Cooler Screens Expands Beyond the Cooler Aisle

In-store digital merchandising platform Cooler Screens is expanding its technology beyond cooler aisle refrigerator doors.

Announced at NRF 2023: Retail's Big Show in New York, Cooler Screens now offers touchpoints in additional areas of the store as part of the company's efforts to enhance the brick-and-mortar shopping experience at food retailers.

The company aims to accelerate digital transformation and provide retailers more opportunities for growth through the digitization of in-store media, while helping brands connect with customers through targeted and relevant advertising, according to a January media release.  

With the launch, the company’s digital media, merchandising and advertising platform is now a “One Store, One Platform” offering — and can be integrated by retailers and activated by brands and marketers — across cooler doors, endcaps, checkout lane coolers, pharmacy screens and other in-store touchpoints. Cooler Screens says it’s already in discussions with multiple retailers, including grocery and pharmacy, to integrate the store-wide technology into their locations.

The Chicago-based company’s digital, IoT-enabled smart screens have garnered support from retailers and brands, including Kroger, Walgreens, Circle K, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Edgewell Personal Care and Kraft Heinz. Cooler Screens says it has nearly 100 million viewers per month across 10,000 screens nationwide, a number that is forecasted to grow to more than 200 million viewers per month in 2023.  

The launch furthers Cooler Screens’ One Store, One Platform vision of delivering a single connected platform for in-store media and merchandising for retailers and brands that can be integrated into the retail environment. Using edge computing and data and analytics, it offers retailers and brands insights into shopper behavior to create and optimize real-time engagements and activations and deliver a cohesive and more personalized in-store customer experience, per the release.

"Our mission is to improve the consumer experience in-store and, by expanding beyond the cooler aisle into other areas of the store, we continue to deliver for consumers, retailers and brands,” Arsen Avakian, founder and CEO of Cooler Screens, said in the release. “We are creating an integrated solution across the brick-and-mortar environment, fundamentally transforming the in-store experience." 

Prior to the launch, Cooler Screens introduced its New Product Launch solution, a data-powered contextual advertising solution designed to grow awareness, trial and repeat purchases of new products. It unites Cooler Screens’ intelligence, technology and audience network to ensure that CPGs can directly connect with in-market audiences on new products in-store.

The solution was conceived by former Amazon executive Artem Lavrinovich, who was recently appointed to the role of chief data and product officer at Cooler Screens. In the role, Lavrinovich leads data and product strategy, combining in-store intelligence and innovation to create new opportunities for brands and retailers.