Yet Digital Out of Home Ads Influence Shopper Experience When Integrated Artfully
Hot Trends and Collapsing Models
People visit shopping centers and malls to meet friends, dine out and shop along the way. The better the experience you provide, the more repeat visits you’ll earn as you become a destination spot. Shoppers are naturally drawn to look at digital screens. Whether they’re passing by or actively using interactive features on a digital sign, they still see content. With digital content, you can change messaging and promotions at the click of a button to reach more viewers. 76% of respondents indicate that Digital out-of-Home (DOOH) ads prompted them to take action according to an OAAA study. That’s good news as you promote events, retailers, and available retail space.
Retail Media Networks are a big and growing industry. According to eMarketer, “Retail media is one of the hottest trends in advertising. Retailers are taking ownership of their advertising by creating retail media networks, and spend is exploding.” The ad spend was estimated at $54.85 billion in 2024, a growth of 26% YoY, according to the the article. Shopping Center Owners recognize this potential have worked to innovate and optimize place-based advertising while shoppers are on site.
One approach that’s collapsing is reliance on “free” kiosks with outsourced advertising. It’s changing for many reasons. Shopping Center Owners want to control the experience their shoppers have. They want control over the quality of their infrastructure including their digital and physical signage. And they want to monetize advertising including local advertising options without sacrificing the shopper experience. In addition, ad operations is a time-consuming body of work complex due to partnerships and work siloes for managing ad sales, specialty leasing, property marketing, multichannel content distribution, shopper experience and tenant promotion.
Shopping Center Owners and their management teams want better options to monetize the power of place while addressing other business outcomes.
Innovative Placemaking & Monetization Solutions
In 2025, many new ad partnership models are being explored with the rise of improved place-based advertising platforms and options. Here’s a brief overview of key criteria for high value, low effort solutions:
- Increased Shopper Engagement: Improve the shopping experience while driving better visibility of tenants, services and events.
- A Connected Place-Based Marketing Channel: Maintain a strong, dynamic brand presence on site and connect it to digital assets.
- Targeted Messaging: Deliver targeted ads to different customer segments for better results.
- Easier Advertising Management: Simple content management platform including software features and analytics for advertising and content managers.
- Partner Ecosystem Cooperation: The ability to flexibly blend programmatic, direct sales, and partner ad sales in order to optimize share of revenue and lower costs.
- Outsource Low Priority Services: Mall operators want to focus on outcomes rather than maintaining digital ad and directory systemsS
Power of Place
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Power of Place-Based Experiences. What does that mean? It means that Shopping Center Owners invest a lot in drawing foot traffic that serves tenants. To do that, you need to create an exciting and fun experience. Every tool you offer should enhance the shopper’s experience. Marketing doesn’t have to end with your ads and websites. Once people are onsite, there’s significant opportunity to help them discover new tenants, events and information. Tools for “digital out of home” or DOOH advertising and branding work can influence shopper behavior. According to research from Out of Home Advertising Association of America, three-quarters of respondents say that digital out of home (DOOH) ads prompted them to act on offers including restaurant visitation (36%), in-store purchasing (30%), word-of-mouth conversations (30%) and store visitation (29%). That’s why there’s a mad scramble across every business sector to “own” the power of their places to a greater degree and with more dynamic content tools.
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Retail Place-Based Communications is Possible Now. We’ve already delivered full turnkey solutions for major industry innovators including Centennial and JLL Retail that support Shopping Center business outcomes and remove roadblocks to easily managing a Retail Digital Network. TouchSource delivers effortless, turnkey digital experiences that engage your shoppers as they navigate your properties, promotes your tenants and integrates advertising naturally into the digital experience you provide. Our turnkey solutions combine all the technology and proactive monitoring services you need so that you can focus on a digitally-enhanced experience that delights your users and is easy to maintain.
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TouchSource Retail Digital Networks
We’re unique in that we partner to help you with your business outcomes through our business model that supports all three of the following outcomes:
1. Revenue Enablement: TouchSource seamlessly integrates high-end programmatic advertising into your displays while collaborating with local, regional, and national advertising teams to maximize revenue potential. This approach enhances the direct ad sales strategy by leveraging programmatic advertising as a supplemental revenue stream, ensuring that every screen is optimized for the highest possible return while maintaining flexibility for curated, high-value placements.
2. Shopper Engagement: TouchSource retail solutions are designed to enhance shopper engagement by delivering dynamic, interactive, and informative digital experiences throughout the retail journey. Our wayfinding kiosks, digital directories, and advertising displays provide real-time information that helps shoppers easily navigate centers, discover promotions, and connect with retailers. By integrating interactive content, localized messaging, and targeted advertising, we create meaningful touchpoints that capture attention, drive foot traffic, and increase dwell time. Whether through self-service kiosks, large-scale digital pylons, or smart displays, our solutions ensure that every visit is seamless, engaging, and tailored to the evolving needs of today’s shoppers.
3. Flexible and Modular Solutions for the “Digital Canvas”: We deliver complete solutions including a design and content experience, a user-friendly content and advertising platform, wayfinding maps, full technical design, hardware and installation for the ultimate showpiece. We also have pre-built integrations with industry leaders so that we fit easily within your tech stack. Whether you want outdoor informational kiosks or LED video walls that are ruggedized for your environment or indoor kiosks, wall display and digital poster stands—we’ve got a full array that are built in the US and engineered for high traffic places. We can include your branding and colors for a finished look and can customize any of our solutions to your vision. Or we can take over your existing equipment if you want to start with your digital experience and refresh digital hardware over time.
In short, the Retail Digital Networks are all about experiences. Yours. Your shoppers. Your tenants. Your teams. We offer digital content and advertising software and the best-engineered digital signage in the industry—as a vehicle to your goals. We invite you to learn more.