Samsung Electronics America, today at the NRF BIG Show 2016 announced new solutions designed to empower retailers in real-world environments, from attracting customers at the storefront to driving business efficiencies in the back office. Samsung will be showcasing its retail solutions in four settings depicting the customer life cycle including Attract, Interact, Transact and Back Office. Technology ranging from commercial displays to tablet based POS will be shown in the Samsung booth #2062 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center from January 17-19.

“As online shopping continues to grow in popularity and millennials emerge as the most populous generation, retailers face the challenge to provide custom, seamless in-store experiences for today’s connected shoppers,” said Ted Brodheim, vice president of vertical business at Samsung Electronics America.  “Samsung is committed to meeting retailer’s most pressing needs and providing technology that drives engagement and sales.”

According to a Forrester report, brick-and-mortar retailers will use digital technology to personalize shopping and create immersive and engaging in-store experiences that are hard to replicate at home. “The future will belong to retailers that create new sources of customer value through digital experiences while delivering operational excellence…The digital technologies that succeed will be those that create value saving time, making the shopping experience easier and enhancing the pleasure of shopping.”*

Samsung will bring to life its comprehensive portfolio of digital technology solutions through four retail vignettes showing the customer journey including Attract, Interact, Transact and Back Office.

Attract: Enticing Customers at the Storefront and Online

Samsung’s outdoor SMART displays and mobile engagement solutions attract customers outside of the store, driving them into the retail space and providing retailers with key insights to offer engaging and informative in-store experiences. Samsung will highlight customized solutions including:

• Industry Weapon Mall Wayfinding – In collaboration with digital signage software provider Industry Weapon, this solution leverages the Samsung OH46D, an all-weather display ideal for outdoor shopping and the Samsung OM55D, a semi-outdoor display designed for store windows where content can be read in direct sunlight. Retailers can design, schedule and publish multi-media content across multiple Samsung devices.
• Skava Tablet Check-in App and Associate Tablet – Customers can schedule appointments from their phone to drive face to face engagement with associates in the store. Retailers can deliver seamless personalized experiences through beacon triggered notifications and manage appointments on Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S2 tablets. The solution is intended for luxury, high end retailers and department stores where customers are looking for personal shopping, makeovers or for a gift registry. Transactions can be tracked and tied to loyalty programs.

Interact: Engaging and Informing Customers In-Store

Samsung will also demonstrate how retailers can leverage technology to create custom and engaging in-store experiences that result in increased engagement and sales, including:

• Coloredge Digital Mirror Merchandising – A cosmetics gondola outfitted with Samsung’s new 32” LCD Mirror Display will show how to drive deeper engagement in store with RFID triggered content connecting customers to brands. In addition, a 55” Samsung LCD Mirror Display can be used in fitting rooms to trigger branded content. With digital content provided by visual marketing firm Coloredge and fixtures provided by retail fixture specialist Stylmark, the solutions merge the physical and online store experience to provide more information, improving the shopping experience and increasing engagement.
• eyeQ Video Analytics – Retailers and brands can create customized experiences and analyze the characteristics and personality of shoppers. A camera detects characteristics, creates a profile, and adapts the content to be most engaging for that shopper including product recommendations to increase sales. The solution tracks shopper movement and responds to different content or merchandising. A dashboard with live analytics of traffic and engagement in the booth will also be showcased. Retail marketing agency TPN who works with retailers and brands to create connected retail experiences, collaborated with eyeQ on digital strategy, customer experience and personalized content.

Transact: Streamlining POS

Samsung’s innovative POS solutions streamline the transaction process, allowing retailers to more efficiently ring up transactions, track sales and view analytics. They permit staff to be mobile and address customer needs from anywhere on the showroom floor, including:

• Stationary Point of Sale – This solution includes a payment terminal, cash drawer, mounted cash register and receipt printer in an enterprise grade enclosure by Armor Active. Driven by eMobilePOS software from e-Nabler that interfaces with back end ERP systems and anchored by a Samsung tablet, this POS solution also features Samsung Pay redemption on the payment terminal.
• KOAMTAC Mobile Point of Sale with KDC500 mPOS Companion – The KDC500 mPOS Companion provides both mobile point of sale capabilities and an inventory management scanner. Complete with a barcode scanner, magnetic strip and EMV reader, it can be mounted to any Samsung smartphone or tablet case. This flexible and user-friendly solution can be used in a retail environment for payment transactions, line-busting and backroom operations.
• Samsung Pay – Samsung Pay, the most accepted mobile payment system that works at the majority of merchants today, will be demonstrated with the new gift card feature. Samsung Pay now supports 50 popular merchant gift cards as well as a gift card store that enables users to buy gift cards from supported merchants for themselves, friends and family with the Samsung Pay app. Samsung Pay is simple, safe, accepted almost anywhere customers can swipe or tap their card, and can expedite the shopping experience.
• Hipaax TaskWatch Associate Notification System with Samsung Gear S2 – A “hands free” salesforce can be connected with real-time information that enable them to deliver exceptional customer service. Associates can receive notifications for operational tasks and can also assign tasks to other associates from their Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch. With TaskWatch, customers receive attention when needed and supervisors have visibility into real-time operations.

