13 January 2025
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie

Business & Retail

Irish businesses are using the dynamic form of marketing, retail digital signages, in their stores and are reaping full benefits of it. Let’s analyze its role.

The retail market in Ireland has been growing at 3% per annum since 2022. Competition is high but Kitcast is empowering retailers to stand out through effective retail digital signage. This solution allows them to design customized information and display it on screens placed on highways, walkways, and inside stores.

Ireland is home to a large variety of retail businesses – from supermarkets to department, drug, specialty, and convenience stores. These businesses compete for customers drawn from the local population and visitors. Digital ads help them inform, attract, convince, and retain customers.

How retail digital signage benefits Irish retailers

Ireland is home to 5.62 million people with a purchasing power/per capita of 26,900 Euro. Retailers overcome high competition by lowering prices and giving valuable discounts. They also provide product diversity to meet advancing buyer needs. Retail digital signage is important in informing buyers about the latest offers and discounts. They are a lasting solution to the prevailing challenges of doing business in this country.

Operations managers decide where to display their signage because they are flexible and easy to manage. Display spaces differ and could range from inside the stores to road spaces, buildings, and bus stops. The ads are easy to design using simple drag-and-drop templates. The Kitcast retail digital signage templates contain stunning images and attention-grabbing texts. This lets designers use the least effort to create irresistible visual displays. They easily receive support from the developer and online community ensuring they do not feel overwhelmed with the design work.

Digital signage is an advantage for the Irish retail sector due to its lead generation and conversion power. Apart from informing, they also provide customers with purchase options. Digital signage for Apple TV showing discounts provides an option to spend less while doing it through a combination of powerful hardware and software. This heightened experience benefits retailers more from their influence power leading to increased profits.

The rising use of retail digital signage in Ireland

12% of the Irish working population work in the retail sector but this pushes competition more. The retail grocery sector is most affected because new stores open nearly daily. A new store for instance requires a budget to spread awareness and attract a share of clients.

Existing stores fight harder to avoid being overtaken by newcomers and pushed out of business. Retail digital signage has become a preferred solution for new entrants and established retailers. They use them to display the information customers expect such as discounts, fresh stock, offers, and purchase information.

These signage ads are useful for designing information for seasonal sales. Retailers use them to design Christmas window displays, menus, and descriptions. 84% of Irish retailers adopted digital signage in 2024 and generated an estimated 25% ROI from these ads.

Challenges and important considerations for retail environments

Ireland is home to 12 cities – including Cork  – and 305 towns with unique and diverse populations. Some towns have unique cultures that influence purchasing power and preferences. Although Irish and English are the main languages, the country has about 70 distinct languages.

This diversity poses a big challenge to retailers seeking to satisfy every culture, language, and population. They may opt to display ads in the main languages but deciding which location languages will be preferred is tough. The challenge is bigger for businesses operating multi-chain stores.

Some business people in Ireland operate diverse investments to tap into every sector. They may operate a hyperstore, convenience store, and luxury travel business. Managing varying digital ads for each retail business or store is hard. Changing technology is another big issue Irish retailers deal with.

Stakeholders in this sector might want to consider collaborating with developers and ad designers to overcome these challenges. They may consider learning digital and design knowledge online to help them stay informed and tech-savvy. Traditional signage is popular in every city and town.

Retailers cannot ignore this deep-rooted solution. However, they should handle the challenge wisely and take a balanced approach. They should do surveys or search information online to understand language preferences in different parts of the country.

Where is retail digital signage in Ireland headed?

Digital advertising and screen displays will continually influence the Irish retail market for many decades. Current annual growth is estimated to be 5.17% from 2025 to 2028. AI is influencing this technology in a big way but other innovations will take over soon. AI influence will remain high but VR, cloud, IoT, and automation adoption will increase.

Data shows that more retailers will shift from traditional signage to digital as market dynamics change. The population is sustainability-sensitive and retailers must embrace this reality in digital signage. They will adopt green solutions more to conform with environmental conservation needs.

Conclusion

Ireland is an important business country close to the UK and boasts of a vibrant retail sector. The adoption of retail digital signage in this sector has increased recently to help businesses compete. About 84% of retailers are using this technology to meet various advertising and business information awareness needs. More digital screens will be erected in strategic places as technologies such as AI, VR, and IoT become popular.