersport stores are currently trying various scents across different areas of their stores like the Outdoor and Football sections and have seen 26% greater sales in stores that use scent technology versus those without.
Does experiential media boost sales?
The results of these efforts were measurably positive. Studies showed that on average, customers spend almost six minutes longer in-store when all the senses were activated. And Intersport reported a 10% increase in sales when experiential media was used. More so, the cost per item purchased rose by 6% on average.
In a recent study, 78% of consumers globally cite “an enjoyable store atmosphere” as a key factor in choosing brick-and-mortar over ecommerce. Creating connections with customers through an engaging brand experience is vital to the success of your business. By providing the right combination of visuals, music, systems and scents, your physical store can put shoppers in the mood to stay longer and spend more.
