Smart carts enable brands to put their products right in front of shoppers as they move through the store. Digital cooler screens use bright, informative visuals to pique consumer interest. And digital end caps add an element of interactivity to the old-school format. Here’s how retailers can put them to use to up their retail media game.
1. Smart carts
Using smart carts, shoppers can scan items as they go and pay for them without having to wait in a checkout line. But they also provide brands the chance to put their products right in front of shoppers as they make their way throughout the store.
Put it in action: There are a few different smart cart options on the market right now.
2. Digital cooler screens
Digital cooler screens brightly display the products inside while also giving advertisers more real estate to promote discounts, product features, or other brand messaging.
Put it into action: Following a successful three-year test, Kroger just recently expanded its partnership with grocery tech media company Cooler Screens, bringing its digital cooler screens to 500 stores across the US.
But it’s not for everyone. Cooler Screens is suing Walgreens for ending their agreement early. According to the suit, Walgreens was going to expand the technology to 2,500 stores, but then current CEO Rosalind Brewer took over and “decided she did not like how the screens looked.”
3. Digital end caps
End cap displays are a key part of any brand’s in-store marketing strategy. But like everything else in the store, there’s an opportunity to use digital elements to breathe new life into the format.
With digital end caps, brands can take advantage of all the traditional benefits of end caps (highlighting new, featured, or seasonal products; capitalizing on impulse purchases; increasing brand recognition) but in a more interactive, engaging way.
Put it into action: Last year, Giant Food partnered with Unilever and retail marketing platform Perch on digital end caps that featured Dove products. The end cap featured Perch’s “lift-and-learn” technology that could sense which products shoppers touched and respond with videos and information about that product.
