Traditional retailers can leverage hybrid, interactive digital signs to offer shoppers the convenience and selection of shopping online while still doing what they do best.

Imagine living in a rural area of the country and having to drive an hour or more to get to a department store to do some much-needed shopping, only to find out that the merchandise you wanted was out of stock.

Or, put yourself in the shoes of an urban dweller who stops by the mall to visit a particular store to buy a certain item of clothing – only to learn the desired color or size won't arrive until later in the week.

No wonder over the past 15 years online sales of all types of merchandise have exploded. Convenience, selection and ease of use have contributed mightily to nudging many shoppers away from traditional brick-and-mortar retail shops and onto Internet shopping sites.

While Internet shopping offers many advantages, the one thing it can't do is let you see, touch and inspect the actual merchandise you're considering purchasing before you buy. In other words, how can you try on a pair of jeans online before you click the checkout button?

Some forward-thinking brick-and-mortar retailers, such as Kohl's and JC Penney, have identified interactive digital signage as a means of bringing the benefits of traditional retail shopping and the Internet together.

A recent article on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Web site detailed how retailers are turning to self-service kiosks to combine the power of digital signage to attract attention and the interactivity of touchscreen technology and the Internet to let shoppers expand their in-store excursions to the Web.

The article, "Brick-and-mortar retailers kick up sales with kiosks," identifies several obvious – and some not-so-obvious – reasons traditional retailers are offering access to merchandise online in their stores.

Besides the more apparent motivations, such as growing comfort among consumers with online shopping and providing access to out-of-stock merchandise, the article identifies other reasons, such as offering greater selection without requiring more space, test marketing products without actually placing them in the store and even selling products retailers don't actually carry to increase revenue or learn more about the tastes of their customers.

At the intersection of the real- and virtual-world shopping experience is interactive digital signage technology. As discussed in this space on other occasions, the hybrid approach, which brings together the interactive component of a self-service kiosk and the carnival barker component of traditional digital signage, is a powerful communications tool that not only can attract attention, but also draws shoppers into a personal experience with the display that lets them search and retrieve the information needed. Add online access to a retail Web site with transactional support, and the full power of this technology becomes crystal clear.

With the number of vacant retail spaces around the country seemingly multiplying overnight, the retailers who survive and even thrive during this period of high unemployment and sluggish sales will be those who surpass the competition on a wide variety of fronts. When it comes to convenience, there may be no better way to enhance the experience of shoppers at brick-and-mortar stores than the addition of interactive digital signage in the form of self-service kiosks.