Article

Social retailing splashes into NRF '07

Kiosks and digital signage pervaded the NRF 2007 convention.

January 28, 2007

Kiosks and digital signs were ubiquitous at the 96th annual National Retail Federation convention and expo. It was impossible to draw a line of sight through the massive show floor without encountering digital signage. Many exhibitors who weren't selling digital signs hung them in their booths to help market what they were selling.

The show's centerpiece, the X07 Pop-Up store, a store-of-the-future concept, was actually a store-of-the-now, showing a variety of self-service and digital sign applications that are, or are soon to be, live in the field. And its central nervous system, IconNicholson's Social Retailing platform, rode the cutting edge of self-service technology.

X07 resided on the exhibit hall floor, surrounded by a curtain printed with forest greenery, representing a fusion of technology and nature. A panel of nine LG digital signs were mounted to a high, white wall at X07's entrance. White mannequins topped with small digital signs in place of heads flanked the entrance. According to the ShopperTrak exhibit that monitored traffic, 2,000 attendees browsed X07 within 90 minutes of the exhibit floor opening on Monday.

Inside, small tent-like shells of white fabric sat on big, green spots representing grass on an otherwise white carpet. In its center, a huge, oval shell housed a sitting area. Each shell contained a different part of the exhibit, and brands meant to appeal to younger crowds. One shell contained a Toyota Highlander hybrid SUV. Another featured mountain bikes. A few contained shelves of Ben Sherman clothing.

Interspersed among them were glowing 360-degree digital signs, alive with action videos. Against the walls, pairs of widescreen digital signs rotated clockwise, in tandem, on floor-mounted stands. In another shell, Netkey projected advertising onto a flowing screen of water vapor.

X07's foam-white scenery constantly shifted colors, both from environmental LED lighting and the flickering digital signage.

The throngs gravitated mainly toward the Social Retailing demonstration. IconNicholson built the system to help high-end designer Nanette Lepore attract and retain 17 to 25-year-old customers. It consisted of a set of interactive mirrors before which a model stood wearing RFID-tagged clothing. The mirror to the model's left showed items comparable to those she wore. By touching an image, the model could view the article in life size on the center mirror, superimposing it over her reflection. If she wanted to try the item on, the mirror to her left showed its location in the store.

A high-res webcam streamed her try-on session. The video-feed enabled the social part of the Social Retailing experience. By inputting her cell phone's address book via infrared connection, the model could invite friends to view what she tried on at a private URL. Friends tuning in via the Web interface, viewable on kiosks in X07's largest, center shell, could then view what she tried on and send "hot or not" votes for each outfit, along with text messages, visible on the mirror. Those viewing the session also saw related outfits and had the option of ordering them online.

The IBM booth, filled with digital signage and self-service solutions, was packed shoulder-to-shoulder during most of the NRF show.

According to IconNicholson chief executive Tom Nicholson, Social Retailing is set to rollout with Lepore products, but the specific time has not been finalized. He said Social Retailing will work hand-in-hand with other networking tools those in the 17-to-27 demographic use, like YouTube and MySpace.

"When this gets on YouTube, this will go viral," Nicholson said. "And a store like Bloomingdale's can experience a big lift."

Behind the gypsy chic fashions, mood lighting and magic mirrors was a hefty collection of computers. IconNicholson's chief technology officer, Christopher Enright, said a Dell XPS computer with an Nvidia 8800 graphics card ran the interface on the interactive mirrors. The system also incorporated two streaming video servers, two Web servers and a database server. To show the Web interface, the system linked to a set of squat, curved kiosks in X07's center shell. The kiosks, made by Eurotouch, sported 17-inch monitors and Pentium dual-core processors with Intel accelerated video.

Enright said the graphics were constructed using Microsoft's DirectX 9 to maximize use of the Nvidia graphics processing instead of the CPU.

"If we did it in Flash, it would cook the processor," Enright said.

Enright and other company executives gave several demonstrations to the crowds that continually formed around the Social Retail demonstration. And they received high praise from those who saw it. Gerhard Schiller, director of development for Wincor Nixdorf's retail division, lifted his hands and told Enright it was a "great idea."

