Kroger is installing digital smart screens from Chicago-based Cooler Screens in 500 of its stores across the USA.

This follows a three-year pilot of the proprietary in-store retail media technology that powers digital smart screens to improve in-store consumer experiences with dynamic, interactive media and digital merchandising.

Through a digital media and merchandising experience, Kroger customers can make better-informed decisions based on their preferences, diets, health needs, budgets and lifestyles. This technology is said to enhance the customer experience, while offering more insights, measurement and activation.

Brands find in-store retail media is an effective way to reach and inspire consumers at their points of decision. Cooler Screens and Kroger are enabling the vision for digital in-store retail media and merchandising as they become a core part of brands’ marketing strategies.

“We’re excited about this continued collaboration as it extends our vision for the future of retail media, offering brands another powerful marketing lever inside the store,” said Cara Pratt, senior vice president at Kroger. “Cooler Screens shares and further enables this vision by bringing the best of digital experiences directly into our retail stores while integrating with our 84.51° data science platform to create an engaging and valuable experience for our customers, associates, and brands.”

Cooler Screens CEO Arsen Avakian added: “We’re humbled to expand our strategic alignment with Kroger, which is a pioneer in retail media and second-to-none in the use of consumer insights. And, like Kroger, we use consumer insights to create a triple win for consumers, brands and the retailer.”

Cooler Screens’ advertising platform enables a multi-retailer nationwide network that already reaches more than 90 million viewers monthly in stores and is projected to reach more than 200 million per month in early 2024.

By leveraging Cooler Screens’ IoT-enabled advertising and analytics platform, brands can engage with this scaled audience to inspire and engage consumers in brick-and-mortar stores. Dynamic, contextually relevant promotions and product information can meet the needs and preferences of digitally empowered shoppers to increase brand sales and loyalty.

Cooler Screens created smart screen software and enabling hardware that seamlessly integrates into new or existing screens in stores leveraging existing surfaces on walls, end caps, checkout lanes, banner aisles, pharmacy and healthcare areas, foodservice boards, windows, and coolers. The company’s AI-driven software and hardware allow retailers to create in-store digital experiences for shoppers, and for brands to reach them on dynamic, adaptive smart screens that adapt to consumer interests and insights-driven context at the point of decision.

With most purchases still taking place in brick-and-mortar stores, Cooler Screens helps retailers digitise and improve consumer experiences and enter the retail media business, while allowing brands to drive sales and build brand equity by reaching the vast traffic in physical stores.

Cooler Screens works with retailers such as Kroger, Walgreens, Giant Eagle’s GetGo convenience stores, Chevron, Areas, Parkland and Western Union.