Walgreens Pilots ‘Smart’ Cooler Doors
Cooler Screens uses sensors, digital screens and cameras embedded in the cooler doors to target customers with ads.
Jan 14, 2019
DEERFIELD, Ill. – Walgreens has started testing “smart” cooler doors that target customers with ads based on shopper type, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company partnered with Cooler Screens, which created a technology that uses embedded digital screens, sensors and cameras in cooler doors. The freezer and refrigerator doors offer both a showcase of what’s on the other side of the door and also a digital billboard with ads that shift depending on who’s standing in front.
The new technology could operate like online ads, which ramp up ice cream spots when the weather hits 97 degrees, for example. The sensors and cameras have face-detection technology that tracks what consumers look at and pick up, providing data advertisers can use to see if their digital door promos worked. The technology also alerts retailers when stock is low or gone.
Software from Microsoft, which has invested in Cooler Screens, powers the system’s infrastructure and technology. Microsoft recently worked with Kroger on a test run of digital shelves, which also target customers with ads and keep track of inventory.
Walgreens started the pilot program with a single location in Chicago last November, with plans to add five more locations in New York City, San Francisco and Seattle by the end of the month. Cooler Screens also wants to partner with other retailers.
