Stop & Shop Tests HBC Kiosk in Five Stores

WENDY TOTH

QUINCY, Mass. — Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. here is testing an in-store kiosk that carries the traditionally mail-order facial care system Proactiv Solution, from Guthy-Renker, Palm Desert, Calif.

“Right now, five stores in Connecticut and western Massachusetts have the kiosk,” Stop & Shop spokesman Robert Keane told SN. “It works the same way as a vending machine, only you use a credit card. The items are dispensed at the time of payment from the machine.”

Stop & Shop will install five more machines within the next few months, but the locations have yet to be finalized, Keane said.

The skin care system is best known for its direct marketing infomercials featuring A-list celebrities such as Jessica Simpson, Kelly Clarkson, Vanessa Williams and Sean “P Diddy” Combs.

Ben Van De Bunt, principal and executive vice president for Guthy-Renker, told the Wall Street Journal last year that besides mail-order, Proactiv is sold through Guthy-Renker-controlled kiosks in over 350 malls throughout the United States. Greg Renker, co-chief executive officer for the company, added: “Consumer relationship is the secret sauce of our product and our brands. We don't want to be diluted by clerks and/or retail outlets who don't understand the significance of what they are representing.”