DISCUSSION
Can tailored digital video messaging transform grocery end-caps?
Written by John Karolefski
Source: coca-colacompany.com
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the monthly e-zine, CPGmatters.
The Coca-Cola Co. recently rolled out a new digital signage system attached to endcaps located in the center store of supermarkets to deliver branded video and e-coupons to customers.
The plug-and-play system, powered by a mix of Google Cloud technologies, works on any HDMI-ready display. The digital signage can tailor content messaging to approaching shoppers based on data on their smartphones. Targeted messaging can range from brand campaigns to store-specific promotional offers or even app-guided shopping lists.
“We can understand who the consumer is and get the right content and messaging to him or her at the right time,” Greg Chambers, Coke’s global group director of digital innovation, said on coca-colacompany.com. “We’re using the power of the cloud to bring a real-time, media-rich experience to shoppers in the store.”
Mr. Chambers said a 250-store pilot with Albertsons delivered a one-month return on investment. “We also significantly increased category lift,” he added, “which means not only did the end-caps help sell more Coca-Cola products … everything else on the carbonated soft drink aisle, too.”
The signage-equipped endcaps arrived as the result of a three-year project between Albertsons and Coca Cola. Kristin Moulin, who leads shopper marketing for The Coca-Cola Co. in the western U.S., described the process in a recent presentation in New York at the Shopper Marketing Summit. The project was launched after the grocer noticed fewer grocery shoppers were venturing down the beverage aisle and soda sales were slumping.
Digital screens arrived in 2016 as part of the project so content could be updated quarterly. Today, the endcap display — highlighted by a huge iconic Coke bottle — serves as a beacon to stop shoppers in their tracks and provide value by presenting consumers with the right product in the right package for the right meal occasions.
Ms. Moulin said trips down the aisle increased and the sales decline reversed for the whole category.
“It was important to the customer to see category growth,” Ms. Moulin said. “If the Coke brand won, and the other brands didn’t, it was not a win for the customer.”