Samsung-driven Hair Salon Of The Future, With 50 Or So Screens, Opens In NJ

July 9, 2021 by Dave Haynes

The sheer number of hair and nail salons out there – what strip mall have you seen that doesn’t have one? – has always made the sector attractive as a vertical for digital signage technology.

It helps that these environments have lotsa wait time, high loyalty and all kinds of high-margin products and services to upsell.

But they’re also, in most cases, small businesses with limited discretionary budgets – so a lot of the salons that have had digital signage tech in the past have been operations that have agreed to have screens put in by third-party DOOH network operators, with minimal control over content or ads.

Here’s a case, though, of a salon pushing all-in on digital signage as guest experience technology, and not relying on a third-party DOOH copmpany.

It is in New Jersey, about 12 miles from Samsung’s U.S. head office. Between the press release, the number of units and a ribbon-cutting that has at least a couple of key Samsung U.S. people, that has me thinking the electronics giant helped make this happen and now has a living showroom for retail tech not all that far from HQ.

Panico Salon in Ridgewood, NJ did what is described in the PR as a “complete digital takeover featuring Samsung display signage and solutions from the sidewalk to the salon chair.  Each element of this salon focused on creating a personalized experience for the client upon arrival.

To mark this transformation of their brick and mortar business, on Friday, June 25, Panico Salon hosted a digital unveiling event and ribbon cutting, hosted owner Jack Panico, Parrish Chapman, Director of Retail Sales, Samsung and Village of Ridgewood Mayor Susan Knudsen, to showcase the new generation of digital signage and solutions integrated across the salon.

The open house event educated attendees on the more than 50 Samsung displays throughout the salon and the content management solutions delivered by Fast Sensor, BlueForce, and Samsung’s new MagicINFO 9.0 software.  Together, this collaboration unlocks the ability to gather ROI and data linked to the individual shopping journey of each customer through AI endpoint technology.

“Panico Salon transformed their salon into a digital showroom upgrading their operations to deliver a red carpet experience for their customers,” says Chris Mertens, VP Sales for Samsung Display Division, “while providing their employees with state of the art display solutions to make their job more interactive and productive”

Panico’s salon was already well-established and considered a top 25 U.S. business in its sector, but he felt the next big move was into digital.

“Integrating the displays and solutions from Samsung, we are directly connecting with our clientele and providing them tailored, best-in-class services, while providing our stylists the ability to trend data to drive additional services and product sales,” says Panico. “I wanted to ensure my salon became a triple threat … “one – Thrive as Local Business, two – Provide a White Glove Immersive Experience, and three – Become an Advocate for My Community by leveraging the digital advertising capabilities to help other local businesses promote their services.”

The store has a dual-sided display in the streetfront window (these are the units that are daylight-bright on one side and a more conventional high-bright facing into the store) and customer check-in is done, in part, using a Samsung Flip interactive display.

There is a hair color selection bar topped by a 55-inch display and supplemented with a tablet.

There is also some kind of machine-learning/sensor-based mash-up between a couple of third-party tech companies and Samsung’s CMS, MagicINFO, which is driving the screens.

The content management is provided through Samsung’s MagicINFO 9.0, Fast Sensor, and Blueforce Development which provides content orchestration services on every display. Blueforce receives information and data from Fast Sensor and coordinates content on these display devices in real-time that is based on customer engagement, retail purchases, time spent at each area of the salon, and more. The processed information is then sent to MagicINFO 9.0 where the salon can access the details to adjust on-screen content quickly and seamlessly.

Because of these secure and private solutions, if consumers are loitering in front of a piece of merchandise, the software is alerted and automatically flips content and messaging to drive sales and deals, all while having total anonymity and protecting the customer’s personal information. A major advantage Blueforce provides is that it can be utilized with existing in-store investments in sensors and analytics while delivering the same level of service you can expect from its connection with modern-day devices.

“As high-end salons like Panico reconsider the services that will improve in-store experiences and drive success in a post-Covid world, understanding Samsung’s Connected Customer Journey is paramount to providing an engaging brick and mortar experience,” says Robert O’Leary, FastSensor Vice President of Sales.  “FastSensor provides privacy compliant, physical location data sets to improve in-store experiences, and leverages Samsung digital displays to measure, influence and convert customer behaviors.”

“Critical to becoming customer-obsessed and igniting growth in retail is technology and data which fuel the customer experience, while delivering intelligent retail outcomes,” says Michael Helfrich, Blueforce Founder and CEO. “As part of the Samsung solution, Blueforce leverages a variety of in-store sensor data, applies it against AI driven outcomes, and orchestrates focused content and messaging via MagicINFO 9, which is then delivered to Samsung Intelligent Displays to drive transactions, but also enhance the brand relationship with the customer.”

This rounds up the technology mix:

This is positioned as the Salon of the Future, and as with many venues “of the future” they reflect the ideal or ultimate solution, as opposed to what most salons will probably do, given limited budgets and attention spans.

Nonetheless, it’s a great reference case for Samsung to use, and when their sales people have big accounts coming in to the main office in Ridgefield Park, nipping over to Ridgewood to see retail tech in action is going to be more productive than sitting through a PPT deck in a meeting room.

Leave a comment