Retail Media and Interactive Surfaces

What is the project
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This project develops interactive surfaces, materials, and digital touchpoints for retail, designed to keep permanent contact and interactivity with customers while reducing friction and inactive time. It targets retail operators and other stakeholders who need new ways to communicate with consumers, improve the user experience, and support future consumption behaviours across multiple retail contexts.

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Project at a glance

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Focus: Retail media and interactive surfaces (interactive surfaces/materials + digital equipment and solutions for customer journey touchpoints)
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Key demonstrators: Interactive kiosks and tables; digital signage (including a “smart” signage platform); self check-out concepts; queue management touchpoints; interactive window/shopfront concept; LED solutions (LED wall, monoposte LED); signage frames (semi-outdoor/outdoor); Cabinet-related payment reference base

Operation: Digital touchpoints to optimise check-in, counter service (e.g., queue management), communication (marketing/advertising), and check-out, with remote and centralised content management across devices

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Objectives

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• Develop tactile and interactive surfaces that can be implemented in different contexts (e.g., autonomous stores, Pods, Cabinets, electric vehicle charging stations, bicycle retail).
  
  
• Optimise interactive surfaces based on insights generated during the Agenda (Needs confirmation: what “Agenda” refers to).
  
  
• Create a smarter environment to improve the customer experience.
  
  
• Validate a set of digital equipment and solutions in a functional environment to enable application and launch.

• Optimise retail processes across check-in, service at store counters, communication (marketing/advertising), and check-out.

What we delivered

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Continued design, dimensioning, and drawing of interactive surfaces and materials suitable for integration in multiple retail formats; initiated development of an integrated digital signage system in a double Cabinet to support remote content management, automatic scheduling, content personalisation, and real-time system performance monitoring; studied, conceptualised, and developed an “intelligent” multi-platform digital signage platform with centralised remote content management across Windows, Linux, Android, Tizen, webOS, ChromeOS, and across smart retail formats, including functional/technological architecture and operational/technical requirements definition; developed critical platform features including advanced tools for custom content design, a content playback calendar, dashboards for metrics analysis (e.g., content currently displayed, number of users, bandwidth usage), and reporting modules (e.g., API request history, display statistics); performed initial exploratory testing using advanced content management frameworks and implemented dynamic personalisation models based on user profiles and usage context; continued work on new self check-out solutions; specified requirements and began development of a new touch technology to improve production efficiency, reduce operational costs, and increase solution reliability and responsiveness, including experimental incorporation and validation with iterative optimisation; initiated study and conceptualisation of a new product range focused on modularity, scalability, and adaptability, including an integrated self check-out concept combining multiple functionalities such as dynamic queue management supported by predictive algorithms and real-time monitoring, plus payment platforms and artificial intelligence (AI) voice assistants (Voice AI).

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Metrics / KPIs

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Jobs created

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Value: 6

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Product categories developed

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Value: 2

Notes: Listed examples include: interactive kiosks, tables, frames, windows, totems, LEDs, digital signage, queue management.

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Publications

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Value: 17

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Summary

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This project develops interactive surfaces, materials, and digital touchpoints for retail to reduce friction and keep customers engaged throughout the shopping journey. The scope includes interactive kiosks, digital signage, self check-out concepts, queue management touchpoints, and LED/signage formats. Recent work includes an “intelligent” multi-platform digital signage platform with remote, centralised content management, scheduling, dashboards, and reporting, plus experimental validation of a new touch technology to improve reliability and responsiveness.

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