Back Office: Driving Operational Efficiencies

Samsung offers a number of solutions to help retailers manage staff, inventory and analyze purchasing activity, including:

• Adobe Experience Manager Screens – Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Screens provide a collaborative content authoring and management solution to create in-store interactive content for retailers. Fully integration with the Adobe Marketing Cloud AEM Screens enables seamless omni-channel experiences that are personalized and connected across web, social, print and in-store channels. A retailer can use this in the corporate office to create branded content and collateral for stores or seamlessly make updates to content and push to multiple store locations.
• SOTI MobiControl – This solution is available as on-premise, SaaS or cloud. Retailers can manage mobile devices, barcode scanners, digital signage, mobile point of sale devices and wearables from one unified dashboard. The SOTI MobiControl platform also delivers secure management for applications, content, kiosk mode, geofencing and remote helpdesk.
• Mobile Manager – Mobile merchandisers and district sales managers can use the new Samsung Galaxy TabPro S Windows tablet as a productivity tool when travelling to different retail locations or on the sales floor. A store manager can use custom end user software to review sales figures with an associate or update inventory.

Samsung also offers a range of products for corporate retail management, including multifunction printers, smartphones and wearables. Samsung’s full technology portfolio for retail is available through Samsung distributors and resellers. For more information about Samsung’s solutions for retailers, please visit http://www.samsung.com/retail.

* The Future of the Retail Experience, Forrester Research, Inc., August 2015.

Additional Resources:

• Website: http://Samsung.com/retail
• Blog: https://insights.samsung.com/category/industries/retail/
• Twitter: @SamsungBizUSA
• LinkedIn: Samsung in Retail
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SamsungBizUSA
• Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/SamsungBusinessUSA

About Samsung Electronics America, Inc.

Headquartered in Ridgefield Park, NJ, Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA), is a recognized innovation leader in consumer electronics design and technology.  A wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., SEA delivers a broad range of digital consumer electronics, mobile products and wearables, wireless infrastructure, IT and home appliance products. Samsung is the market leader for HDTVs in the U.S and one of America’s fastest growing home appliance brand. To discover more, please visit www.samsung.com.

Many of the most popular and most advanced digital signs in the world are made by Samsung Electronics. These signs operate on the Samsung Smart Signage Platform (SSSP), an integrated media player system, and use the MagicINFO software to manage the content. SSSP displays can be found around the world in locations where businesses need to communicate quickly and effectively with customers, including sports stadiums, restaurants and retail outlets.. In fact, Samsung has been the global market leader in digital signage for seven years.

Both systems recently have added new upgrades, making them more powerful, versatile and easier to use. Now,  retailers and commercial operators can create impactful, exciting content easily, giving them the tools they need to best engage with their customers.

New SSSP 3.0 expands possibilities

SSSP, the open-source, all-in-one platform for managing display hardware, eliminates the need for an external player with its system-on-chip media player, for a display system that’s intuitive, convenient and low-cost. The content management system is streamlined and easy to control, with content creation tools that are simple to understand and comprehensive.

With the third generation of SSSP, the system is now more useful than ever, thanks to a powerful Quad Core processor and 8GB of storage. The result is enhanced efficiency, higher-resolution content and lowered costs, all using the latest in display technology.

New effects mean better engagement with customers

Signage is only effective if it draws people’s attention, and these days there are more media sources vying to get noticed. This heavy competition makes it more important for signs to stand out and engage customers. The best way to do so is through dynamic, moving content.

The most noticeable change to the MagicINFO 3 platform is the addition of more than 20 dynamic transitions and effects, including 3D, Fade, Zoom, Reveal and Fly-on. These can turn a shop’s signage into a movement-filled, enticing media experience that captures the public’s attention. Thanks to an intuitive and convenient User Experience (UX), these dynamic effects are easy to add.

To highlight information and help content stand out, MagicINFO 3 also has introduced decorative stickers. Stamps and stickers offer a variety of eye-catching labels for advertising sales, highlighting content and maximizing effects. Users can select their desired sticker, then drag and drop it into their content.

An array of new fonts also has been added to MagicINFO 3. Instead of just one font, users can conveniently access six embedded fonts in 23 styles within the Author area. This structure also makes it easy to load more fonts from outside sources, and add them to the authoring tools.

In addition, MagicINFO 3 has added a weather widget that can be dragged and dropped into any sign. Customers frequently turn to signage for weather updates, and this widget allows a user to choose to display hourly, daily or weekly forecasts.

Change your perspective with Pivot PIP

Signs often are installed vertically in “portrait” mode so they can be read like a magazine or newspaper. However, sometimes a store has content that it wants to display horizontally, in “landscape” mode. In the past, this alignment would require users to reinstall the frames and turn them on their side.

