Screens at the point of sale: content for the store

Screens at the point of sale talk to someone who is already in front of the window or inside the store, a few meters away. That is why the content can be closer and more detailed than on a shopping center LED screen, and it works better in short series that rotate by date, as MINISO did for Children's Month.

Who a screen inside the store talks to

A store's screen talks to someone who has already arrived. They are looking at the window, waiting at the checkout or walking along the shelves. There is no need to convince them to come into the shopping center: they are already in front of the brand.

That changes the objective. A screen at the point of sale helps the brand look alive, accompany a date, present a product or a character, and make the store recognizable from the walkway. In-store digital signage does more when it is thought of as brand content, with the same direction as a campaign.

What changes compared with a shopping center LED screen

An LED screen in a shopping center or outdoors is seen from afar and in passing. It has to make an impact in a couple of seconds, with little text and a lot of contrast. This is developed in the guide to content for LED screens and in the article on DOOH and screens.

The store's screen is seen up close and often with more time. That allows tighter shots, product details, characters with gestures and a slightly longer narrative. It also calls for more precision: a few meters away everything shows, from poorly handled typography to clumsy animation.

There is one point that is often forgotten. Each store has its screen, and not all of them have the same proportion. A piece that looks good on one can look bad on another if it is cropped without thinking.

An example: MINISO's Children's Month in two stores

For Children's Month, which in Argentina revolves around the third Sunday of August, MINISO wanted to mark the occasion on the screens of two of its stores: the one at DOT Baires Shopping and the one on Florida street. They are two horizontal screens with different proportions, and the piece had to work on both.

The idea was for the brand's characters to tell the date, in two pieces for MINISO's screens. In one, Yoyo crosses a square wearing black sunglasses and a pearl earring, in close shots that only show the title at the end. In the other, MINISO's penguin jumps among the clouds and opens the Children's Month card.

Two characters, two screens, four files. Animation, compositing and typography were adjusted to each format, so that one screen's version would not be a crop of the other. How a brand's own character is built and sustained is in brand characters with AI.

The characters were already there before: they appeared in the opening of MINISO's second store in Argentina, at DOT, with a campaign that previewed the brand's universe before the public walked through the store.

How to rotate content without tiring people who come back

Store staff and regular customers see the same screen many times. A single piece looping for a whole month quickly stops being noticed.

A series of short pieces with the same visual system works better: the same characters, the same typography, different situations. Each retail date opens a new series, and within the date the pieces alternate.

For the series to be sustainable, it is worth defining the system once and producing variations on that base. The pieces described in motion graphics for screens help add product information or promotions without breaking that system.

Frequently asked questions

What content works for a store's screens?

Content that makes the most of the closeness: characters, product in detail, retail dates and launches. The viewer is already in front of the brand, so the piece can be closer and more detailed than on a shopping center LED screen. What matters is that it has the same brand direction as the rest of the communication.

How often is the content changed?

It is worth renewing it with each retail date or launch, and alternating several pieces within each period. A single piece looping for weeks stops being noticed. Working in series, with the same visual system and different situations, makes it possible to renew often without redoing everything each time.

Can the same content be used in every store?

The idea and the visual system can be the same, but each screen needs its own version. For MINISO's Children's Month, the stores at DOT Baires Shopping and on Florida street had horizontal screens with different proportions, and each piece was built for its screen instead of being cropped.

Do in-store screens have sound?

It depends on the store and where the screen is. They often share the space with the store's music or sit behind a window, so the piece has to be understood without audio. If the screen has sound, it adds something, but the story, the text and the character have to work in silence.

The two Children's Month pieces, each on its screen, are in the MINISO case.