Safeway puts interactive info screens to test

Supermarket chain Safeway is testing an interactive information kiosk, devised by Sampson Tyrrell Enterprise, at stores in Milton Keynes and Malvern.

The graphics, screen layouts and housings of the Easi-screen terminals are intended to blend with the rest of the supermarkets’ in-store communications, which Sampson Tyrrell has overseen as a corporate identity adviser over the past three years.

The units are located near the “shop and go” hand-scanner racks used by self-shoppers in each store. Customers insert their loyalty cards into the terminal to activate the scanning units and are presented with information on how to use the scanners.

The unit prints out a personalised greeting, a summary of their loyalty credits, a receipt and details of current offers available in the store.

“The concept is designed to communicate user shopping as simply as possible,” says Sampson Tyrrell Enterprise identity consultant Anne McCrossan. “It’s very much a part of Safeway’s awareness-building, but the project has been designed to make it invisible.”

She adds: “In the broader view, Safeway is using technology to make shopping easier for customers. It has established a clear technological lead and wants to make it part of the Safeway identity.”