Troy Engelland, Strategic Sales Manager of Acquire Digital was honored to attend this year’s Ancillary Retail Expo in New Orleans

Troy Engelland, Strategic Sales Manager (North America) of Acquire Digital was honored to attend this year’s Ancillary Retail Expo (ARE) in New Orleans. As Acquire continues to expand its presence in North America, it was great to learn from industry experts about the importance of “ancillary” revenue initiatives from top retail management organizations. What was once viewed as a secondary revenue source for mall developers and management organizations, the shopping environment has evolved to incorporate new initiatives and cutting edge technologies to generate revenue while providing a better experience for shoppers.

Topics of discussion included: Income Enhancement Trends, Engaging the Millennial Workforce, Success Stories from Westfield’s Digital Incubation Programs, Automated Retail, Using the Mall as the Medium with DOOH, Sponsorships, and many other great topics to improve the retail experience while increasing revenues. “It was great to see the diverse range of digital adaptation within the ancillary revenue community,” Troy mentioned.

As a leader of digital adaptation, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has over 525 digital screens with sight, sound, and motion installed in their centers. Their team expressed the importance of sponsorship, DOOH, and local ad sales to drive a better experience for mall visitors. Judy Craighead of CBL Properties, proved the success of their digital kiosk network to generate ancillary revenue through national advertisements and local ad sponsorships. During her session, she mentioned the cost of installing their digital kiosk network is on pace to produce a return on investment within 2-years of installation. Their digital network has a good mix of local ad’s, tenant sponsorships, and national advertisements. In addition, Judy expressed the importance the displays had on providing their tenants “a great avenue to increase brand awareness and drive traffic to their store fronts.”

As the retail market continues to evolve, Acquire sees the importance of interactive displays as a great medium for driving DOOH advertising and sponsorships, and our goal is to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to providing cutting edge solutions. A pioneer within the space, Acquire started building interactive advertisements into our mall Wayfinder solution, allowing consumers to take a meaningful call to action on what used to be static traditional ad’s that visitors walked right past. Through the use of gamification and call-to-action initiatives, our interactive advertisements increase meaningful interactions and demand a premium price from potential sponsors.

Troy went on to mention, “our goal at Acquire is to continue to develop additional revenue-producing opportunities for DOOH and sponsorship capabilities. If we’re not out there learning and listening to the industries best, then we can’t produce a solution that will benefit mall owners for years to come. We need to know what’s working and what’s not, so we can produce digital solutions that not only provide a better experience for shoppers, but one that will add to the ancillary revenues bottom line.”

About Acquire Digital: Acquire designs software solutions that exceed its client’s expectations, positioning itself as global leaders in retail digital signage software. Our tools cover digital signage creation, management, scheduling, playback, and analytics, as well as a market-leading wayfinding solution that is redefining the way individuals interact with public spaces.