Inevitability has long been knocking at the door of the in-store opportunity. Traditional media’s effectiveness has been on a long, slow decline, accelerated by the internet and its increased ubiquity. At the same time, retailers have been on a journey to improve the customer experience, seeing it as a strategic differentiator that helps shift the competitive emphasis away from price. Throw in an economic downturn of epic proportions, which has left retailers leaning heavily on promotions to drive traffic to any channel, but most especially stores. This mix puts unprecedented focus on the store’s role as marketing vehicle to consumers.

With retailers investing heavily in consumer-facing technologies in stores and the pressure on store labor costs given falling demand, it’s only a matter of time before retailers turn to technology-enabled in-store communications. This report seeks to determine how close or far retailers are to executing a holistic approach to in-store marketing, and the role that technology will play in enabling the tool set for communicating effectively with consumers as they shop.