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Germany's Kiosk Market in 2002/2003

A difficult year in the kiosk world is now past. In 2001, German-speaking kiosk producers and vendors enjoyed average growth rates above 30 percent. That changed in 2002, as the German terminal market shrank for the first time.

February 5, 2003

A difficult year in the kiosk world is now past. In 2001, German-speaking kiosk producers and vendors enjoyed average growth rates above 30 percent.

Reimann

That changed in 2002, as the German terminal market shrank for the first time. The 3 percent drop, however, was a relatively modest hit when compared with the worldwide decrease of 41.2 percent, according to a Frost & Sullivan study.

In the German-speaking region about 10,430 interactive kiosk terminals have been shipped, according to a recent market research analysis of HighText Verlag in Munich, the only German multimedia and kiosk-minded newspaper. It is well-known for its kiosk forum.

Compared with results of two years ago, that's a mere 700-unit decrease, or just 3 percent. That's a very good figure, when you consider the economic conditions of the time and the depressed Internet advertising market. Nonetheless, in 2002 several companies involved in the kiosk industry went bankrupt, and some turned their focus to other business priorities.

There are eight to 10 kiosk vendors who dominate the market, capturing two-thirds of available projects. The rest (about 60 companies) have a market share of less than 5 percent. If one of them loses a project, in most cases the existence of that company is in great danger. Some of these firms fail to develop an integrated multi-channel strategy, instead focusing solely on kiosks. Others produce a kiosk terminal and hope to sell it in the marketplace, only to find that customers expect individualized hardware and software.

With a goal of helping to advance the interests of kiosk companies, the German Multimedia Association and its working group "E-Kiosk" have set up a community for their members to communicate, exchange experiences and build up business cooperations in specific areas. The dmmv -- originally formed in August 1995 -- has about 1,300 members and is the largest organizaion of the Digital Economy in Europe.

Its primary focus is on e-business, e-marketing, mobile Internet, broadband, e-government, e-kiosk, development of quality standards, legal questions, e-learning and education. The E-Kiosk working group was re-established in 1999 and has become a central place relevant for all kiosk interests. The E-Kiosk group's main goal is to be a community of interests for its members to promote employment and use of all applications and solutions within the range of the interactive self-service media.

The E-Kiosk group defined the E-Kiosk as follows: all digital and interactive out-of-home media that are bound to a place. The main characteristic is an intuitive and self-service oriented user-interface for the multimedia presentation of information and/or development of processes. By this are understood e.g. multimedia terminals, multimedia kiosks, ATMs with interactive multimedia contents, freely accessible "normal" PCs, interactive presentation systems (in-store, fairs, events, etc.), multimedia interactive productions, interactive DVD/CD-ROM, and every freely accessible Internet presentation (Internet Terminal, Web PayPhones).

On the basis of an absolute neutrality the working group E-Kiosk notices the following tasks:

• supply of specialized information and specialized competence for the decision-makers by supporting members and marketing partners (as consultancies, systemhouses, suppliers of CRM and CMS solutions, event agencies, shop designers, associations and organizations),
• promotion of co-operations and networking
• promotion and development of communication activities
• establishing a customer-oriented E-Kiosk Web portal
• active participation at fairs and congresses with a booth and ready-to-take lecture packages
• workshops
• support of kiosk-relevant student inquiries, diplomas and research studies
• establishing of a kiosk-specific award
• promotion of co-operation with international kiosk associations and partners.

In 2002, the E-Kiosk group succceeded in establishing an award for kiosk systems within the famous German Multimedia Award. The winners were Polygon and Volkswagen's Autostadt. This year kiosk solutions will be awarded in two categories (a) the best overall kiosk solution and (b) the most innovative kiosk concept.

With these activities the E-Kiosk working group wants to reach the following goals: increase of the awareness of kiosk terminals and their USPs, increase of the acceptance of kiosk terminals through the end users, improvement of the strategic position of the kiosk within the multi-channel marketing, and mainly support and promotion of the integration of kiosk-based solutions within the business plans and realization concepts. For all these activities the members of the E-Kiosk group have formulated a specific strategic and communication paper.

For more from German kiosk expert Eckhard Reimann, click here.