Eversys unveils its new digital signage and customisation services to provide added value to customers seeking educational or branded marketing opportunities.
In the early 2000s, small-body mobile handsets with keyboards were considered sleek and cutting-edge. Cars came equipped with knobs and dials, and the few early adopters of Global Positioning System accessories tinkered with their destination through pointers on unresponsive surfaces. Thanks to the digital age, a few things have changed.
This includes the evolution of interface displays as a result of a growing guild of graphic interface designers who have turned previously unexciting canvases into attractive, creative visual experiences.
Since its inception, Swiss espresso machine manufacturer Eversys has equipped its models with screens in order to be more intuitive, and aid customer and consumer satisfaction. The Eversys design and software teams are now taking a step further as they launch a new set of digital signage and customisation services to expand the screen’s visual experience.
Eversys Commercial and Marketing Director Christian Haueter says the intention behind the new Eversys Digital Services is to “genuinely empower” customers and “make marketers’ hearts beat strong”.
“We want to simplify and improve operations on machines in environments like convenience stores or quick service restaurants,” he says.
The new initiative will transform the interface on Eversys’ Légacy and Enigma lines to display digital screen signage. This can include screensavers or progress screens targeting a visual experience. It could feature video sequences, still or animated images or icons while idle or in production mode.
Similar to traditional digital signage on dedicated displays, this functionality aims to bring more value in locations where the coffee machine attracts customer attention and can be used to present information or promotions.
“We identified that screensavers could get the attention of people passing by. The most interesting part is that while the [espresso] is being dispensed, that’s when you really have people’s attention. It is the ideal phase to display emotional experiences via videos or images,” says Stephan Zink, Software Director at Eversys.
Coles Express petrol and convenience sites in Australia, recently acquired by VIVA Energy, have discovered the benefits of this added value feature. Geoff Marks, Group Commercial Director of Tiger Coffee Oceania, an Eversys distributor in Australia and New Zealand, says the large national chain uses Eversys’ digital signage and customisation services on each of the 800-plus Eversys Cameo coffee machines installed.
“Each month, I receive an upload file from the Coles Express marketing team with between four to six images containing individual product promotions. It could be about an individual convenience food offering, a drink discount, or a coffee and chocolate promotion for AUD$4 (about US$2.70). We upload the promo images via the Eversys telemetry system, and they get pushed out nationally to all Coles Express coffee machines screens overnight on a selected day that Coles chooses,” Marks says.
“We program the images to appear on the touchscreen so that they all rotate while the customer’s coffee is dispensed.”
Coles Express has been using the Eversys digital signage system for the past two years, when it was first activated during 2021. Marks says the convenience chain is particularly impressed it can use the digital signage system to generate promotional material that can push sales and new revenue streams.
“For Coles Express, it’s about using the space provided and offering the real estate to key suppliers who might like to enhance their product promotion or work in combination with a mixed product offering. It’s a much better option than customers staring at a blank space for the duration of their coffee order,” Marks says.
Tiger Coffee can also use the Eversys telemetry system to digitally activate new coffee products across multisite chain locations.
“All telemetry updates are pushed overnight meaning activations for new products or price changes can happen instantaneously at all sites in the country. There is no way this change could be done manually in Australia to so many venues at once. It really does enhance the coffee equipment offering and give tremendous flexibility to Coles Express,” Marks says.
With Coles Express producing millions of coffee beverages each year, Marks says it is critical that the daily cleaning and servicing of Eversys machines is maintained to the highest standards.
“Using Eversys’ unique pull and push digital telemetry system allows all machines to program cleaning cycles and uphold regular preventative maintenance servicing,” he says.
“Our goal is to ensure Cameo C’2ms machines are always working. Essentially, if we get contacted via the telemetry system there is an issue, we can make a change or an update remotely, without having a technician attend the site. We did this recently for a shop located more than 10 hours outside of Adelaide in South Australia. Fixing the issue remotely was a huge time and cost saving, and gave the venue instant access to sell products again.”
The end result, is extremely satisfied customers and a complete change in perception about the standard of coffee available at convenience locations operating Eversys machines.
“Coles has seen consistent double-digit growth across its coffee product sales since installing the Eversys Cameo machines throughout 2020/21 in comparison to outdated automatic machines used prior to June 2020. We are constantly monitoring the machines and their quality output. There truly is a consistent high value, coffee offering at every Coles Express nationally,” Marks says.
“The Eversys’ partnership and learnings over the past two years with Coles Express has really lifted the standard across its digital fleets internationally.”
Frank and Honest, a leading on-the-go coffee brand, has partnered with Eversys since 2016.
Sarah Grey, Operations Manager of Frank and Honest Coffee, says Eversys’ digital signage and telemetry system was part of the consideration process in choosing its coffee machine partner.
“The telemetry dashboard provides us with live machine information on key coffee quality metrics, such as ETC, cleaning stats, milk temperatures, aborts, and service information. The information is easily accessed and displayed in a user-friendly manner, highlighting trends and areas for action,” Grey says. “The data is also exportable to support the generation of offline reports. This data is core to supporting our field-based teams in driving standards with our stores. They use it as part of store visits and training to ensure we deliver consistent top-quality coffee across all our locations.”
Frank and Honest Marketing Manager, Rosemary Walsh, adds that the digital screens on the Eversys’ Enigma machine provide a high-quality interface to display high-definition photography and videography, which can be customised to Frank and Honest’s brand needs.
“We can also tailor the message by site making it a powerful targeted marketing tool,” Walsh says. Frank and Honest use the digital signage to communicate about its leadership in sustainability credentials to shoppers, social media channels and website, and to help launch a new digital loyalty app. It even incorporated a QR code to download the app, which has resulted in an estimated 35,000 downloads to date.
Frank and Honest has also used the Eversys digital screens in some of its university coffee sites for a graduate recruitment drive for Musgrave, the parent company Frank and Honest.
The scope of service focuses on preparing the signage material and the machines, and deploying content across a fleet of hundreds or thousands of installed devices. This means that content can be uploaded to an unlimited number of Eversys espresso machines within seconds without the need to go on-site.
“We assessed an icebreaker in Australia, and other clients are now contacting us to have the same. At the moment, customers must deliver their files to Eversys, and our staff uploads them. Up until now, we have created more than 460 screen files worldwide. But we want to go further and improve the process,” says Eversys’ Software Director Zink.
The software team is currently putting substantial efforts in projects to optimise operations with tailor-made selection screens, another valuable possibility offered by Eversys, mainly to self- or quick-service environments.
Eversys Digital Signage is only the starting point in the company’s digital evolution. The company wants to invest more into Internet of Things service offerings and explore future possibilities.
“The Eversys team is ready to inspire its customers with plenty of real-life references on enhanced visual experiences,” says Eversys Commercial and Marketing Director Haueter. We look forward to improving customised operator efficiency on Eversys displays – on top of delivering excellent coffee quality.”
For more information, visit www.eversys.com/en/
This article was first published in the March/April 2023 edition of Global Coffee Report. Read more HERE.
