Philips Professional Display Solutions is providing its vision on how digital signage can help the “new normal” in retail, known as post-COVID-19. The company has created a new series of queue management and people-counting signage solutions designed exclusively to help public settings (including retail stores, supermarkets, cinemas and many more) to monitor and manage footfall for the safety of both customers and staff.

With health officials recommending social distancing of at least 2 meters (6.2-feet), businesses — particularly those with a high foot traffic — are being urged to implement strict measures around capacity and crowding to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Designed to fit settings with one or several points of entry, the Philips solutions will provide visibility on the number of people entering and exiting a building, as well as introducing queue management systems.

Kersten Retail Techniek, one of the largest retail installers in the Benelux region — supporting brands including H&M, Primark, Footlocker, Douglas, the Sting and van Haren (Deichmann) — is in the process of introducing the solution across stores.

Powered by Android, the digital signage and professional TVs from Philips Professional Display Solutions provide potentially unlimited opportunities for its partners. The flexible and secure Android SoC is open to partners and developers to add and integrate their own API/software features, bringing more choice and benefits to customers, both quickly and efficiently.

The new, complete queue management solutions from Philips PDS and its solutions partners provide a wide choice of options for companies, whether in retail, corporate, hospitality, education or healthcare. These benefits are relevant both for today’s current climate and for the future.

Installed at the building entrance(s), Philips displays can be programmed to provide customers and staff with information around capacity, alerting them whether it’s safe or not safe to enter. Also, information can be broadcast via audio and even a traffic light system (red, amber and green), ensuring complete inclusivity.

Information is automatically calculated using smart people-counting cameras positioned at any entrances, as well as the option to supplement these around other parts of the building. This can feed information on expected wait times, as well as promotional messaging, onto additional displays positioned in shop windows along any queue systems.

The solutions can even be integrated into a venue’s automatic doors, opening and closing based on capacity — potentially freeing up staff from managing lines.

Philips Professional Display Solutions’ exclusive control and management software, CMND, allows for single and multiple displays to easily create and share information, providing complete control locally and remotely.