Customer Experience

The post-COVID era: contactless connectivity and beyond

While self-service has been expanding in recent years, COVID-19 jumpstarted consumer acceptance of the technologies. Sean Park of SAM4S, a supplier of technologies to the retail and hospitality sectors, offers his insights on what he expects to see in the post-pandemic era.

COVID-19 has enhanced acceptance of contactless technology. Photo courtesy of SAM4S.

April 21, 2021 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

As 2021 gets under way and economies begin to recover from COVID-19, a new era has emerged for nearly every industry. Prior to the pandemic, cloud-based and Internet of Things technologies delivered a range of operating efficiencies and improved customer engagement tools. Sensors and software embedded in products in combination with the cloud fostered more data enabled innovations.

COVID-19 brought a temporary hiccup as many organizations were forced to suspend operations. But at the same time, health and sanitation concerns gave a new relevance to contactless technologies. In essence, COVID-19 jumpstarted consumer acceptance of many pre-COVID technologies.

In response, equipment and technology providers have introduced an unprecedented number of solutions to allow users to interact with technology more safely.

The end result has been a new age of smart technology that offers solution providers endless opportunities to improve business operations and provide more rewarding user experiences.

SAM4S, based in Seoul, South Korea, brings more than 30 years to manufacturing automation products for the retail and hospitality industries, and currently serves customers in more than 70 countries. Its products include self-serve kiosks, desktop printers, mobile printers, personal digital assistants, electronic cash registers, POS terminals, electronic funds transfer POS terminals and peripherals.

Sean Park of SAM4S believes acceptance of contactless technologies will continue to grow.

Kiosk Marketplace recently interviewed Sean Park, sales manager for the international team at SAM4S, about the technologies having the greatest impact on the retail and hospitality industries. Following are excerpts from that interview.

Q. Internet of Things technology has transformed many of the devices available today into smart, connected devices. As a company that makes products in a wide range of categories — kiosks, printers, ECRs, POS terminals, etc. — what does SAM4S see as the main technology challenges facing the retail and hospitality industries?

A. During the last several years, there have been various changes in the retail and hospitality industries. Many retailers have introduced kiosks for marketing purposes and self-checkout to enhance their services.

Smart phone and tablet devices have changed our purchasing processes in general. Of course, COVID-19 has changed all our lives and opened the market to the contactless era.

The companies in the retail and hospitality industries need to change and adapt to the changing world, and that is why we have been and still are moving forward with developing and implementing new technologies. Kiosks have many benefits such as fewer human errors, fixed costs, no sick days, being able to accept orders when the physical store is closed, and many more.

To adapt to these changes, we've developed models in which the user can change the setting of the devices with near-field communication technology.

COVID-19 has pushed us to focus our development in this market. With the various technologies we've acquired, we are developing technologies that will make the end-user experience as contactless as possible.

With that said, it is our understanding that the market is still at the initial state of the contactless era. The market demands the new technologies, but the majority of us are in the early stages of awareness. For example, the younger generations are very accepting of the contactless era and the technologies that follow with it. However, for older consumers, there are difficulties in understanding how to use the new technologies. Also, the newly developed technologies still need tweaks and further improvements for better usability.

In near future, the technologies will be more improved, and there will be more acceptance and evaluation by the market.

Q. For companies that want to deploy the most effective technology products, what are the main benefits working with a manufacturer that offers a diverse range of products?

A. We provide a wide range of products from ECRs, POS, printers, drawers, kiosks, PDA and more. The main benefits of working with a company that provides a wide range of product is that the importers are able to correspond with one company for various types of items, technical supports, development ideas, business models, etc. all at once. This also means that instead of having commitments with multiple vendors, there will be one commitment for all items. This means saving time and energy that could be used to go out and make sales.

Q. What should a customer ask a manufacturer about their production processes to ensure the products will be of reliable quality?

A. The customer needs to know how the manufacturer will ensure the product quality. It is very important that the sample is tested thoroughly. It is also important that the manufacturer have a fully equipped production facility and product certificates from test labs. It is also important to know how long the company has been in business.

Q. Do you feel that the technology employee talent pool is sufficient to meet the rapidly expanding pace of technology change?

A. Yes and no. Yes, because we do have engineers that have more than 30 years of experience in our industry. However, no, because the market is rapidly changing and to understand and respond to the market, we need younger generations that will come up with new ideas. To come up with new ideas for a rapidly changing market, we have open discussion sessions to share ideas.

Q. What product categories are showing the greatest growth today, and why?

A. Nowadays, our ECR business is growing rapidly. The reason is that the competitors have decided to exit the market and we are benefiting largely in this part of our business.

Besides the ECR business, our Android solution SAM4POS is rapidly growing. Our partners have been working with SAM4POS in both software development and marketing and sales, and with growing Android business globally, we are experiencing growth in Android solution business.

Q. What technologies are you most excited about?

A. There are many technologies that I am interested in. However, one technology that I am quite fond of is the automated self-checkout with RFID and 3D scanning technology embedded. Many companies in the industry are developing the hardware and software part of this new technology, and I believe that this technology will definitely enhance our store automation industry in the contactless era.

Photos courtesy of SAM4S.