Emotional targeting using digital signage systems and facial recognition at the point-of-sale

Emergent technologies offer retailers new opportunities for personalized promotional messages at the point-of-sale. Digital signage systems that employ face-reading software enable the identification of not only shoppers’ ages and genders, but also their mood states. Drawing on mood and digital signage literature, this research identifies and examines emotional targeting’s efficacy (i.e., matching digital signage content to shoppers’ current mood states) with consumer responses. Findings from a laboratory and online experiment reveal that emotional targeting increases purchase intentions, product-quality perceptions, and willingness to pay. Furthermore, matching content additionally to the product category strengthens these positive effects. However, disclosing targeting practices eliminates emotional targeting’s positive effects, as caused by feelings of manipulative intent.