Article

John Deere poised to widen kiosk deployment

Deere & Co. is known as a conservative company that likes to move very deliberately. But when its dealers witnessed the power of a virtual sales-assistant kiosk during a meeting last year, Deere management had no choice but to speed up its decision on the technology. Today 150 kiosks are deployed, and an order period will open in 60 days.

May 29, 2003

Deere & Co. is known as a conservative company that likes to move slowly and deliberately. But when its dealers witnessed the power of a virtual sales-assistant kiosk during a meeting last year, Deere management had no choice but to speed up its decision on the technology.

"They took 130 orders for the John Deere Live kiosks at that meeting. And the kiosks were still in beta," said Ron Bowers, senior vice president of business development at Frank Mayer & Associates Inc., which coordinates the project. "The first thing Deere said to us was, `Well, the good news is how much the dealers like it, and the bad news is how much the dealers like it.'"

Today, John Deere has 150 units spread throughout dealers in the United States, and a reorder for another 150 kiosks is imminent, according to Bowers. Gary Brogan, director of agricultural e-business for John Deere, confirmed that more kiosks will be ordered. "We are going to open an order period in the next 60 days, and it will run until August 2003," Brogan said. The company waits until a number of dealers order kiosks to gain production efficiency.

Added Bowers, "John Deere has a national dealer meeting in November 2003, and additional orders will be taken. We expect a national rollout," said Bowers.

The kiosks have been in active use for the past couple of months. Each costs $4,495 plus freight and taxes, Brogan said. That includes the kiosk hardware, software and enclosure, a three-year warranty on maintenance of hardware, and a three-year warranty on software updates.

Netkey Inc. has developed the software for the John Deere Live kiosks. Deere & Co. provides the content. Frank Mayer & Associates oversees the hardware, software and customization.

Deere & Co. has high expectations, being quite technologically advanced. "When you hear `John Deere,' you think green hats, but it is a high-tech company," Bowers said. He noted that John Deere was using global-positioning systems before the general public had access to the technology.

Brogan said that even in the 1970s, his company realized the potential of selling visually. Dealers were equipped with television sets and VCRs showing tapes of product features.

John Deere Live kiosk

Filling a need

"This kiosk project has been going on for two years. We first approached John Deere with the concept of a virtual sales assistant for dealers," said Bowers.

"John Deere has an excellent Web site, that's well taken care of. We told them they could leverage the opportunities provided by the site, and take on the self-service concept."

Today customers can use the kiosks to find product information, what products they would use for lawn and landscape care on their lot sizes, apply for credit, and be authorized to make a purchase on the spot.

"John Deere is a diverse company. The original division to use the kiosks was the agricultural division, which sells huge farming machinery like thrashers, cultivators and combines. Farmers can go into a dealer and customize the equipment for their needs," said Bowers.

Brogan said, "It is difficult to explain in words all the features found on our products. Take a new suspension system in the driver seat; it's much better to explain that visually. It's a more compelling way to educate customers."

He said it is also valuable to have the kiosks demo products in the off-season, when weather conditions prohibit walking out to the fields.

Now the kiosks have moved beyond the ag division to consumer retail, and are used for selling lawn-care equipment like rider and walk-behind mowers to homeowners. The company has about 5,000 dealers.

Trial and no error

The beta test period began with a stock kiosk from Frank Mayer. "We had no decision on the look of the kiosk and just wanted to prove the software in the retail environment," said Bowers.

Twenty-five kiosks with the Deere colors and bold graphics were tested for a year. About six months ago, Deere came back to Frank Mayer with the decision to go with a customized kiosk better reflective of the brand and with a smaller footprint.

Bowers said Deere is "constantly adding features to the units" as consumers embrace the technology. "Customers can't pick up a mower and look underneath it in a store. But on a kiosk they can."

In the agricultural division, as farmers wait to buy a part or make a purchase, they can view commodities markets and local weather reports on the touchscreens. Deere has added these features based on services provided on the Web site.

So how does the conservative, slow-moving company feel about the kiosks today?

"One field guy told me that John Deere spends millions of dollars on its branding strategy, only to lose part of the message at the dealer level," said Bowers. "With the kiosks, the company's message goes out to the consumer just as Deere wants it."

Added Brogan, "A picture is worth a thousand words."