Article

How kiosks reduce lines for holiday shoppers

Many customers are trying to reduce the pain of long lines by purchasing and browsing on all available channels. Kiosks can be a key piece in this puzzle to improve customer experience and reduce holiday lines.

December 21, 2015 by Bradley Cooper — Editor, ATM Marketplace & Food Truck Operator

When you picture the holiday shopping season, you might picture long lines stretching from one end of the store to another, with customers desperately searching for that last perfect gift. However, in recent years, with the dawn of omnichannel, users are beginning to browse and purchase products on many different channels before they even go out holiday shopping. In fact, according to an infographic by Signal, 64 percent of all in-store sales are influenced by digital interactions. With this trend toward greater digital engagement, kiosks can act as another piece in the puzzle of producing a better interactive customer experience and shorter lines this holiday season.

The first obvious way kiosks can help is by processing items that could normally only be dealt with at a point-of-sale register. "Applications like gift card sales and bridal registries can be automated and moved to the fifth wall," said Ben Wheeler, director of marketing for kiosk manufacturer RedyRef Interactive Kiosks. "Traditionally, gift cards are some store’s biggest sellers in the holiday season, and a gift card selling kiosk allows a gift card purchaser to only have to deal with a kiosk if they so choose."

In addition, kiosks can help drive traffic back to the store. "If done right, the issue of an in-store loyalty card from a retailer (like Starbucks) can drive additional traffic if the money is placed onto a gift card that makes the customer come back again to use the money at the store that offers this service," Wheeler said. "From personal experience, renting a Redbox while I am leaving a retail store and returning it to an outdoor kiosk means that the service is achieved without even entering the store. Although McDonald’s would rather see customers purchase fries and a coke inside the building, just being at a McDonald's parking lot probably leads to incremental up sales that may not be tracked today." 

In addition, kiosks can also help to prevent the loss of customers due to lines. There are many customers who might decide to simply go home, after standing in line for a vast amount of time to purchase a small item. Kiosks can help prevent that by providing an alternative to the busy cash register, according to a white paper from KioWare.

Kiosks can also provide a crucial service, product availability information. According to Signal, 73 percent of all consumers will visit a local store if the retailer provides in-store product availability information. Although this mainly applies to online channels, having a kiosk located in the front of the store that allows customers to search for products can help the customer save the time of looking for a particular product.

Saving time is a key positive aspect of kiosks. Wheeler related a story of how kiosks automated the process of exchanging cylinders and cleaners of propane tanks. "No looking for the right person with the key to open the bin or unlock the cage, all lowering costs and raising customer experiences and satisfaction that comes from the time spent doing something that can be done by a kiosk," Wheeler said.

However, there are a few key pitfalls that retailers and manufacturers alike need to avoid to make the kiosk a success this holiday season. First of all, according to Wheeler, "location is always king." You need to have your kiosk in an ideal location that actually draws customer engagement.

Also, you need to make sure the kiosk actually improves customer experience and saves time, because if it causes more headaches for the consumer, it will be ignored. Wheeler gives an example of how deployers should not put a telephone handset on a kiosk as an alternative to a self-service solution. "If a person can talk to someone to do the same thing they can do themselves, then the kiosk will fail because people will try to connect to people if given a choice. Make the solution stand on its own."

In the holiday rush, a better customer experience will win the day. Thus, when evaluating your kiosk, you need to ask yourself, "How will this make my customer's holiday brighter?"

About Bradley Cooper

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Bradley Cooper is the editor of ATM Marketplace and Food Truck Operator. He was previously the editor of Digital Signage Today. His background is in information technology, advertising, and writing.

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