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Top 5: What was trending in kiosks and self-service in April?

From PCI compliance to Bob Marley, we look back at the most popular kiosk and self-service stories for April.

May 7, 2014 by Christopher Hall — w, t

April was a busy month for kiosks and self-service, and the news reflected it, with everything from Bob Marley-themed coffee kiosks to self-service banking centers.

So let's take a look back at April, and what were the top five most-read kiosk and self-service stories of the month.

In reverse order, here they are:

5. "Financial services kiosk operators see opportunity with unbanked and underbanked" - More than a quarter of U.S. households were unbanked or underbanked in 2011, which represents a key potential kiosk market.

The large U.S. population of unbanked and underbanked consumers is fertile ground for kiosks offering financial services such as bill payments. These kiosks provide a low-cost alternative to banks for cash-preferred consumers.

According to a survey by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, more than one in four (28.3 percent) U.S. households were unbanked or underbanked in 2011. As these households conduct some or all of their financial transactions outside the mainstream banking system, they represent a key potential market for financial services kiosks.

"The underbanked market is growing in the U.S.," said Rob Goehring, chief marketing officer at Vancouver, Canada-based TIO Networks, which operates a network of bill payment kiosks across the U.S. "More and more people are moving away from banks to alternative financial services providers and general-purpose reloadable prepaid debit cards, due to the high charges imposed by banks for checking accounts."

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4. "On your mark: U.S. kiosks better get ready for EMV" - The U.S. is one of the last countries to migrate to EMV, and liability for fraudulent transactions is about to shift.

The race is on for U.S. kiosk operators to migrate the card acceptance technology in their terminals to EMV, the chip card security standard which is designed to eradicate counterfeit card fraud at the point of sale.

The U.S. is one of the last countries to migrate to EMV, or Europay MasterCard Visa, as most European, Latin American and Asian countries have either completed their migration or are in the process of doing so.

The card schemes have established counterfeit card fraud liability shifts for U.S. acquirers to encourage EMV migration.

MasterCard and Visa have both stipulated that, from October 2015, liability for the cost of counterfeit card fraud will shift to U.S. acquirers that don't accept EMV cards at POS terminals. In October 2017, counterfeit card fraud liability will shift to U.S. acquirers which haven't upgraded automated fuel dispensers to accept EMV cards, according to MasterCard and Visa.

A key reason for the U.S. to upgrade to EMV is the fact that card fraud has been migrating from countries which are already EMV-compliant to the U.S. In fact, according to the European ATM Security Team, the U.S. is now the top destination for international card fraud...

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3. "PCI compliance essential for kiosk operators" - Kiosks have to comply with PCI DSS to protect cardholder information from hackers; non-compliance could be costly.

Kiosks that accept card payments are required to comply with the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council's data security standards.

The PCI SSC was set up in 2006 by American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard and Visa, and is responsible for maintaining and updating the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and related card security standards.

Like point-of-sale terminals and ATMs, kiosks have to comply with the PCI DSS, whose purpose is to protect cardholder information from unauthorized access. Although compliance with PCI DSS is costly and time-consuming, requiring annual validation, non-compliance will lead to greater costs in the long run.

Penalties for non-PCI DSS compliance include substantial fines from the card schemes, as well as liability for fraud losses resulting from data breaches, not to mention loss of customer confidence...

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2. "Mobile-social-gamification apps key next-gen vending kiosks" - Snack food giant Mondelez is rolling out high-tech interactive vending kiosks with integrated mobile-social-gamification apps.

Mobile payments, gamification and social media are all rolled into the new digital signage-powered vending kiosk network being rolled out by a multibillion dollar snack conglomerate to promote and sell brands ranging from Oreos to Chips Ahoy! to Sour Patch Kids.

Snack food vendor Mondelez International Inc. is rolling out an initial deployment of its diji-touch interactive vending machines, and the company said recently that the initial deployment of diji-touch is part of a national rollout occurring within the next 18 to 24 months, with a goal of 1,500 machines deployed in the first year. The machines will be situated in hospitals, colleges and universities, and high-traffic location types such as museums and public transit depots, the company said.

Mondelez International, which comprises the global snacking and food brands of the former Kraft Foods, has annual revenue of approximately $36 billion and operations in more than 80 countries, according to Wikipedia...

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1. "Marley Coffee kiosks keep jammin'" - Corona, Calif.-based AVT, a developer of custom vending machines, kiosks and automated retailing, said demand is growing for the self-service coffee kiosks it supplies to Marley Coffee Automated Stores.

Marley Coffee, also based in Corona, was founded by Rohan Marley, the son of Jamaican music legend Bob Marley. The company has been growing its retail presence rapidly, and its kiosks are now available in national U.S. grocery chains including Safeway, Kroger and Albertson's stores.

Marley Coffee said the growth in demand for its kiosks has been helped by the announcement by Outerwall, parent company of Redbox, that it plans to close its Rubi coffee kiosks venture...

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