Earth Fare Boosts In-Store Café Food Sales With Digital Signage
Organic and natural food retailer Earth Fare has joined forces with in-store media solutions company Mood Media on a test of multiple custom-designed digital signage display options and strategies within the café of an Earth Fare store in Charlotte, N.C., which led to a 10% increase in the café’s “eat-in” food category sales. Part of a full renovation of the store, the test took place in mid-2019.
At the beginning of the test, Earth Fare developed creative digital media content to be displayed on five 55-inch ultra-high-definition LCD screens, provided and installed by Mood Media. Among the other digital signage strategies rolled out in the test store’s café area were digital menu boards for beverage and eat-in food purchases at the point of sale; branded Earth Fare content driving eat-in food options and targeted messaging; the ability to air live sports, specifically March Madness basketball games; displays of current and upcoming weather conditions at that location; and easily changeable content streams at each of the café’s five screens.
“In addition to our commitment to provide clean and healthy food options for our shoppers, we are also dedicated to ensuring that our shoppers have enjoyable and memorable experiences,” said Mike Savage, Earth Fare’s SVP of merchandising. “Mood Media helped us create a branded café environment that positively distinguishes us from other grocers. With new visual technologies and engaging, customized content, shoppers felt invited to eat, drink, lounge and relax.”
Further, thanks to the secure Mood Harmony visual experience, authorized Earth Fare associates have complete control over digital signage solutions in the Charlotte location’s café, as well as in all other U.S. Earth Fare stores supported by Mood Media, now consisting of more than 180 screens and 400 media devices. The intuitive CMS interface enables users to instantly manage, edit and publish content for one or several screens across various locations. Mood Media’s scheduling feature also permits Earth Fare to schedule content as far out or as soon as needed.
“Earth Fare understands the importance of creating an authentic experience that allows customers to interact with their brand across multiple channels while also driving further sales,” noted Trey Courtney, global chief products and partnerships officer at Austin, Texas-based Mood Media. “We were thrilled to partner with them for this latest test, which served to showcase firsthand the undeniable difference that incorporating smartly approached, dynamic digital signage elements can make, including to the bottom line.”
Earth Fare is also making use of Mood Media’s partnership with DISH, an Englewood, Colo.-based satellite television provider, by broadcasting live TV occasionally from select screens in the Charlotte, N.C., test store’s café.
Asheville, N.C.-based Earth Fare operates locations across 10 states in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.
