Then the screens started breaking so you can’t tell what’s inside at all. “Walgreens upgraded their cooler windows to these giant screens so you couldn’t tell what was in stock. You open up this beautiful digital display to find messy, nearly empty shelves behind it,” another shopper complained. “The new beverage cooler screens at Walgreens *look* cool but are ridiculous in practice. “Can anyone explain why we need digital screens instead of glass windows in the beverage cooler at Walgreens? What is the problem that this allegedly solves?” one user asked. Whether the critics are just more vocal, or are actually representative of what most consumers think, a visit to Twitter shows mostly negative reactions to the screens from Walgreens shoppers. You might not think so from reading online comments. The smart doors “create an engaging and valuable experience for our customers, associates, and brands.” Cooler Screens says its product increases sales for brands and retailers, and “feedback from consumers who have experienced Cooler Screens has been overwhelmingly positive, with over 90% no longer preferring the traditional coolers.” “We’re excited about this continued collaboration as it extends our vision for the future of retail media,” Kroger Precision Marketing senior vice president Cara Pratt said in a statement. And if Kroger was troubled by Walgreens’ experience, it didn’t let on, in announcing the recent expansion of its own partnership with Cooler Screens. Cooler Screens failed to meet its contractual obligations, and the decision to terminate the contract was based on our experience with Cooler Screens.”Ĭooler Screens has since worked with other retailers including CVS, Chevron convenience stores and Kroger. “Safety, customer experience, and meeting revenue goals are a priority for our company. “We are disappointed that Cooler Screens is falsely claiming that anything other than their failure to perform was the basis for the termination of our contractual relationship,” the retailer said in a statement. So the company says it had no choice but to sue its once-eager partner, in an effort to recover its losses. After agreeing to invest some $200 million to custom-manufacture and install screens for Walgreens’ uniquely-sized coolers, the plaintiff says “Walgreens is now wrongfully demanding that Cooler Screens expend tens of millions of additional dollars to remove all the Smart Door technology from Walgreens stores.” “Cooler Screens was no match for a huge corporation intent on breaking its contractual commitment,” the lawsuit goes on. The lawsuit says Walgreens claimed the screens were malfunctioning, the retailer blocked ads from appearing, and “was actively discouraging advertisers from purchasing advertising with Cooler Screens,” calling the screens “‘bad news’ or something to that effect,” the lawsuit alleges. Fewer than a third of the planned 2,500 stores had the cooler doors installed when Cooler Screens says the retailer began undermining the partnership as “part of a scheme” to get out of its contract. “Cooler Screens has developed a technology that transforms how customers shop for refrigerated items in the cooler aisle,” the website quotes former Walgreens President Richard Ashworth as saying.īut after a change in leadership, the new regime at Walgreens was apparently not as enthusiastic about Cooler Screens as the old regime was. “Both companies shared a vision of reimagining the consumer experience by bringing the power of digital technology into stores,” Cooler Screens’ website still says, in using Walgreens as a case study. So when he approached his former company to test the screens in a handful of stores, the lawsuit describes how Walgreens eagerly agreed, and a year later, contracted for a widespread rollout. Cooler Screens’ cofounder Greg Wasson is himself a former CEO of Walgreens. Walgreens was the first retailer to partner with Cooler Screens back in 2018, in what seemed like a perfect match. Two years after previous management agreed to roll out Cooler Screens in 2,500 Walgreens stores, newly-installed CEO Rosalind Brewer “decided that she did not like how the screens looked and that she wanted them out of the stores,” the lawsuit alleges, accusing her of “purportedly comparing the screens to ‘Vegas’ in a derogatory way.” Cooler Screens has filed a $200 million lawsuit against Walgreens, accusing the retailer of reneging on a contractual agreement to install the smart screens in thousands of stores, due in large part to the Walgreens CEO’s apparent distaste for them.
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