Through The Looking Glass? When Storefront Windows Go Interactive

The willpower of would-be consumers who wistfully gaze into storefront windows — and then move on — may be increasingly challenged by the integration of interactive displays.

ImageSurge, a Boston-based unattended retail service provider, is looking to change the way consumers window shop. The company manufactures intelligent window storefronts and kiosk displays designed to enable retailers to convert window shoppers and passersby to actual buyers, and some brick-and-mortar businesses have already merged this interactivity into their storefront experience in order to add an actual shopping component to window shopping.

PYMNTS recently caught up with Ilya Alshine, the company’s founder and president, to discuss how the company is hoping to transform storefront displays into interactive marketing extensions and what he sees coming down the pike in this quickly evolving space.

Here’s a preview:

So far, Alshine said, imageSurge has been adopted by more than 300 real estate storefronts and 150 real estate companies throughout the U.S. and Canada, illustrating the potential for a sea change in what storefront displays can offer.

“The brick-and-mortar store is not undergoing rapid changes,” Alshine said, noting that, as can be seen by examining retailers even from centuries ago, storefronts still remain largely the same as they always have been.

Specifically, Alshine said, the company plans to continue attack the retail vertical and carve out space in the financial services industry. “We believe that integration of digital marketing technologies into the physical space will play a big part in that change. I would like to see our applications in every one of these store windows.”

Around the Unattended Retail world

In an effort to entice modern, mobile spenders, vending machine operators and service providers around the space have rolled out new payment systems, designed to accept almost any form of payment imaginable.

For example, Netclearance, a smart beacon tech provider, launched the mBeacon Vend, a mobile-agnostic beacon that will enable the company’s machines in the U.K. to accept mobile payments.

Meanwhile, micro-market technology provider 365 Retail Markets recently rolled out a new app that will enable cashless payments at the company’s vending machines. Fellow micro-market provider Avanti Markets, Inc. also introduced mobile payments for its customers via a new app.

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About The Tracker
The PYMNTS.com Unattended Retail Tracker™, powered by USA Technologies, tracks the movers and shakers in this space and ranks and scores the providers using this new channel to respond to changing consumer needs. We’ve sliced this ecosystem into the distinct categories that make sense for our audience: Food & Beverage, Vending, Service Vending, Remote Retail, Parking and Restaurant & Hospitality.