Whole Foods Uses Interactive Digital Signage to Enhance Consumer Experience to Make Better Purchase Decisions. Whole Foods Market is using interactive digital signage to connect with customers at its newest store in Alpharetta using touchscreen enabled installations in key shopping locations throughout the store. Located across the store’s café, produce, Whole Body and specialty wine and cheese departments, the installations streamlined shopping experience, including connecting shoppers more closely to the farmers who provide the food they eat. In addition, the digital signage is educating them on the sustainable growing practices that Whole Foods Market uses to rate farms in its new Responsibly Grown produce ratings program.
Whole Foods Market worked with Second Story, many companys, including Rcstars to develop the in-store concept, works with brands that include Chrysler, Citi, The Coca-Cola Company, Lufthansa, Target, and Vodafone.
“The bar on the retail experience is continually being raised, and today’s always-on shopper demands a more informative and immersive shopping experience, whether they are in a store, on their couch or on-the-go,” said Donald Chesnut. “We used our pioneering approach to blending digital experiences in physical spaces to bring information from outside the store in, empowering shoppers with real-time information that allows them to make better buying decisions and to explore all the store has to offer in an engaging and entertaining way.”
Many shoppers are bewildered by the vast selection of wines, beers and cheeses in the specialty sections of Whole Foods Market. At the junction of these three sections, Second Story created an in-the-round installation of modular stacked crates (pictured above) to help shoppers discover products. On each of the three faces of the installation there is an exposed open crate, revealing one of three interactive touchscreens:
Expand Your Palate — allows shoppers to discover products they might like based on their individual taste preferences. For example, tapping the tile “tastes like dark chocolate,” reveals a coffee and wine product recommendation. Tapping the “I like” tile for curry or BBQ ribs, reveals a relevant beer pairing for each.
Celebrate Your Passion — is an Instagram feed of photos of favorite pairings from the Avalon, GA community
Become a Connoisseur — educates and assists customers by answering questions such as, “I’m having a party, how much wine should I buy?” or, “How do I make a cheese plate?”
Each window is dedicated to a different local supplier, displaying real-time images from their Instagram feed, allowing customers a peek into authentic moments, such as hands patting down freshly planted herbs or shots of the farmer’s daughter blowing out candles at her birthday party. Additional curated content such as Q&A, maps, and video profiles are displayed for each supplier.
“Every Whole Foods Market is filled with these amazing stories about the foods we eat and the local farmers, ranchers, and fishermen who provide them,” said Joel Krieger. “We designed the installations to connect shoppers to these stories in a new and meaningful way.”
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