Retail stores are already crowded with visual cues, from packaging to printed signs. The challenge for brands is breaking through that noise without slowing shoppers down. Chris Riegel, founder and chief executive of Stratacache, frames the store as a stage where motion can guide attention and influence choice.
“If you think of a retail space as a theater for a consumer in their journey, you have hundreds of thousands of visual indicators within those stores,” Riegel said. “Effective digital signage is about using motion as your trigger for the limbic brain to really focus a customer’s eyes and focus their brain on the message.”
He added that studies show this approach can deliver a three to eight percent change in buying behavior by drawing attention and adding emotion at key moments.
Making in-store media measurable
In a conversation with Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan, Riegel said digital screens alone are not enough. Measurement is what turns the physical aisle into a true media channel.
“Having a digital display in a retail store is only part of the solution,” he said. “In many cases there’s no measurement associated with it.”
Stratacache pairs advanced displays with sensors to understand presence and dwell time, allowing retailers to know when an ad is actually seen. The opportunity is significant, he said, citing the scale of in-store audiences.
“If you look at the number of customers that go to a Walmart during the course of a week, it’s two thirds of the U.S. population,” Riegel said.
Balancing relevance with speed
Personalization in stores must help shoppers, not overwhelm them. Riegel argued that retail media should support conversion and ease the journey rather than turn shoppers into the product.
“If it becomes too ad-heavy, then the customer thinks, ‘Wait a minute, I’m the product, not the consumer,’” he said.
Stratacache focuses on understanding different missions, from a quick weekday restock to a longer weekend trip, and tailoring tone and timing accordingly.
“Knowing how to message at the right time, tone and timber is critical to helping that shopper through the journey,” Riegel said.
Where brands are seeing ROI
Riegel pointed to discovery and proximity as the biggest drivers of return for brands investing in store media. Online audiences are fragmented across platforms like Meta and TikTok, with little control over context. In-store media offers intent and certainty.
“When you’re in the store, you know place, you know product, you know category, you know intent,” he said. Brands are seeing about an eight percent lift from digital messaging, plus a five percent category halo as shoppers respond to guidance that saves time and reduces friction.
AI moves from buzzword to backbone
Fresh from CES and NRF, Riegel said artificial intelligence is the most underestimated innovation coming to the connected store.
“I hate to say AI because it’s so overused, but it is truly artificial intelligence,” he said.
AI helps build behavioral understanding in stores and enables messaging to shift from static signs to dynamic, context-aware content.
“You’ll see the movement from old printed signage to very AI-driven specific messaging,” Riegel said, tying inventory, price and behavior together to guide shoppers more effectively.
You’re watching “Scaling In-Store, Demystified: How Retail Media Is Reinventing the Aisle,” a Beet.TV Leadership Series, presented by Stratacache. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
