Article

Multi-use kiosks not a sure thing, says Frank Olea

July 26, 2004

With more than 120,000 locations in the U.S. alone, C-stores are a growing market for kiosk deployments. Why is that? C-stores are built around a model of providing a multitude of services in a very small space. C-stores also offer a steady, diverse clientele, which means each store presents an abundance of opportunities.

In response to the prospect of new revenue streams, some C-store operators have deployed kiosks that offer multiple services such as bill payment, prepaid, mobile content, gaming, digital photo services and Internet access. Talk about the perfect all-in-one unit -- or is it? "I don't agree with these e-services kiosks that have multi-uses," said Frank Olea, vice president of sales and marketing at Olea Exhibits. "When you want to come in to pay a bill, you're not going to want to stand there for 15 minutes waiting for a kid to burn a custom music CD." According to Olea, putting Internet access on a bill payment machine could be a bad idea. "If I had to run in at the last minute to pay my electric bill because it is going to be cut off and some kid is standing there playing video games, downloading music or sending e-mail, I am not going to want to wait for him. I want to get in there and leave," he said. Olea did agree, however, that multiple applications might make sense if more than one person at a time could use the kiosk. How do you overcome the wait factor and allow multiple users? In an interview for a related article, Doug Peter, CEO of St. Clair Interactive, explained: "Potentially you could off-load the delivery of that CD away from the touchscreen so that another user can be using the system while it is preparing the CD." According to Peter, when a user places a custom CD order they would get a bar-coded slip with the instructions to check back in a few minutes. After returning, the customer would swipe the bar-coded slip across a bar code reader and the CD would eject into a bin. Design is the key

The key to engaging C-store customers is to supply a product that will either appeal to customers, yet get them out of the store quickly, or appeal to customers while giving them a reason to hang around the store a little longer. And when designed properly, multi-use kiosks can accomplish both. In a C-store environment, all the functions should be placed on the kiosk so that it's intuitive and natural, said Olea. For example, when designing a unit that includes bill payment, the designer should have everything laid out in a manner that works with the processor: Step 1 may be entering information on the screen; Step 2 would be scanning the bills; Step 3 would be credit card or cash acceptor and finally the user would get a receipt. Olea offers other suggestions: Pre-determine size and locationC-store units must have a small footprint due to the crowded conditions in most stores. So before the production begins, operators should determine where the unit will sit. After the space has been determined, it's time to select the components. "From the PC, style of the case, printers and paper mount -- it's important to select the right components before any deployment begins," Olea said. Minimize maintenance obstacles and downtime

Kiosk access in a C-store is challenging at best. Because of the limited space, well-planned access is extremely important. In many cases, you many have limited room to access peripherals. "When we design something like that, we would assume it could not be pulled away from the wall," said Olea. "So any door in the back would be what we would consider major service doors or panels that are used during the integration process. On the front side, we would design it so that access to all components can be had from the front, through locking doors." Additionally, Olea suggests that his clients utilize remote monitoring systems to lessen downtime. Keep cash secureMany C-stores offer bill pay and prepaid kiosks with cash acceptors. This increases the need for security. In these cases, the designers need to make sure that employees or service personnel do not have access to the cassette. One security measure Olea has used is to put the bill acceptor inside another locked box. Make it stand out

Because C-store environments are cluttered, branding is very important. Kiosks that too closely resemble the store's brand will blend into the background. "There needs to be design elements that make it stand out," Olea said. "It's competing with all the clutter; you don't want it to blend into the store and just become another fixture."

Acknowledging that multi-use kiosks do generate revenue, Olea suggests that operators should really study which features are used and how much time is spent using those features.

"If one application keeps users from using a revenue generating function such as bill pay, then I would get rid of it," Olea said. "Some of those extra features are just that, extra features."