Article

Retail Systems: Day 2

In Chicago, the sights and sounds of the Retail Systems show floor made for some special scenes.

June 10, 2003 by

CHICAGO - The most interesting sight on the show floor of Retail Systems 2003 June 10 was Craig Keefner, publisher of Kiosks.org, leading Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com, around the Kiosk and Self-Service Pavilion, while Bezos glided along on a scooter-like Segway Human Transporter.

OK, there was interesting kiosk technology on display, too. But the human element was certainly entertaining. And Bezos, one of the most-watched businesspeople of the Internet age, seemed to enjoy both the self-service technology and the attention his $4,950 Segway was getting. What a way to get around a tradeshow.

Bezos later wowed the early-morning Retail Systems crowd by entering the scene of his keynote presentation on the Segway, zooming around the conference room while touting the benefits of the transporter (available exclusively on Amazon.com, of course).

In the keynote, he discussed leveraging technology to improve the customer experience. Bezos was an engaging speaker, arguing that technology drives every aspect of consumer interaction, from product discovery to customer service. He announced that Amazon is launching a subsidiary, Amazon Services, which will make the company's technology platform available to other e-commerce companies.

Micro Magic

During his Keefner-guided tour, Bezos stopped to check out a 30-inch LCD Touch&Go Billboard mounted on the wall of the Micro Industries booth. The wireless, interactive screen showed brilliant color and clarity.

Micro had its entire Touch&Go POS family on display, including the new, freestanding Concierge system created by kiosk designer Rittal. The kiosk has a small footprint for space-strapped retailers. Prices for the interactive systems range from $1,200 to $6,000, according to Micro president Michael Curran.

The vendor promoted Sharp Electronics flat-panel displays, and showed support for Intel Corp.'s Pentium M processor, and the embeddedATX architecture.

Kiosk is King

King Products and Solutions Inc. demonstrated its Plynth2, a dual-screen kiosk sporting two independent screens. One at the fingertip level is a touchscreen, another up high is a static screen for advertising.

Lubomir Zachar, King account manager, said the product is suitable for gift registry, price lookups, store directories and online shopping.

He said news about an airport deployment will come out this fall.

KIS and tell

In the Kiosk Information Systemsbooth, Bob Gallner, who recently joined the stafff at  TouchPoint Solutions, demonstrated a digital photo kiosk now in the prototype stage. Gallner said KIS designed and built the enclosure in less than one week.

The QuickPix kiosk features remote management that makes is possible to monitor a single kiosk or a network. 

The kiosk accepts cash or credit cards, and allows customers to perform such tasks as burning photos on a CD, scanning pictures or simply dropping off film. Customers insert a smart card into the kiosk, and can add borders, clip art and text to photos.

Gallner said his TouchPoint will deploy QuickPix in 200 drugstores in Canada.

Net Effect

USNet, a provider of maintenance services, introduced its new KioskCare National Service.

Lynne Lawrence, USNet president, said the company provides the shipping, staging and installation of kiosks or display panels. USNet services connectivity (whether wired or wireless) and hardware. The services can be up and running on the same day a customer calls, Lawrence said.

Hourly pricing is $75 per hour, portal to portal during regular business hours. The price increases after hours. Network support is $95 per hour, portal to portal.

Partner Power

Apunix Computer Services was present in the Sun Microsystems and Wincor-Nixdorf booths. At the Sun location, Apunix demonstrated its Evviva Virtual Art Gallery application built for Home Depot's Expo Design Centers. At Wincor-Nixdorf, the kiosk-software provider showed a Wincor-built Certo kiosk powered by Apunix's java-based platform.

The kiosk showed many ways a customer can use a unit. The kiosk featured customer-facing applications like gift registry, but also employee-facing applications like scheduling and benefits.

Wincor also had on display its BEETLE/Net POS terminal, the one selected this week by Papa John's International.

Wincor and Apunix announced June 10 a joint marketing agreement for kiosk and self-service apps to the North American retail and hospitality industries. (see story: Apunix, Wincor-Nixdort team up to market services).

RFID moving along

Texas Instruments announced that its radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology will be used in kiosks called Mixing Stations at IMX Cosmetics.

IMX has launched a custom cosmetics line. Customers mix their own recipes for lip gloss and other cosmetics, and retrieve them at the in-store kiosks using a TI radio-frequency identification-based keyfob that attaches to the customer's keychain.

The Mixing Station has a built-in RFID reader. Customers choose colors from an on-screen palette and add an assortment of finishes, glitters, flavors and fragrances.

Once a selection is made, color cartridges and pumps are set in motion and the product is mixed and dispensed.

About 2,000 keyfobs were distributed to customers at Nordstrom in Las Vegas; the Studio at Fred Segal in Santa Monica, Calif.; and Barney's in New York.

Retail research

Getronics released details of a survey conducted by event-planner Moonwatch Media's Retail Alert Advisory Service. More than 50 retail IT professionals revealed their spending plans for hardware, software and services.

The survey concluded that retailers are focusing their systems investments on tactical areas of store operations that deliver quick return on investment, improve processes and increase profits. No surprises there.

Retail IT spending is slowly trending up. But unfortunately, according to the survey, three-quarters of the retailers said they do not have kiosks for customers or employees, and 60 percent said they do not have plans to install them.

Stay tuned: There's more to come on Retail Systems, including a review of sessions and executive panels in the Kiosk and Self-Service Pavilion.