How can you be a foot closer to safer touches?

The DCI Marketing team took on the challenge of designing an easy-to-use, touchless, no-mess sanitizer dispenser with built-in storage. Meet the new SafeTap Hands-free Sanitizer Dispenser.

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A Foot Closer to Safe Touches

As we navigated through the coronavirus pandemic, so much was revealed about how it altered the way we work, play and shop. One thing we’ve learned – particularly key for brick-and-mortar retailers – is just how much physical touching is involved in our everyday lives.

When shopping in a retail store, touch is essential. Carts, shopping baskets, doors, shelves, product selection and checkout all require some level of physical contact. That makes it also essential for retailers to help make those touches safer.

DCI Marketing strategists knew there had to be an efficient, reliable and safe way to get liquid hand sanitizer into the hands of customers. They reimagined the hand sanitizer dispenser and developed a completely new system that puts the user in control – the SafeTap Hands-Free Sanitizer Dispenser.

An abstract illustration of a SafeTap Hands-Free Sanitizer Dispenser.

The SafeTap dispenser’s innovative foot-pedal activation gives users complete hands-free control over the timing and flow of liquid hand sanitizer. With a simple press of the inset foot pedal, SafeTap quickly, efficiently and precisely dispenses liquid sanitizer from a faucet-like dispenser.

“Especially now, it’s essential for retailers to provide systems that create safe touches for customers, both for their safety and their peace of mind,” says Jane Horner, DCI vice president of account strategy. “Customers who are more comfortable in a retail environment are more likely to linger and ultimately spend more. The safer they feel, the more comfortable they are.”

SafeTap is the newest in a full line of Clean & Safe Solutions developed by DCI to help create safer environments for customers and employees, including dispensers and receptacles for wipes, free-standing acrylic desk shields and floor graphics.

The beauty of the SafeTap dispenser is its simplicity and reliability, and how it overcomes the limitations and frustrations of other systems. Consider dispensers pumped by hand, which require everyone to touch a common surface to initiate flow. The pump activators on those systems can become contaminated and even unsightly with frequent use.

“Customers who are more comfortable in a retail environment are more likely to linger and ultimately spend more. The safer they feel, the more comfortable they are.”

Jane Horner

DCI Vice President of Account Strategy

Motion-activated, battery-powered devices do provide touch-free operation, but occasional delayed sensor response can cause inconsistent performance, which leads to user frustration. And because the outlet ports are typically hidden from view below the units, misalignment of the hands can allow the flow of sanitizer to miss and end up in the collection tray or on the floor.

“The inconsistent operation of those devices is not a small thing,” says Andy Martin, senior director of operations, noting that the DCI approach was to develop a mechanism that flawlessly addressed the issues associated with other systems. “Our system is designed to eliminate the frustration that customers have with other sanitizers and to help them get started on an enjoyable shopping experience.”

On the right is an illustrated outline of a hand. There is a blue circle surrounding the hand with a strike through it. On the left there is a photo of a foot pressing down on the lever of a SafeTap dispenser.

SafeTap features a large 1-quart reservoir and an innovative cabinet design that provides storage for a 1-gallon container of sanitizer. Coupled with an easy-to-remove back panel, refilling SafeTap is fast and convenient.

The powder-coated cabinet can be customized with brand graphics on orders of 25 or more units. “Customizing makes a statement to customers that you and your brand care about their safety,” Horner says. “It’s simple – but custom graphics on a sanitizing device like SafeTap demonstrates an investment in their health, and that translates to trust.”