William Scholl lived by the motto "early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise" as he peddled arch supports and other foot care products.
Scholl, the salesman with a medical degree who left behind a successful Chicago-based business when he died in 1968, would doubtlessly approve of the latest method for selling Dr. Scholl's brand products.
The new machine shows how Schering-Plough Corp., which bought the Illinois-based Scholl company in 1979, still uses the old doctor's blend of science and salesmanship in developing its foot care products.
The kiosk was designed in a lab on Jackson Avenue, where scientists use computer modeling software and other high-tech gear to fight foot pain and other ailments.
The company says it conducted large-scale trials to ensure that the inserts worked and that the kiosk could sell them.
"We're trying to reach more people who, for whatever reason, we are not treating or are not satisfied with (over-the-counter) treatments," said Schering-Plough spokesman Jay Morgan.
A prototype kiosk in the Memphis lab demonstrates the concept. If you take off your shoes and step onto the pressure-sensitive platform in front of the kiosk, you'll see an image of your feet projected onto the screen, with the highest pressure areas in red. If you lean back, your heels appear red, surrounded with orange and yellow. Lean forward and the colors in your heels shift to greens and blues.
After a series of instructions to lift one foot, then the other, the machine may ask for your weight. The machine recognizes common problems like flat feet and recommends that you buy one of the inserts, which hang on attached racks and differ in size, shape and density.
Dr. Scholl's already offers a wide range of inserts, but the machine is meant to direct customers to good fit.
"It takes a lot of that consumer guesswork out of it," said Harold Howlett, a principal scientist with Schering-Plough.
At $29.99, the inserts are more expensive than others the firm offers, which range in price from $7 to $18.
The inserts are meant as an initial treatment before customers go to a podiatrist for a custom-made orthotic insert that could cost hundreds of dollars, Morgan said.
Dr. Harold Glickman, past president of the American Podiatric Medicine Association, said he often recommends that patients at his Washington practice buy over-the-counter shoe inserts, and said the Dr. Scholl's kiosk seems reasonable.
"I see nothing wrong with this, but some of my colleagues say, 'Look, these aren't doctors,'" he said.
He said people should go to a doctor if foot pain persists.
Schering-Plough is waiting to see if the new kiosk can function properly and increase sales under real-world conditions.
The firm is running test marketing at five general retail stores in Michigan, and plans to expand the experiment in the Midwest in January. Memphis customers won't see the kiosk for at least a year, Morgan said.
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