Digital signage for retail stores

What the screens do

A window screen runs long hours and has a few seconds to earn attention. It carries short loops, the current offer and the shop name. An in-store screen sits near the product, the queue or the till, and carries price, range and offer content for someone who is already inside.

• Promotions: a sale, a bundle or a seasonal offer, with start and end dates so it comes down by itself.
• Window display: a short loop of new arrivals and the main offer, readable from the pavement.
• In-store information: the range, brand films, prices and opening hours near the till.
• Content by time of day: a morning offer, a lunchtime offer and an evening loop, each in its own slot.
• Social content: recent posts from the shop's Instagram account, or a design made in Canva.

How to set up retail digital signage

1. Decide what each screen is for. Write one line per screen: the window screen sells the offer, the till screen shows the range. The line decides the content and the orientation.
2. Pick the screen. A screen behind glass faces sunlight, so a display made for window use is worth considering. A regular TV is fine inside the shop.
3. Pick a player per screen. A small stick suits a screen that runs all day. The same Screenbird account can hold Fire TV, Google TV, Windows, Mac and Linux players side by side, and recent Samsung and LG smart TVs run Screenbird in the built-in browser.
4. Pair the screens. Open the Screenbird player on each screen and link it to the account with the code it shows.
5. Build the content. Use a template in the designer, bring in a design from Canva or connect an Instagram account.
6. Build playlists and plan them. Put permanent content such as the brand film and range in one playlist. Plan the promotion in its own slot with start and end dates and, if needed, a time of day.
7. Set closing time. Switch screens off after closing with a power schedule (HDMI-CEC on supported players).
8. Check what played. Use proof of play reports to confirm that a promotion ran when it should.

What to show and where the data comes from

How to plan retail content by time of day

Shoppers at 9:00 and shoppers at 17:00 want different things. A coffee shop promotes breakfast in the morning and takeaway dinners later. A clothing shop highlights a weekend sale from Thursday evening. Planning splits the day into slots, each with its own playlist.

Screenbird includes playlists and planning in its single plan. Each slot has a day, a time and an optional end date, and the screen switches content on its own. Screenbird's built-in AI assistant builds a schedule from a plain-language description, for example a weekend sale from Friday at noon to Sunday at closing. Changes go live after you confirm.

Window screens need the same care as printed posters: one clear offer, large text and no more than a few seconds of reading. The shop window display use case shows how a window loop is built. A window with a wide LED banner can use pixel mapping for an LED banner, which cuts one wide image into regions that are sent to an LED processor over a single HDMI output.

How a retailer with several shops manages screens

A retailer with a handful of shops can pair every screen to one Screenbird account and give each its own playlist and schedule. The same campaign can go to all screens, or only to the shop that has the stock. A small team changes content from one dashboard instead of visiting each shop. More examples are on Screenbird's digital signage for retail page.

How Screenbird handles this

• Built for small teams with mixed screens: Fire TV, Google TV, Windows, Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi, browsers and recent Samsung and LG smart TVs in one account.
• Every feature in one plan: planning, split screen, proof of play, the designer and the AI assistant, from EUR 12 per screen per month billed annually (EUR 15 billed monthly), excluding tax.
• Proof of play: reports show what played on which screen.
• Canva and Instagram: bring existing designs and posts to the screen without exporting files.
• Designer with more than 250 templates: start from a template instead of a blank page.
• Keeps playing without internet: screens continue when the connection drops.
• Trial: 7 days, credit card required. Cancel within 7 days and you are not charged.

Sources: Screenbird: digital signage for retail · Screenbird: in-store promotion screen · Screenbird: shop window display · Screenbird: display Canva on a TV · Screenbird: display Instagram on a TV