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Whole Foods testing new interactive tech in Georgia store

The installations create an informative, entertaining and streamlined shopping experience, including connecting shoppers more closely to the farmers who provide the food they eat.

November 17, 2014

Second Story, a division of SapientNitro, has announced the launch of four interactive experiences it created for Whole Foods Market’s new Alpharetta, Georgia, store.

Located across the store’s café, produce, Whole Body and specialty wine and cheese departments, the installations create a more informative, entertaining and streamlined shopping experience, according to the companies, including connecting shoppers more closely to the farmers who provide the food they eat, and educating them on the sustainable growing practices that Whole Foods Market uses to rate farms in its new Responsibly Grown produce ratings program.

“Every Whole Foods Market is filled with these amazing stories about the foods we eat and the local farmers, ranchers, and fishermen who provide them,” said Joel Krieger, the Second Story creative director who led the program. “We designed the installations to connect shoppers to these stories in a new and meaningful way.”

Second Story created the following four interactive experiences:

FARM… MEET TABLE

To help Whole Foods Market connect its customers more closely to the real people that provide the food they eat, Second Story created this installation in the store’s café. An interactive wall of window panes offers shoppers a glimpse into the lives of the local suppliers.

Each window is dedicated to a different local supplier, displaying real-time images from their Instagram feed, allowing customers a peek into authentic moments — such as hands patting down freshly planted herbs or shots of the farmer's daughter blowing out candles at her birthday party. Additional curated content such as Q and A, maps, and video profiles are displayed for each supplier.

WISE WOOD

Second Story created “Wise Wood,” a 12-foot-tall x 2.5-foot-wide wooden tower, to tell the story of Whole Foods Market’s new “Responsibly Grown” produce rating system. Customers can transform a farm landscape by pulling a series of wooden knobs, to learn more about a specific sustainable farming practice that is part of the program. For example, pulling the “Energy Conservation” knob causes a set of wooden windmills to appear out of the ground and start spinning.

Wise Wood is designed to help shoppers to use play to learn about pesticide and water use, the treatment of farm workers and waste management, and other issues surrounding the food they eat, so they can make more informed shopping decisions.

WHOLE BODY MIRROR

Whole Body Mirror is designed to help shoppers discover Whole Body products that match specific needs. Customers see their forms reflected in a “magic mirror” as one of three auras: Refresh, Energize, Relieve. They are prompted to align their whole body by mimicking a pose, such as becoming "zen," flexing your muscles, or hugging yourself. Achieving a pose activates a burst of the shopper’s aura and reveals a product within Whole Body related to the pose just completed.

PERFECT PAIRINGS

Many shoppers become bewildered by the vast selection of wines, beers and cheeses in the specialty sections of Whole Foods Market. At the junction of these three sections, Second Story created an in-the-round installation of modular stacked crates to help shoppers discover products. On each of the three faces of the installation there is an exposed open crate, revealing one of three interactive touchscreens:

• “Expand Your Palate” allows shoppers to discover products they might like based on their individual taste preferences. For example, tapping the tile “tastes like dark chocolate,” reveals a coffee and wine product recommendation. Tapping the “I like” tile for curry or BBQ ribs, reveals a relevant beer pairing for each.
• “Celebrate Your Passion” is an Instagram feed of photos of favorite pairings from the Avalon, GA community using #WFMAvalon.
• “Become a Connoisseur” educates and assists customers by answering questions such as, “I’m having a party, how much wine should I buy?” or, “How do I make a cheese plate?”