Nearly all American shoppers (99%) say they feel safer shopping at stores that provide sanitizing stations at their entrances and that they plan to keep using wipes from kiosks even after the COVID vaccine becomes available to them, according to a new survey conducted by IRI Research.
The independent research was sponsored by Terraboost Media, a “Purpose-Driven” Out-of-Home (OOH) media company and manufacturer of disinfectant wipes. Over the past 15 years, Terraboost has created a network of more than 100,000 hand sanitizing billboards nationwide at supermarkets, drugstores, malls, airports, and other transportation hubs.
“While our team inherently believed consumer behavior regarding sanitizing & disinfecting has changed forever, we were still surprised to see that 99% of Americans intend to use our kiosks to sanitize their hands and carts even after being vaccinated,” said Terraboost CEO Brian Morrison, whose wellness kiosks are installed at top tier retailers such as CVS, Albertsons and Walgreens nationwide.
The survey found high shopper engagement (77%) with the wellness kiosks leading to 47% recall and 34% claiming an influence on purchase behavior. Additionally, the study reported that 70% of shoppers took two or more wipes.
“More than one-third of respondents said that seeing the ads on the kiosks influenced shopping behavior. This kind of interaction between consumers and advertisers is incredibly valuable as our hand-sanitizing billboards are an opportunity for our advertisers to literally sponsor health, wellness and the safety of their community when its needed the most,” Morrison said. “Further, this type of high impact out-of-home advertising is incredibly cost-effective as compared to other types of advertising.”
These results come at a time when much of the broader OOH advertising industry experienced a downturn because of the coronavirus pandemic. According to a report by Billboard Insider, out-of-home advertising revenue decreased 45% in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the previous year, accounting for $1.48 billion, based on figures released by the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA).
Terraboost has seen a more than 400% spike in the past year as its billboard network is located inside essential businesses that are getting increased traffic, impressions and approximately five times more engagement vs. pre-pandemic. The 5-foot, full color messaging is positioned on wellness kiosks that dispense a complimentary sanitizing wipe or sanitizer to all shoppers, while reminding them they have options at checkout time.
