Digital signage vs. DOOH: which one does your business need?

What is digital signage?

Digital signage is the screen inside your own store that shows your offer: the menu, prices, today's promotions and seasonal notices. The screen is yours, the content is yours, and the audience is whoever already walked in or passes by the storefront.

Its goal is commercial and short-range: raise the ticket size, move a product you have too much of, communicate a schedule, or avoid customers asking about the price. It's the category Displei.co works in, and the one we explain in depth in what digital signage is and how it works.

The cost is predictable because it doesn't depend on purchased audiences: hardware paid once and software paid monthly. At Displei.co, the Esencial plan costs COP $129,000 per month plus 19% VAT with up to 3 screens, and the Pro plan costs COP $397,000 per month plus 19% VAT with up to 10.

What is DOOH, or digital out-of-home advertising?

DOOH (digital out of home) is a network of screens owned by a third party — billboards, malls, transit, elevators — that sells ad space to brands. The advertiser doesn't control the screens: it buys appearances during a period, on a defined circuit.

There the goal is reach: getting in front of people who don't yet know the brand and aren't near the point of sale. It's bought by circuits, impressions or weeks of exhibition, usually through an agency or directly with the network operator.

Displei.co does not operate in this category: we don't sell advertising space, we don't have circuits, and we don't broker third-party screens. We clarify this because it's the most common confusion when a business searches for "advertising screens."

What are the concrete differences?

What changes is who owns the screen, the audience, how you pay, and the type of message. In digital signage you manage your own asset at a fixed monthly cost; in DOOH you buy exhibition on someone else's asset at a variable cost based on audience and location.

That's why budgets aren't comparable: a DOOH investment buys external audience; a digital signage plan buys the ability to change your own screen whenever you want.

Which one does an SMB in Colombia need?

For a restaurant, a barbershop or a neighborhood store, it's almost always digital signage. The impact happens at the point of sale, where the buying decision is already taking place, and the cost is fixed and low. DOOH makes sense once there's already a media budget and a brand campaign to sustain.

• You want to sell more of what you already offer to whoever already walked in: digital signage.
• You want people who don't know you yet to find out you exist, with a media budget: DOOH.
• You want both: start with your own screen, since it's the lower cost and the more measurable effect.

A data point from Displei.co's pilot in Colombia: Panadería La Esquina, in Bogotá, reported a 23% increase in morning combo sales when it advertised it on the counter screen instead of a printed sheet. This is a reference estimate and results vary by location, but it shows where the most immediate return usually is for an SMB.

If you already know your case is a screen in your own store, the practical next step is the budget: it's broken down in how much it costs to put up a digital screen in Colombia.