News

Virtual reality tool helping restaurants develop digital content

October 27, 2016

Coates Group, a provider of kiosks, digital merchandising software and digital drive-thrus, has introduced a virtual reality tool to allow brands to physically see and develop digital hardware and content within their own virtual store, according to a company press release. 

The Coates Lab VR tool, developed for quick-service restaurants, allows designers to immediately see their merchandising ideas come to life using VR simulation of the customer’s environment.

The tool allows clients to see the finished product earlier in the design process. A key benefit is to allow brands to test riskier concepts through the eyes of their customers without prototyping, time delays or incurring huge costs, said CEO Leo Coates.

"The VR tool has proven to be a powerful and effective method to help brand designers, marketers and development teams efficiently ideate their own virtual store, and quickly land on the ideal design without costly and time-consuming prototypes," he said. "Brands can walk through their concept environment and change the content on digital signage using our proprietary Switchboard CMS to test and visualize how different campaigns roll out in stores, allowing for real-time revisions to the proposed store environment."

The Coates VR experience includes:

• Visualize entire spaces and merchandising campaigns in the early design phase;
• Complete design control from the point of conception;
• Tailor and revise digital solutions earlier in the process;
• Reduce piloting and modelling costs and time;
• Test and develop through the eyes of customers for maximum engagement; and
• Conduct focus groups to collect real world insights

Coates worked with a global QSR to enhance the drive-thru experience. The client was able to experience and manipulate the customer journey through different merchandising options and updated hardware modeling. The goal is to increase revenue by driving up-sell, reducing drive-thru times and improving the overall customer experience, Coates said.

"While VR is commonly used in gaming and other consumer applications, this is a new and innovative B2B approach to using VR in the digital marketing industry," said Don Stroberg, chief operating officer of Radius Networks, a global supplier of beacon technology and Coates partner. "For creative teams and agencies who currently rely on concept and CAD drawings, 3D fly-throughs, or have to build replica test stores, this is a highly efficient and modern option."