Digital signage brings holiday shopping to the New York subway

New York subway riders can now shop for gifts  inside the New York ways via interactive 'On The Go' kiosks.

The kiosks feature thousands of curated products, with the holiday gift guide sorting in real-time, based on popularity across nearly 100 kiosks citywide – the largest network of interactive digital out of home (Dooh) storefronts anywhere.

Now in its second year, the holiday shopping experience is expected to reach more than 2.2 million riders per day, in 15 stations, including major hubs such as Grand Central Station, Union Square and Brooklyn's Atlantic Terminal/Barclays Center.

Users can browse, shop and purchase products on the kiosk display and push selected products to their phones via text message or email to complete the purchase.

Damian Gutierrez of Intersection, the technology company which operates the kiosks, says today's shopping for today's urban consumers no longer means daylong marathons like Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

"It happens at hundreds of moments throughout the day," Gutierrez says. "This campaign brings holiday shopping directly to consumers, where they actually are, enabling a seamless experience from research and discovery all the way through to purchase.

As part of a public-private partnership with Metropolitan Transportation Authority NYC Transit, Intersection developed and built the On the Go kiosk to deliver the most relevant information to the greatest number of people in the largest public transit system in the Americas.

The kiosks provide countdown to arrival, one-touch visual directions based on real-time train status and neigbourhood maps, all paid for by dynamic, contextually relevant advertising.

The holiday campaign, which runs until December 23, is the first time a brand has taken over Intersection's entire On The Go advertising program and the first fully interactive ad program on the kiosks.

Paul Fleuranges, NYC vice president of corporate communications, says the campaigns use of the On The Go network 'is a great example of innovative, interactive digital advertising and exactly what we hoped to see when we began the deployment of kiosks in subway stations across the city'.

"It is yet more proof of the power digital-placed based networks have in helping brands reach the consume ron the go throughout their daily journey," Fleuranges says.