Walgreens replaced some fridge doors with screens. And some shoppers absolutely hate it

[dalton99a]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/12/business/walgreens-freezer-screens/index.html

Walgreens replaced some fridge doors with screens. And some shoppers absolutely hate it
By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Business
Updated 8:02 AM ET, Sat March 12, 2022

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. Some customers really, really aren't into it.

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. The tech provides stores with an additional revenue stream and a way to modernize the shopping experience.

But 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 company wants to engage more people with advertising, but the reaction, so far, is annoyance and confusion.


Cooler Screens fridge doors shown at a Walgreens in Bridgeview, IL on February 7th 2022.

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/walgreens-tests-digital-cooler-doors-with-cameras-to-target-you-with-ads-11547206200

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
By Lara O’Reilly
Jan. 11, 2019 6:30 am ET

The refrigerator and freezer doors act as a digital merchandising platform that depicts the food and drinks inside in their best light, but also as an in-store billboard that can serve ads to consumers who approach, based on variables such as the approximate age the technology believes they are, their gender and the weather.

This new technology could provide brick-and-mortar stores with a marketplace similar to online advertising. Ice cream brands could duke it out to get the most prominent placement when it is 97 degrees outside; an older man could see ads for different products than a younger woman.

Cameras and sensors inside the coolers connected to face-detection technology also can determine which items shoppers picked up or looked at, giving advertisers insight into whether their on-screen promotions worked—and can let a retailer know quickly if a product has gone out of stock.

Brands have had some opportunities to use sensors and cameras in and outside of stores for advertising before. Last November, in one example, the Movember Foundation men’s health charity ran a digital billboard campaign in Australia and the U.K. that served different messages to passersby, depending on whether or not they had facial hair.

[TreasonousBastard]

1. No, no, no, no. NO!

[XanaDUer2]

2. Stupid shit

I wouldn't buy it

[Hugin]

4. My first encounter with this technology wasn't a good one...

I knew exactly what I wanted and opened the door only to find not only did it not contain what I desired… Ever. (But, but, but… it was on the door) It was almost empty.

Maybe they need to point all of that AI inside the freezer to keep up the inventory.

Hopefully this will go the way of their misguided beverage bars from the ‘aughts.

[hlthe2b]

9. I opened the door of one once, only to find an employee on other side stocking. Scared the living

sh...t out of me. Had it been a "normal" refrigerator door, they could be seen from the outside. The thought that came to mind immediately, is what if that had been an a'hole with a gun intent on shooting up the place or foiled in trying to rob it....

No, just no.

[Hugin]

15. Good thing it happened in a pharmacy, eh?

I hope you had your GoodRX card on you.

Defibs are usually on aisle 3.

[Throck]

5. I wonder if they'll ever make clothing like that?

A t shirt?

This way I can have 6 pack abs or enlarged boobs.

[Sur Zobra]

19. Why not both?

[hlthe2b]

6. I hate it too.

Stupid, stupid, stupid

[JHB]

7. I suspect a lot of doors opened to see what's really there...

...and often left open.

[Raine]

8. Just what no needs, more ads! 🤬👎 nt

[Chainfire]

10. Have you ever bought an item that actually looked as good as its advertisement.

Fast food hamburgers come immediately to mind.

[exboyfil]

14. Overflowing fried chicken bucket

Those 12 pieces just explode out of that giant bucket.

[exboyfil]

11. A solution in search of a problem

Besides how is a perforated screen expected to hold in the cold temperature (joke)

[jcgoldie]

12. MLB new CBA allows ads on uniforms

Its capitalism. Not a fan but I feel like there's a lot of bigger problems to think about.

[luv2fly]

13. First world problems... n/t

[milestogo]

16. Solution to a non-existent problem.

[kimbutgar]

17. I saw one recently in my local Walgreens they really look weird

[ProfessorGAC]

20. Since This Is WAY More Expensive Than Glass...

...somebody better be right about this improving revenues.
Because there's going to be a big sunk cost involved. Revenues don't go up, somebody is an ex-Walgreens executive.

[Totally Tunsie]

23. Frankly, this sounds like something that will be left off

the Walgreen's "idea person's" resume when they are soon looking for another position - released for greater opportunity elsewhere.

[ProfessorGAC]

25. Probably So

The project that got one fired is a bad résumé idea!

[rgbecker]

21. I haven't seen this yet so I'll hold judgement.

I do see huge savings of electricity used to cool those ice boxes if people weren't opening and closing doors needlessly. Its gotta help with supply, costs and, God Forbid, Global warming.

[bif]

22. As annoying as commercials at gas pumps!

That shit drives me crazy!

[MineralMan]

24. I doubt those screens have blank places when there is none

of a particular product inside. With a normal glass panel door, you can look at the actual products inside and see that the one you want is out of stock at the moment. That's often the case at the Walmarts I've been in.

As for the AI that feeds you ads, well, I shrug at that. I don't care. The entire store is one big ad, after all.