Visual Art and Finnish retail giant Kesko have signed a long-term agreement on a software solution that will be used to create and publish content for approx 15,000 digital screens in K Group’s grocery stores. At the heart of the solution is Visual Arts’ own digital signage software, CMS Signage Player.

Kesko’s goal was to find a common system and the possibility of centralized control of all its digital screens in its 1500+ stores around Finland. In the past, there have been  different solutions in different stores and store chains which has made the system difficult to understand from both a maintenance perspective and also when it comes to central updates of content.

– With our own CMS at the bottom, Kesko now has the opportunity to easily control and adapt the content from a central location, but can of course still create localized content for individual stores and screens, says Pontus Meijer, Chief Revenue Officer at Visual Art.

Visual Art has been involved in the entire process to build the new digital communication solution.

– This type of digital communication solutions suits us perfectly and Kesko is through its size and type of stores obviously an extra feather in the cap to have as clients, Pontus Meijer continues.

The agreement covers everything from planning to rollout and ongoing support. This means that Visual Art helps Kesko to evaluate systems and solutions before roll-out and also is responsible for installation and ongoing maintenance. The CMS is a large part of the digital communication solution.

– We were looking for a simple, intuitive and user-friendly digital signage software to have full control of our digital fleet. In addition, it is important that the solution integrates with all our other types of systems, something that Visual Art has managed to solve for us, says Pekka Valkearanta, Business CIO, Kesko Grocery trade.

The collaboration between Visual Art and Kesko has been in full swing since after the summer holidays. In total, this involves the installation and service of CMS system that covers around 15,000 digital screens.

About K Group

Kesko and K-retailers together form K Group, whose retail sales total €14 billion. K Group is the third biggest retail operator in Northern Europe and it employs some 39,000 people. Kesko operates in the grocery trade, building and technical trade, and car trade. Its divisions and chains act in close cooperation with retailer entrepreneurs and other partners.

Kesko’s net sales total €11 billion and it employs approximately 18,000 people. Kesko has around 1,800 stores engaged in chain operations in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Kesko’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. The company’s domicile and main premises are located in Helsinki. Kesko is the world’s most sustainable company in the grocery trade sector (The Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World). www.kesko.fi