Live from the In-Store Marketing Expo: Cabco Introduces Mi-Kart
Cabco USA, Inc. is adding seven-inch display screens to shopping carts that will offer everything from product demonstration to promotions.
The product, called Mi-Kart, is Cabco’s latest in shopping cart technology.
“We want to empower the shopper,” Brad Johnson, chief operating officer, Cabco, said.
As shoppers move down an aisle, the Mi-Kart detects an advertiser’s product using a trigger placed at the bottom of store shelves and plays an ad on the screen. Users can select from various options on the computer menu to look up product and nutrition information, seek out in-store specials and scan items for prices.
Shoppers who want copies of recipes using the featured items can save them on the monitor and print them out when they return the cart to the cart station, Johnson said.
Cabco is working exclusively with CPG companies for its Mi-Karts, but will have the capability to link to retailers’ loyalty programs, Johnson said.
Mi-Kart will roll out in select retailers starting in January.
It’s not Cabco’s first venture with interactive carts. The company in 2004 launched TV Kart, carts designed like mini cars that kids ride while their parents shop. Once inside the Kart, kids can watch 90-minute movies featuring their favorite characters, such as “Bob the Builder” or “Barney” from small monitors. Between three to five movies are available on the carts.
TV Karts are now available in 10 grocery chains, including H-E-B, Meijer, Publix and select Wal-Marts. Cabco also plans to bring add its new display screens to the TV Karts next year.
