Article

Award-winning self-service ski kiosk a real 'Livewire'

Driven to the edge of ruin by Sept. 11, Livewire International has gone on to develop a kiosk application recognized by the industry as the best in retail.

April 29, 2003

Editor's note: This is the first in a series of profiles on winners of the Interactive Kiosk Excellence Awards from KioskCom 2003 in Las Vegas. The awards recognize the best kiosk implementations over the past year. This story is on the winner of the "best retail kiosk application."

Livewire International has developed a kiosk application recognized by the industry as the best in retail this past year.

Livewire's Self-Service Ski Lift Ticketing application was more popular with judges than such high-profile apps as BMW's Virtual Sales Center and TravelCenters of America's Road King Club.

The Self-Service Ski Lift Ticketing kiosk allows customers in ski shops to purchase lift tickets with a credit card. Customers use a touch screen to find their favorite resorts and select the number of tickets they wish to purchase. Then they swipe their cards and wait for the tickets to print. Customers can use the kiosk to check weather conditions while they wait.

 

In Colorado, 37 kiosks in ski shops sold $4 million in tickets last ski season. The company is investigating expansion into Lake Tahoe, Boston and Salt Lake City, said Roy Smith, president of Livewire.

 

Livewire has a sales office in Denver with one dedicated salesperson. Customers buy directly from Livewire, which produces only the software. Livewire works with a number of enclosure manufacturers.

 

"We've learned it's a really good thing selling tickets from a kiosk," said Smith.

 

Best Retail Application Name: Livewire International Headquarters: York, Pa.; sales office in Denver Management: Roy Smith, president Project: Self-Service Ski-Lift Ticketing Customers: 37 ski shops in Colorado Key fact: Kiosks sold $4 million in tickets in one ski season

Livewire has six full-time employees and another six part-timers at its plant in York, Pa. Smith projects 2003 revenues to be $6 million to $8 million. He declined to give 2002 revenues.

 

Livewire has several private investors, whom Smith declined to name. "By most VC standards, Livewire has required very little capital, under $3 million since 1998," said Smith. "We are very good at spending a nickel three ways."

 

First Resort

 

For retailers, the kiosk means savings of time and money. Retailers don't have to keep a large inventory of tickets on hand nor guard it against theft or loss.

 

"We don't have to stock tickets, plus we can react immediately when resorts change their ticket prices," said Randy Morgan, owner of Outpost Sunsport in Ft. Collins, Colo. His shop has had a kiosk since November. "It saves us an immense amount of time in accounting. We don't have to reconcile 10 different resorts," he said.

 

More important to Morgan is that his customers appreciate the kiosk. "They really like getting a real ticket instead of a voucher. The kiosk prints out the ticket, and the customer can go right to the lift."

 

Another benefit is that retailers can earn a profit on tickets sold through the kiosk. Bonnie Davis, owner of Maison de Ski in Idaho Springs, Colo., said the way the credit-card rate is set on the kiosk, her shop makes 1 percent more on each transaction. Livewire transfers the money into her account every month.

 

"It's not a huge amount, but it's extra revenue," said Davis.

 

Both she and Morgan have purchased their kiosks outright. The kiosks cost more than $5,000 Smith said.

 

Because of the kiosk, Davis has been able to add some new resorts to her ticket-availability list.

 

Davis' hip, young crowd has accepted the kiosk without abandon. It's her senior set that has been resistant, a problem seen in the kiosk industry at large.

 

"They struggle at first. But once we walk them through it, they think it's great." She said there will always be customers who want to pay with cash, which the kiosk does not accept.

Livewire kiosk in a ski shop

Tough Times

 

During the summer preceding Sept. 11, Livewire was working on VC funding with a group associated with Cantor Fitzgerald, a firm decimated in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Livewire was scheduled to close on $1 million in funding on the morning of Sept. 11.

"We got completely hung out," said Smith.The company went down to zero employees. Livewire survived, in part, with a $50,000 grant from the state of Pennsylvania. Management sought the help of the action committee in the office of then-Gov. Tom Ridge, now secretary of Homeland Security.

The committee helped Livewire submit a proposal to the correct state agency. Former employees were re-hired gradually after the decision was made to continue.

Livewire got an equipment loan from Intermedia Kiosks, based in OwingsMills, Md. Intermedia's business is supplying ordering kiosks to supermarket deli departments.

 

Smith stepped in at the beginning of 2002. He had previously been a founder and president of Turtle Beach Systems, a developer of PC sound cards and sound-editing software. 

 

Bruce Pavesich had been running Livewire, but founder Craig Souser elected to make a change. Smith had been on the Livewire board since its inception, so he was familiar with the company's unique situation. It just so happened that he was looking for a career change.

 

Under Smith's guidance, Livewire was able to get a pilot project in Colorado by February 2002. The problem is that the ski business starts around Thanksgiving. "It was a real abbreviated pilot," said Smith.

 

In the first version of the application, Livewire used off-the-shelf software. This newest version is homegrown, based on a platform from Kudos Development Group. The company went to work on a full ski season in spring.

 

"This ticketing thing drove us out of the mud," said Smith. "This season we sold 10 times as many tickets as the previous season."

 

Smith said he believes this huge volume is what caught the eyes of judges at KioskCom. "Selling $4 million in tickets in a short time will get you noticed. It proves consumers are not afraid to use your technology."

 

Smith said he was surprised that Livewire took the best retail application category.

 

"I just couldn't believe it, especially against that competition. Apparently the judges looked at whether there was rubber on the road."