Walgreens Tests Digital Cooler Doors With Cameras to Target You With Ads A startup called Cooler Screens puts a high-tech twist on in-store marketing The company wants to engage more people with advertising, but the reaction, so far, is annoyance and confusion.Ĭooler Screens fridge doors shown at a Walgreens in Bridgeview, IL on February 7th 2022. The tech provides stores with an additional revenue stream and a way to modernize the shopping experience.īut for customers who just want to peek into the freezer and grab their ice cream, Walgreens (WBA) risks angering them by solving a problem that shoppers didn't know existed. The screens, which were developed by the startup Cooler Screens, use a system of motion sensors and cameras to display what's inside the doors - as well as product information, prices, deals and, most appealing to brands, paid advertisements. Some customers really, really aren't into it. New York (CNN Business) Walgreens and other retailers have swapped out the clear fridge and freezer doors at thousands of stores, instead adding opaque doors with iPad-like screens showing what's inside. And some shoppers absolutely hate it By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Business So, it will be forced on everyone eventually.Walgreens replaced some fridge doors with screens. The Cooler Screens company has raised more than $100 million from backers including Microsoft and Verizon. However, it looks like we will have to do what we are told. But for most religious conspiracy nuts this electronic technology is close to magic and therefore must be inspired by the anti-christ.įor the rest of the sane population, we don’t like adverts bothering us. In this case the freezers have front-facing sensors used to anonymously track shoppers interacting with the platform, while internally facing cameras track product inventory. This is rehash of the same daft conspiracy which came out in the 1980s when supermarkets started using bar codes which were supposed to contain the number of the beast. Since America has a large population of religious conspiracy nut jobs, there are those who believe Walgreens refrigerators are scanning shoppers' hands and foreheads for 'the mark of the beast.' Several other major retailers are launching their own tests with Cooler Screens, including Kroger, CVS, GetGo convenience stores and Chevron petrol stations.īut there is an additional problem for the screens. Walgreens began testing the screens in 2018 and has since expanded the pilot to a couple thousand locations nationwide. "The digital cooler screens at Walgreens made me watch an ad before it allowed me to know which door held the frozen pizzas," said someone on Twitter. "Who on God's green earth thought this was a good idea?" "Why would Walgreens do this?" one befuddled shopper who encountered the screens posted on TikTok. However, it ignored the fact that most customers who just want to peek into the freezer and grab their ice cream they don’t want to be bothered by adverts. The stores thought, this is cool it will give us an additional revenue stream and will look really modern.
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