Hybridia Design built the X07 store. Hybridia principal and creative director Richard R. Russo conceived the design to show that high technology and nature can be a united theme.

"If you look at the design language throughout the space, there are half-shell forms," Russo said. "Shells are very organic and morphic. The white gives us a neutral pallet, a blank canvas, to paint on. It includes all the elements of nature."

Russo said the store's self-service elements also lent to its minimalist and conservationist themes by trimming down inventory space and saving time.

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"We're talking about green," Russo said. "How much money has to be spent on distribution? How much time is wasted while a customer is deciding to buy?"

Other highlights at the 2007 NRF show included:

ALIEN TECHNOLOGY and FREEDOM SHOPPING exhibited their RFID-enabled shopping solution. The system, which already has been deployed at 20 unmanned stores, enables stores to operate without staff. The checkout kiosk reads RFID tags on items brought to it. Customers can then pay by a variety of means, including biometric finger scan. The stores are constantly monitored via video feed and customers, who must have their payment info on file to enter the stores, can be automatically charged if they remove items without paying for them.

CIRCUITCITY's chief executive, Phil Schoonover, devoted his keynote address to describing new kiosks and assisted-selling tablet PCs to be piloted at 50 Circuit City stores. The kiosks connect customers to product experts via live video feed, and the assisted-selling PCs link to product databases, and include demos and entire sales presentations. Schoonover said the devices would improve customer experience, and provide his typically young, high-turnover sales force with vast knowledge of complicated home electronics.

Phil Schoonover, Circuit City's chief executive, showed this film demonstrating Circuit City's new live-assisted in-store retail kiosks during his keynote speech.

EXPERTICITY, sharing Microsoft's booth, offered its newly upgraded LiveSupport system, which connects customers in a retail store to remote experts via video feed. The new system incorporates a feature called Big Video, which allows the remote expert to enlarge his or her image, or zoom in on an image of a product which he could then show to a customer. The new LiveSupport also gives remote experts a digital chalkboard function, letting them sketch or mark photographs of products for instructional purposes. Though the Experticity LiveSupport application closely resembled the new Circuit City solution announced at the show, company officials would not say whether Circuit City is using their software.

HAND HELD PRODUCTS demonstrated its upgraded 8560 Image Kiosk, which is soon to be launched. The new Image Kiosk, to be released Feb. 28, includes an integrated mag-stripe reader, a barcode scanner that can read driver's licenses and 128 megs of memory (64 flash, 64 RAM). Each unit now can support Ethernet or WiFi connections (instead of one or the other). Product manager Jessica Penizotta said Hand Held has sold 300 of the Image Kiosks, and has contracts to sell 6,000 more.

KING PRODUCTS plied its multipurpose Plynth kiosk with a three-dimensional digital sign mounted atop the unit's twin overhead rails. The new 3D technology, which makes video and still images seem to pop out of the sign, is available on screens up to 32 inches.

LGshowcased its 42-inch M4201C-BA digital display, with 1366x768 resolution and 1600:1 contrast ratio as a sampling of its digital signage hardware.

"1600:1 is about two times the leading competitor's contrast," said Don Fasick, director of new business development. "It's not flat on the screen — it pops out at you."

MOVIEMATEoffered its small-footprint DVD rental solution. The kiosk had a clear front, through which customers could see the machine's stock of movies. An RFID tag on each case enabled a stacking function so all the spines would face outward behind the glass. Above the controls, a 7-inch TFT screen showed attract loops and movie previews.

NANONATION operated a digital signage video wall, featuring six screens of varied sizes, with content pushed from a single computer with Nanopoint and CommandPoint management software. The company also showed its customer-driven digital signage, with which customers interacted via cellular phones, and a lift product demonstration activated when customers lifted RFID-tagged merchandise from shelving, and received information from the digital display based on the selection. The lift system also included a back-end that employees could use to receive training, product updates and other information.

NCR proffered its newly released EasyPoint Advantage. The ultra-compact kiosk is less than 3 inches deep, and weighs 11 pounds. In the NRF booth, it showed the enhanced Kinetics ResortPort software, which now provides enhanced guest services with WayFinding and an interactive mapping software solution from Kinetics designed to assist kiosk users with finding rooms, pools or other destinations at a resort property.

