Article
Fast tech leaves mark at retail show
Speed and novelty are the trademarks at this year's NRF show.
January 20, 2008
It wasn't the speed of sound that made noise at last week's National Retail Federation's trade show, but the fact that rapidity is driving retail technology.
"It is evident that the majority of companies exhibiting are not taking wireless security seriously or there would be a much higher percentage of 'bullet proof' encryption practices in place protecting APs," said Richard Rushing, chief security officer of AirDefense.
"It's essentially a Blockbuster in a box," said Cathal Deavy, Portomedia's director of marketing.
"Speed is impacting greatly what is going on in retail stores," said Dan Butler, NRF's vice president of retail operations. "In the future, retailers are going to be paying for speed."
A swift look around the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York saw attendees interacting and doting on the latest up and coming products, Butler said.
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"There is a satisfaction that is coming to these latest products," he said. "They are getting refined and are going to the next level. Plus, we are also seeing a pattern of newness to products as consumers are making demands for that."
The NRF show floor was bigger and more diverse than ever before, as 18,500 attendees and 600 exhibitors attended the event. Hundreds of companies showed off their latest digital signage, kiosk and retail technology products and services.
AirDefense, a wireless LAN security company for retailers, showcased its retail security services which are used by more than 700 customers, many in the federal government. On Monday, the company put its services to use by monitoring those companies using wireless services at their booths. AirDefense discovered less than 10 percent of the 458 access points in use were using 'bullet proof' encryption such as WPA2. In fact, nearly 60 percent of access points were using wired equivalent privacy, the weakest protocol for wireless-data encryption, which can be compromised in minutes.
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18,500 attendees and 600 exhibitors attended the National Retail Federation's annual Show & Expo. |
Fujitsu, in addition to showcasing its new self-checkout features, touted its partnership with Modiv Media and its Modiv DeliVision self-service ordering kiosk. The kiosk, which is currently deployed at Giant Eagle and Ukrop's grocery stores, allows shoppers to enter their deli orders via the touchscreen on the Fujitsu U-Serv kiosk.
By automating the deli queue and integrating both self-service kiosk orders and in-person counter service into one queue, Modiv DeliVision also optimizes staffing levels and reduces "tickets not served" because all deli customers know their exact place in line as well as the estimated time until they will be served.
Modiv Media also teamed with Motorola at the NRF show. The two companies announced that Stop & Shop grocery store customers are the first to use the Modiv Shopper, a portable shopping assistant powered by Motorola's MC17 mobile computer. The handheld device, known as "easySHOP" by Stop & Shop, gives consumers the option for "scan-and-bag" service and provides targeted savings to Stop & Shop customers. Customers also receive tailored promotions based on their individual shopping history, redemption history, in-store location tracking and just-scanned items in aisles. The Modiv Shopper has been deployed in about 100 Stop & Shop stores.
IBM's Digital Movie Kiosk, touted as the ATM for movies, is the culmination of a partnership with Ireland-based Portomedia. The kiosk allows consumers to rent or purchase DVD-quality movies, which are downloaded in under a minute to a small USB device called the Movie Key. The kiosk itself can be loaded with anywhere from 500 to 1,000 movies and can be refreshed with new content from a remote location.
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IBM's Digital Movie Kiosk allows consumers to rent or purchase DVD-quality movies. |
Mediaport presented its MediaATM system, a self-service kiosk that allows consumers to download digital content such as movies and music on-demand. The company recently inked its first video-download deal with a major studio, NBC Universal.
Last week, Mediaport installed several of its kiosks at the Consumer Electronics show and let convention-goers download free NBC Universal-owned episodes, spanning such shows as 30 Rock and Project Runway. At NRF, Mediaport let attendees create a custom mixed-CD from the kiosk's music catalog, which included Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.
NCRalso launched a digital media offering with its Xpress Entertainment kiosk. But it was the company's unique FastLane Self-Return that made a hefty impression. The kiosk allows shoppers to return goods for a refund on their own by first scanning the items and entering relevant product information. Next, the item is inspected by a store associate who can approve the return. A reimbursement is then issued in the manner the item was originally purchased – debit, credit, cash or gift card.
The Microsoft booth was home to a giant-format "no-touchscreen" from Solaris Labs– just point at the screen to interact with it. That same screen was also displayed at the NEC booth. Microsoft also had its Surface tabletop computer on display. Demonstrations included assisted selling (place a product on the table, and marketing content swirls around it) and loyalty (drop a loyalty card anywhere on the table, and a customized menu of choices appears next to it).
Netkeytouted its Webpavement digital signage software solution, showing off an application used by Kohl's department stores. Netkey now has more than 10,000 active digital signs using its software, said James Dougherty, Netkey's vice president of channel development.
Pay By Touch and St. Clair Interactive touted its loyalty and gift card kiosks. The kiosks generate personalized cards automatically with built-in activation, payment and settlement capabilities. The kiosks are deployed in five retail locations and have had great success, said Chris Peter, St. Clair's project manager. At just two of its mall locations, the kiosks made $16,000 from 400 gift card purchases in just six weeks.
At the Stored Value Solutions booth, 5point showcased an Electronic Gift Card kiosk based on the 5point Alliance series kiosk platform, with an application developed by Self-Service Networks. The kiosk has been deployed at several mall locations by HQ Gift Card, a division of Stored Value Solutions.
The gift card dispensing solution is easily deployed, said Ed Crowley, vice president of 5point, and is remotely monitored and managed. TheAlliance
"The kiosk has more capacity than typical gift card solutions,"Crowley
VeriFone announced the MX800 Series Price Checker, a multifunctional customer interaction kiosk that can deliver multimedia promotions, double as a gift card registry or loyalty program enrollment kiosk or enable a variety of other customer-facing applications. The MX800 Series Price Checker will be available in the second quarter of 2008.
Wincor Nixdorf, a supplier of total IT solutions for the retail and banking industries, introduced its TP.net software solution to the United States. The software helps retailers meet operational challenges with a single product suite that provides seamless connectivity for multi-store management, customer loyalty, intelligent rules-based pricing and promotions, and advanced checkout concepts.
Wincor is currently discussing trials of its TP.net solution with multiple leading U.S. retailers, said Frank Rant, a Wincor regional sales director.
TP.net has a user base approaching 50,000 in 26 countries. The U.S. introduction offers American retailers an alternative to legacy or Java-based systems already on the market.
"We wanted to bring this software over to the U.S. as a proven product," Rant said.
Digital SignageTouchscreensTradeshowsNorth AmericaRetailNCR CorporationSt. Clair InteractiveWincor Nixdorf International
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