An assumed scenario, constructed to show the decision. It describes no named customer and reports no measured result.
Walk into a store with a clipboard and count the screens. Most managers can do that in ten minutes. The harder question is why those screens are where they are, and the honest answer in a lot of stores is that nobody decided. The screens went where there was a wall and a power socket.
Placement is a decision about people, not about walls. A screen earns its position when it answers a question a shopper is already asking at that spot, and it fails when it asks them to stop and read something they were not looking for. This guide is how to walk a store, decide which spots deserve a screen, and check the decision before anything is mounted.
Follow one shopper, not the floor plan
Start by walking the store the way a first-time visitor does, and watch where people actually pause. Not where they walk, but where they stop.
In a typical store there are four places where somebody stops, and they are worth more than the rest of the floor combined.
Just inside the door. People pause to get their bearings. They are not looking for a message yet; they are working out where to go. This is the worst position for a detailed offer and the best position for something short enough to read while turning your head.
At the end of an aisle. This is where a shopper compares two products and hesitates. They have a specific question: is this the right size, the right model, the one on offer. They will read something that answers it.
Wherever people queue. A queue is the one moment in a store when somebody has nothing to do but look around. This is the easiest position of the four to justify.
At the till. People wait, they look at the counter, and they are receptive to one short message. It is a good position for a second item and a bad position for a brand film.
Notice what is not on that list: the middle of the shop floor, and the wall above the stock. Both look prominent on a plan and neither has a shopper task attached to it.
Write down the task, not the location. "Aisle four, end cap, west side" describes where a screen goes. "A shopper comparing two coffee machines" describes what the screen is for, and it is the sentence that should decide whether the position gets a screen at all.
A position that looks good on a drawing often fails on the floor
Two things kill a position after the drawing is approved.
The first is a sightline that closes. A wall looks clear on a plan; on a trading Saturday there is a promotional stack in front of it, a queue running past it, and a member of staff restocking between it and the shopper. The second is access. A screen that a technician cannot reach without moving a gondola will be serviced late, or not at all, and the first symptom is a screen showing the wrong price for a fortnight.
So survey at trading times, from the shopper's direction of travel, and photograph what is actually between the shopper's eyes and the screen. A picture of an empty store at 8 a.m. settles nothing except the position of the walls.
What to write down for each candidate position
Keep one row per position, and keep the numbering consistent from the survey all the way through installation and support. A position with no number will be called three different things by the content team, the installer and the service desk, and something will be updated on the wrong screen.
| What to record | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Position number | The same code used by content, installation and support for the life of the installation |
| What somebody is doing here | Their question or their next move, in their words rather than yours |
| What the screen is for | One sentence. If it needs two, this position is doing two jobs and should be split or dropped |
| The view | Direction of approach, where people stand, and what is between them and the screen |
| The physical situation | Wall or floor, what is behind it, where power and network actually come from |
| Service | How somebody reaches the screen and the cables, and what has to move to do it |
The last two rows are the ones that get skipped in the survey and cost money in the installation. Confirm the support and the cable route with the installer before you specify a screen, not after it arrives.
Decide the position, then the format, then the model
Once the positions are chosen, the format usually chooses itself.
A position that needs to stand on the floor, such as a queue or an entrance or anywhere without a suitable wall, points to a floor-standing unit. Check the footprint, check that people can still walk past it, and check that it cannot be knocked over by a trolley. A position on a wall with a structure behind it points to a wall-mounted unit, with the mounting system matched to the wall and the weight.
Do not decide the screen size until the position and the reading distance are settled. Starting with a screen size means working backwards to a position that fits the screen, which is how a store ends up with a large display in a spot with no shopper task attached to it.
One position needs a different survey altogether: a screen going behind glass, in a window. Reflections, daylight and the air gap behind the display all change the decision, and a window position is not simply an indoor one. Use the window display survey for those.
Check the position with the content that will actually run
Before anything is mounted, put the real content on a screen at the candidate position and look at it from where the shopper stands.
Use the actual headline, the actual price, and the smallest piece of text that has to be legible. Look at it from the approach, including from an angle, because most people do not arrive straight on. Then ask somebody who has not seen the design to tell you what it says and what they would do next. If they need you to explain it, the position or the message is wrong.
When it does not work, work out which of four things is failing:
- there is too much on the screen — cut the content, keep the position;
- something is in the way — move the screen, keep the content;
- the screen is hard to read in that light — look at a different display;
- people walk past too fast — move the position further upstream, or shorten the message to a headline.
Before the screen, check the cause. If the text is too small for the distance, a larger screen is the direct remedy. If the problem is obstruction, contrast or dwell time, a larger screen changes none of those, so the size question should be settled after the cause is known rather than before.
Put the servicing on the same drawing as the screen
Service access is a placement decision, and it should be drawn with the position rather than worked out on installation day. Mark the power source, the network route, where the player sits, which panels or fixtures have to move for maintenance, and who holds the keys.
Then have the installer check those against the documentation for the specific product and the actual wall. A mounting arrangement that works on a datasheet and not on this wall costs a second visit before the store gets a working screen. Checking the wall first is cheaper than checking it twice.
Before you sign the position off, confirm that it starts up, shows the right content, is the right way up, and behaves the way you agreed after a power cut. "It switched on" is not a finished position.
What to send if you want a hardware recommendation
The quality of the answer depends on what you send. A useful package contains:
- a floor plan with the candidate positions numbered;
- photographs taken during trading hours, including the approach to each position;
- the notes for the positions you want to keep;
- the content at its smallest legible size;
- the opening hours, including any dayparts that change;
- the player or CMS you intend to use, and who will update the content;
- anything that restricts installation, and who will look after the screens afterwards.
Send that and you get a recommendation you can compare with another supplier's. Send "we need a retail screen" and you get a catalogue page.
For what goes on the screens once they are placed, see the retail content guide. For a rollout across several stores, see the multi-location content guide.
What this guide does not cover
It gives no universal mounting height, viewing distance or screen size, because those follow from the measured position and the model and are confirmed on site. Structural adequacy needs a qualified installer. Window-facing positions have their own survey.
Send the marked plan, get a view on the positions
Send us the numbered floor plan and the photographs of the approach to each position. We will tell you which positions suit a floor-standing unit and which suit a wall-mounted one, what each needs for installation and servicing, and what to check before you order.
Send the site plan and the photographs →
Sources
- ScreenCloud: digital signage content examples — a vendor resource, used only as a public reference for how retail content is commonly organized by zone. It is not independent research.
Compiled September 29, 2026. The method is the author's; the external sources are listed above, and the opening scenario is constructed rather than reported.
