Making of the study

The GIM methodology - qualitative market research

For many years, the GIM Team around Dr. Stephan Telschow, Director of the GIM Competence Center POS Research, has been successfully linking qualitative and quantitative methods in order to gain a holistic and comprehensive understanding of shoppers at the POS. In the study at hand, a mix of various methods was applied. The study was divided in four global field phases which were followed by a scientifically sound analysis and presentation.

Initial expert survey
In a first stage of the study, a multitude of experts were surveyed worldwide in interviews geared to quality and exploration. The goal was to gain an initial understanding of digital signage in individual markets and to prepare the main survey correspondingly. The range of surveyed subjects was accordingly wide: from understanding the digital signage concept to current solutions all the way to evaluating the current benefit and future potentials. From the wealth of subjects thus acquired, those subjects and issues were then extracted which had proven to be relevant for the target groups of the study.

Global quantitative survey (provider) market
Based on the analysis of these data, a global online survey was carried out in a second stage. The goal was to map the market as extensively as possible, on the providers' side and on digital signage solutions and to involve all relevant players. The result is a detailed analysis of supply and expectation structures on the digital signage market. Key aspects are approach, strategy and implementation; conceptual and entrepreneurial approaches; evaluation of the relevance of digital signage solutions in different provider markets, industries and regions; growth forecasts for the regional and industry-specific markets as well as; an overview of currently implemented projects, trends and future evolution.

Global quantitative survey industry / brand
In a third stage, the demand side of the market was illuminated with the same method. This time, the target groups were potential operators and advertising companies which may be interested in digital signage solutions, i.e. retailers, branded companies, operators of POIs or service providers with their own outlets just to name a few. Hereby, industries with a particularly high potential were identified and selected for the spot checks. The results are expectations, standards and requirements in terms of digital signage solutions; motives and current barriers in the implementation of such projects; anticipated effects of digital signage solutions; forecasts for the future development.

Personal expert and insider interviews
The hard data from the online surveys are complemented by in-depth interviews with global key players (experts and insiders on the demand and supply side) on the market. Hereby, results of the online surveys are addressed and furthered. This results in in-depth insights and a qualitative validation of the results from the online surveys.

Presentation of the results
The presentation of all results is differentiated by industries, markets and regions. The results are underlaid with respectively representative case figures and are edited for presentation in a comprehensive report and analyzed by more expert opinions as well as systematically provided in a list of tables. The result is a reference book on digital signage and the first global, scientifically sound study.