When shoppers began tapping Healthnotes kiosks for information on exotic fruits that boost disease-fighting antioxidants, the company sprang into action.
Using the networked content-publishing capabilities of Healthnotes LiveConnect, an interactive, in-store marketing platform with touchscreen kiosks designed specifically for supermarket, pharmacy and natural-product retailers, the company added health and nutrition content about the exotic fruits to retailers' kiosks to meet the growing consumer trend.
Behind the scenes of LiveConnect is the Esprida Enterprise system that enables Healthnotes to manage kiosks and capture a new level of business intelligence for retailers. It goes beyond what shoppers buy at the store to capture what's on their minds before they make purchases.
"Grocery retailing is a data-driven exercise and retailers know what their shoppers are purchasing, but they don't have information on what their shoppers interests are," said Jenn Lynch, product director for Healthnotes Inc. "Usage data from Healthnotes shows them what shoppers are concerned about."
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"Being able to spot trends allows us to significantly grow our content for those products and help our retailers catch that wave as it starts to pick up. It's a new form of business intelligence for retailers."
-- Jenn Lynch, product director, Healthnotes Inc. |
LiveConnect offers real-time usage data on all aspects of the kiosk, including coupons and other promotional activities. For instance, retailers can see what recipes a user looked at before deciding on one to print.
"With the right level of attention, that could mean the difference between getting a jump on a trend or falling behind," Lynch said.
Healthnotes offers six "facings" or content areas for kiosks: fresh produce; meat and seafood; wine; pharmacy; and healthy living. Each type of kiosk in a store can be updated individually with unique content. With LiveConnect, Healthnotes can manage networked kiosks without on-site intervention.
Usage data allows a retailer to tweak the offerings on each kiosk, such as a new attraction screen or new coupons. A retailer can see how each kiosk performs relative to others in the store and how the store compares with others in the locality.
"A retailer can look at specific traits and distribute updates to all devices that meet the criteria," said Bevan Hayes, director of client service at Esprida. "If there are low-performing devices, we can update them to improve traffic. New content can be distributed and scheduled with only a few clicks."
LiveConnect also gave Healthnotes the ability to install a new product release in May 2007, the first time the company completed a major release across multiple customers simultaneously.
"It changed the way we were able to do business with our customers," Lynch said. "It allowed us to do an implementation with dozens of kiosks and monitor them all at once with one person, rather than placing calls to numerous stores."
Retailers' IT departments notoriously are reluctant to allow third-party access to their networks,
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Esprida Enterprise, a remote management tool, tracks information on Healthnotes LiveConnect shoppers' interests. |
but Esprida's noninvasive remote management tools meet the tough requirements. The high level of security opens the door for the data collection and content-publishing functions that Healthnotes values.
"Healthnotes is able to obtain the information they want because retailers are confident sensitive data is never accessed or compromised," Hayes said.
In addition to content publishing, Healthnotes can monitor remotely the status of each kiosk and perform many maintenance functions. It even can switch to an out-of-order display mode, rather than disappoint shoppers who can't print a recipe because the kiosk is out of paper.
With the connectivity of LiveConnect, Healthnotes becomes a tool to help retailers gain insight into the minds and habits of their shoppers. Retailers are able to analyze the recipes shoppers print and the kinds of health conditions, vitamins and supplements they are researching before they buy.
"Being able to spot trends allows us to significantly grow our content for those products and help our retailers catch that wave as it starts to pick up," Lynch said. "It's a new form of business intelligence for retailers."