With the SSSP’s Pivot PIP (picture-in-picture) functionality, the portrait screen can be divided into three smaller screens, each now in landscape mode. The new screens are still in excellent resolution (up to 1080×720 pixels), and each sub-screen supports videos, slideshows and text.

New DataModule links databases to screens, faster and easier

Even with simple, intuitive UX of MagicINFO 3, signage operators still have to supply a lot of data—images, prices, numbers, times and more. This requires detailed database management.  Fortunately, MagicINFO 3 can help here, too, with the introduction of DataModule.

DataModule is a simpler and free version of the DataLink platform, which used to be the main way to handle data and connect MagicINFO with the display data. It’s an easy-to-use way of converting MySQL data into text and images for a sign—for example, turning a restaurant’s database into a full, colorful menu or adding a “sold out” notice for any good that is out of stock.

Backup Play protects your displays

Backup Play is another useful new feature for networks running a variety of signage. In any network, certain displays take priority and must remain running at all times, whereas others are helpful but not as essential. For example, restaurants will likely say that keeping a menu visible is more important than having a promotional item visible.

With Backup Play, stores no longer have to worry about losing their most important display while less important signs continue to run. The Backup Play feature automatically moves the primary content to the secondary display should the initial screen become unavailable, ensuring key information continues to run without a hitch.

MagicINFO Server becomes more useful than ever

The MagicINFO Server conveniently connects all Samsung Smart Signage so businesses can control and monitor their displays remotely. Outdoor displays, e-Boards, SYNC, small signage and video walls all can be managed simply using a web browser and IP address, giving operators the ability to use it on the go.

A commitment to signage innovation

With all these improvements to SSSP and MagicINFO, Samsung has once again shown how it is differentiating itself from other companies through its focus on advancing the core software of signage. Together, these two signage systems give retailers and other businesses the unprecedented ability to engage dynamically with consumers, using easy-to-understand but powerful software. Samsung Electronics will continue to improve these solutions, adding more cutting-edge technologies and innovations to enrich the communications between consumers and retailers.

Since the dawn of the mobile phone, we’ve seen it fluctuate in size again and again, from large to small and back as if it were on a yo-yo diet. But recent years have seen screen sizes getting bigger and bigger, model after model. And for good reason.

The phone is no longer just for making calls and listening to music. It has evolved into a life companion capable of making just about every aspect of our lives more convenient, and screen size plays a big part in this. It also allows us to share every moment of life in a more creative way. When it comes right down to it, bigger is better, and here are seven reasons why.

Taking Pictures

While a bigger screen won’t necessarily improve the quality of a phone’s camera, it will help you take better pictures. Whether you’re shooting a selfie, trying to isolate the right subject to focus on or deciding which filter to use, the larger display gives you a clearer image of what you are photographing.

Filming Videos

When it comes to content, video is king. No other media captures the essence of all of life’s precious moments better, and, like photos, creating videos is easier with a bigger screen. It also makes editing, which can involve continuous dragging, dropping and other touch controls, a breeze. This means better videos can be created by just about anyone, driving more social sharing of inspiring stories and informative narratives.

Read More, Do More

Whether you’re browsing the web or delving deep into an e-book, bigger screens are better for a number of reasons. First of all, you can see far more content on a larger screen. This means a broader overview of your social network feeds and less scrolling when reading long articles.

More display real estate also allows users to split screens into two panes, so multiple apps can be accessed side-by-side at the same time, allowing for increased productivity. You can enjoy your favorite movie or novel without disruption while you check an urgent message from your friend. Finally, bigger screens (and subsequently bigger text) decrease eye strain, which creates a more comfortable user experience.

Emailing and Messaging

When video chatting isn’t possible, a bigger screen allows for easier and more efficient emailing and text messaging. Thanks to a larger touch keyboard, users can say farewell to fat-fingered, awkward typos and select appropriate emoticons effortlessly. Likewise, a more sizeable space makes it easier to doodle, write and perform other various chatting tasks.

Doing Business

Mobile phones with bigger screens, which are often equipped with a pen (like the Galaxy Note’s S Pen), are useful for writing memos, annotating documents or even drawing diagrams. When paired with note-taking apps, large-screened devices are a great tool for improving collaboration within a business, as ideas from meetings or presentations can be quickly jotted down and shared with colleagues.

Watching Movies

This is an obvious one, of course, but important, nonetheless. A bigger, clearer display ensures that you catch all of the action, romance and drama of your favorite movies, thus making for a better viewing experience. This is especially important when you’re on the go and without access to a television.

Playing Games

While some games work well on small displays, with others, you really benefit from a larger display. Games look more vivid and realistic, and the game’s buttons and controls are larger and easier to press. Tapping, in general, is a more accurate experience, meaning you have a much better possibility of beating your high score (and gaining the bragging rights that come along with it).

Because the smartphone is now a hybrid of devices — and increasingly, the most common way to interact with the world — a bigger screen allows a mobile device to play all of these roles at once. Time will only tell as to what the future holds for smartphone screen size, but it’s likely that even bigger and better things are going to happen… and soon.