NETKEY showed its scalable custom kiosk software solutions. Bob Ventresca, Netkey marketing vice president, also confirmed that the company played a role in Circuit City's new kiosk deployment, but would not disclose any details. For other Netkey solutions, he said interest has been growing for human resources and gift registry kiosk software.

"We have a lot of retailers coming to us for gift registry," Ventresca said. "It's revenue-generating. So we work with a lot of them to enable gift registry in the store."

PAY BY TOUCH, a biometric payment firm, showcased its growing suite of self-service payment solutions and related devices, including biometric payment terminals and loyalty kiosks. Their Smart Shop payment solution offered customers the opportunity to do e-check, rather than card payments, to decrease interchange fees paid to card companies.

The Pay by Touch Rapid Enroll loyalty kiosk automates loyalty card enrollment using no paper forms, which Pay by Touch claims costs clients half as much as paper-based loyalty enrollments, including transaction fees.

Salesman Joe Cannon demonstrated Pay by Touch's biometric payment in a POS terminal configuration, with 8.5 by 11-inch thermal printer which printed coupons based on the customer's purchases. He called printing coupons by purchase history "the new way of doing things," saying that less than 20 percent of consumers read old-fashioned coupon circulars, which he called "the old way of doing things."

REAL DIGITAL MEDIA CEO Ken Goldberg demonstrated the company's NEOCast Media Player Z for delivering content to digital signage. The device featured a dual-core processor and Windows Embedded operating system. It played media on the sign by connecting to a server that can be managed through a Web-based interface, allowing users to change the sign's play list from anywhere they can use the Web. The device requires no in-store server to operate.

"What you end up with is a solution with a very small footprint," Goldberg said. "(Deployers) are not maintaining a server, they're not running a help desk. They take it out of the box, the marketing people get on a Web browser, and they're into the software."

REFLECT SYSTEMS, a Microsoft partner for digital signage, showed its digital signage at the Microsoft booth. Reflect's networking solution for digital signage revolves around the ReflectView software suite. ReflectView allows centralized back-end management of scalable digital signage networks. Gordon Blitch, business development director, said Reflect currently runs 60,000 screens in the United States, including Target stores.

SEAMARK offered its line of interchangeable kiosk mounting solutions. The system, built as an alternative to custom solutions which must be changed every time hardware is upgraded or moved throughout a store, mounted kiosks via backing plates which, through a standardized connection, allowed them to be moved to other Seamark mountings throughout the store. The system included the ability to let mounted kiosks swivel, or remain facing in a certain direction. Seamark also showed its adjustable-height wall mount solution which allowed a kiosk to move up and down a track, which also enabled ADA compliance. Mounts with internal friction pads for holding power supplies internally also were available, as was the option to run cabling through the tubes or clip them to the outside.

SLABB, recently rebranded in a minimalist style similar to that of upscale retailers, exhibited its new X7 kiosk, 160 of which are set to be deployed in Town and Country food stores for human resources applications, according to Brian Prezgay, Slabb's senior kiosk specialist. The X7 features a 19-inch touchscreen, and was built with a cleaner internal design, including more attention to cable management, than its predecessors.

SMART TECHNOLOGIES brought large format touchscreens, including a 40-inch display with integrated (rather than overlaid) touch hardware.

SYMBOL exhibited its large array of POS and customer-facing solutions, including its MK2000 price checking mini-kiosk with barcode scanner and Zebra/Swecoin thermal printer. The unit can be used for guided selling or gift registry interaction. There are currently 80,000 MK2000s in the field.

ULTIMATE TECHNOLOGIES showed its adaptable QwikUse kiosk solution, already deployed as self-service movie ticketing solutions at Kerasotes Theatres. The QwikUse can be deployed in a variety of customized configurations, including free standing and wall mounted.

VERSATILE offered its instant credit kiosk application for deployment in retail stores. The solution has been deployed in Wolf Furniture stores and other retailers.

WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES, purveyors of IT services and engineered solutions, touted its ability to conceptualize and create custom kiosk solutions. Wipro has built a variety of kiosk applications, including a printing kiosk that connects to business travelers' laptops, allowing them to print while on the road, and grocery kiosks that match wine with food.

The author is editor of selfservice.org.