Merryfield, Cornerstone Unveil At-Shelf Education Program
Public benefit corporation Merryfield has partnered with Cornerstone for Natural to create an in-store consumer education, incentives and rewards program, dubbed Learn & Earn.
The program, powered by the Merryfield Rewards app and Cornerstone's Smart Shelf Tag technology, aims to help shoppers make healthier, more informed point-of-purchase decisions through in-aisle branded digital content and exclusive incentives and rewards unlocked using a smartphone.
Leveraging QR code technology, Smart Shelf Tags serve up digital content such as videos, web content, images, product ingredients and nutritional attributes to in-store shoppers.
Beginning in early 2023, shoppers at participating Learn & Earn retailers will see dedicated signage and QR codes displayed at-shelf for participating brands. Scanning the QR code with a smartphone camera immediately reveals product information and educational content, as well as enables shoppers to unlock exclusive incentives to buy that product on that trip through the Merryfield app.
"It's much harder than it should be for people to find accurate and trustworthy information about food and other everyday products they want to buy for their families. With Merryfield's new Learn & Earn program, we can bring honest, on-demand information to people right in store aisles and pair it with new digital product incentives," said Zooey Deschanel, Merryfield co-founder and chief creative officer. "Inflation is impacting what people can buy and where they shop. Every bit of savings will help people."
Because Learn & Earn is facilitated through the Merryfield Rewards Network, the company is giving participating brands and retailers exclusive access to a slew of consumer activation data and insights solutions based on its users’ everyday purchases, whether made in-store, online or via BOPIS services.
As CPG brands continue to look for ways to stand out on-shelf and communicate their brand stories and unique attributes of their products, Merryfield and Cornerstone are betting on smart shelf tags to further accelerate conversion at-shelf for participating brands and retailers.
"Today, natural food stores, food co-ops and independent grocery stores are inherently at a disadvantage compared to big chain and big-box stores,” said David Mayer, founder and CEO of Merryfield, in the release. “We created Learn & Earn with the needs of the tens of thousands of local and regional independent retailers across the U.S. in mind."
"We wanted to help elevate the in-store experience with a differentiating new consumer facing program, engaging digital in-store experiences and additional new savings exclusively for Learn & Earn retailer shoppers. Learn & Earn is a super-easy to implement way to deliver digital in-store education paired with powerful at-shelf digital promotion tools that are usually just the domain of the biggest chains."