Article

U.K. retail-tech show underscores need for kiosks

Retail Solutions illustrated the importance of the retail industry to the kiosk and self-service industry in driving consumer acceptance of interactive systems.

June 15, 2004

BIRMINGHAM, England -- Four thousand people this month visited Retail Solutions, one of the U.K.'s premier retail-technology events. This year's show focused heavily on the impact of chip and PIN on the U.K. retail market. With trials in Northampton underway and showing success, emphasis is now on getting the rest of the retail market ready for change.

Among the chip and PIN solutions were a range of retail technologies including queue management and queue-busting solutions, on-shelf display units, EPOS systems, handheld terminals and EFT terminals.

A focus of many of the retailers who walked the floors was a greater awareness of interaction opportunities with customers and how this can help the bottom line. Some of these interaction opportunities were a range of self-service applications including some of the latest in kiosk technology.

Here is a taste of some of these applications and solutions on display:

There were a number of seminars that preached the need for integration of data throughout a retail store to enable retailers to effectively utilize all channels, including kiosks. Software is the key element.

Paul Makin of Alpha Landsteinar introduced me to the Vision software that is powering everything from financial, HR, payroll and other systems including kiosk offerings. This database-driven system enables a retailer to interact with customers through multiple channels. The power of data in reaching the right people is key to increasing consumer spending.

Also empowering customers at the POS is Xcellenet. Sarah Tanner of XcelleNet gave me an overview of the company' s product and how this is reaching the front lines of business and driving consumer interaction.

Cardpos Europe, providers of EPOS hardware including EMV-certified card readers, displayed one of the first EMV-certified vending machines. It's a mint dispenser produced in association with Creditcall. Bill Togni of Captec said this is the first vending machine of its kind that is fully EMV compatible allowing small-cost items to be purchased using the latest card technology.

Also on the Cardpos stand was a loyalty kiosk solution from Working Solutions. This showcased the loyalty system that has been running at Bristol Airport for the past two years. The system has seen high levels of redemption. Also featured on the kiosk was voice-over-IP technology enabling the customer to contact a call-center representative who can take over the kiosk and walk the customer through any process.

I was drawn to the Protouchstand, where a through-the-window application for real-estate agents was on display. This touch technology enables a customer to access information about any property, and was a 40-inch display unit, easily big enough to attract attention in high-traffic shopping areas. Peter Sheene of Protouch took the time to introduce me to the Protouch range of touchscreens and some of their applications including kiosks, ATMs and window displays.

The range of self-service applications at NCR was astounding; from financial kiosks to self-scan checkout systems and electronic shelf-edge displays. Featured in the booth was an application from Sweden using NCR hardware. Magnus Holmgren of Infomakers introduced me to the loyalty system being run in 130 stores across Sweden which see over 300,000 vouchers or coupons issued in a good week. This check-in loyalty system, deployed since 1999, enables both store and head office editing of offers.

Across the way was BT Kiosks showcasing the award-winning modular kiosk system, the Neptune 1000. These kiosks demonstrated flexibility, with two kiosks exhibiting the same application but featuring two different sets of peripheral such as handsets and printers.

At the Fujitsu stand, I met up with Keith Gornell. Here I saw a range of applications in which Fujitsu has been involved. A Vodaphone Live demo showcased the power of partnership, with Fujitsu providing hardware, design and support of the kiosks, The Hub providing the application and NetShift the remote management of the content. These kiosks are offering Vodaphone content to their customers such as ringtones, logos and games, as well as other value add services that Vodaphone wishes to push out to customers.

Another kiosk in the booth featured a pay-as-you-go top-up application for all the major U.K.networks.

Sonydisplayed the Picture Station (for U.S. readers) and the Print Station (for U.K. readers). This counter-top model is being sold primarily as an assisted self-service unit, enabling prints to be taken from a range of digital media.

Lisa Fitzsimmons of Sony said the U.S. market has seen a great response from retailers, and that U.K. retailers are following suit. The system provides functionality to burn CDs. It was printing out 5x6 prints in 35 seconds with outstanding quality. Payment functionality is performed through a charge loyalty card-type system, which encourages repeat consumer usage.

Fuji Photo Film (U.K.) was showcasing its timeframe print access portal. Customers use a touchscreen kiosk to browse digital images of prints. These are then paid for at the normal point of sale and printed out behind the scenes.

Star Micronics introduced me to the new TUP 900 series of kiosk printers. The new printers feature great drivers that provide their own web pages and emails to alert engineers of performance and remind them about any media changes. The stand had the printers set up in numerous configurations, illustrating that there is a print solution available for any kiosk solution, regardless of design.

Star also show how these printers can be used in other self-service applications with their range of color co-ordinated printers, which are ideal for the unattended Internet cafe.

Custom Engineering had its range of kiosk printers on show floor. From A4 paper down to a Bluetooth-enabled, belt-mounted device, the Custom display illustrated the diversity of printers available to the kiosk industry.

The opportunities to scan items was immense, and with self-scan receiving greater interest from retailers and customers, it was interesting to see the different takes on how this could be achieved.

On the IBM stand, there was an illustration of how individual tagging of items can lead to instant checkout systems. Walking through the security bars, the tags instantly identify the items and also read a customer loyalty card in their wallet allowing them to leave the store as the items are charged to their accounts. This technology is in action at the Metro store.

From IBM it was a short walk to the Symbol Technologies stand, where self-scan has been literally been put in the hands of the customer. A small, fully functional kiosk unit attracts the customers to the display, where they can use their loyalty card or bar codes on the mobile phone display to unlock the scan unit. Then they scan as they walk round the store.

Location-based services download aisle-specific and customer-specific offers. The increase in SMS and MMS advertising messages to customers makes this an attractive system as the bar codes can be sent to the customer to redeem in the store.

Also mentioned was a trial at a store in the United Kingdon in which mini bar code readers were being issued to customers who could compile their lists at home by scanning items and then uploading the list at the store onto the hand-held scanners.

Also in the self- scan area was Wincor Nixdorf with its Beetle/I-Scan product, which I first saw at Wincor World in January. This kiosk was again drawing admiring glances from the visitors. Also on the Wincor Nixdorf area were two retail kiosks, one using an aroma unit to deliver smell to the kiosk users. Next to this was a retail avatar that is accompanying self-scan units to enable customers to ask questions and get help in using them. This, coupled with the human assistant, is ensuring that self-scan systems are accessible to all, not just the techies.

The mobile top up industry is a target for the kiosk industry. Fujitsu, Interface, QCL, Asahi Seiko Europe and Multepay had products on display.

Richard Barnett of Interface said these solutions are growing in popularity with retailers as a way of reducing shrinkage from stolen scratch-off cards. Also on the Interface kiosk was an e-gift system that loads value onto blank plastic cards, removing the needs for paper-based gift certificates still used in retail today.

This multi-functionality on kiosks was a theme throughout the show, with retailers demand greater return opportunities from their floor space and therefore from kiosk systems.

Finally after three days of show, I walked past the Anders Electronics stand where a co-operation between Anders Electronics and RePromotion have produced a shelf edge unit that enables customer interaction at the shelf.

Hugh Coghill-Smith of Anders Electronics showed me the unit. The unit is easy to move, since it is part of a wireless system. Customers are able to incorporate a touchscreen.

Overall, Retail Solutions was an interesting show that was really illustrated the importance of the retail industry to the kiosk and self-service industry in driving consumer acceptance of these types of systems.