Personalization of point of purchase communications: Quo vadis

In an era of information overload, relevance is key. Even more so in the
physical store, where consumers are in a ‘shopping state of mind’ (Shankar
et al., 2010), and where still a significant proportion of all purchase
decisions is being made.

Relevance can be achieved by filtering information and targeting shoppers
with context-aware messages (Riegger at al. 2022). A commonly studied
example is that of location-based messaging (i.e. aligning the message with
the consumers’ geographic position; Meents et al. 2020). An alternative
approach is to adapt the message to the characteristics and behavior of the
in-store receiver in question, implying personalization of communication.
Various technological devices can be used by retailers to transfer
personalized messages to shoppers in their stores. The focus of this study
is on digital signage (DS) in stores, as these are commonly used by
retailers for their digital in-store communication.

While the personalization of DS messages may benefit customers (e.g.
message relevance), it also comes with high perceived risk to individual
privacy (Hess et al. 2020) To employ these type of personalized messages
effectively, it is important to understand how customers feel and respond.
The present study has four objectives, examining (1) whether the
perceived benefits of varying levels of personalized DS communication at
the point-of-sale outweigh the perceived risks, (2) why or why not, and (3)
who is more and less open to it, and (4) for which specific situations is it
more accepted. We address these objectives both from a practitioner and
consumer perspective, using a mixed-methods approach.

First, we have conducted 16 exploratory expert interviews with various
specialists in the domain of artificial intelligence, shopper marketing, data
management and consumer privacy. Transcripts have been contentanalyzed
using NVIVO 12 software. Insights emerged in terms of how to
implement personalized targeting via DS in retail stores, minding legal as
well as ethical challenges in preserving consumer privacy. For example,
the level of personalization via in-store digital screens differs greatly; DS
content can be adapted based on customers’ demographics, emotions,
preferences and shopping behavior, and all possible combinations of such
personal information. It is expected that customers will respond
differently, depending on the level of personalization.

In Spring 2023, these results will be complemented based on a consumer
survey. That way, consumers and a multitude of specialists in the smart
services context of personalized communication at the point-of-sale have
been investigated, allowing for setting the boundaries in terms of
desirability and feasibility (technology- and privacy preservation-wise).