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How kiosks add '`wow' to retail

February 20, 2005

When you hear the words "zoom zoom zoom," do you think of Mazda cars? Mazda hopes you do, since it spends a lot of money every year to reinforce the brand.

The automotive company uses kiosks to give customers a little zoom without actually being behind the wheel of a car. The kiosks provide Mazda customers with an experience that brochures simply cannot match.

Leveraging a brand is increasingly important as companies market to the magic demographic of 18 to 35 year olds.

This story and all the great free content on Kiosk Marketplace is supported by: Nanonation

Bradley K. Walker, president and CEO of Nanonation, the company that designed the software for Mazda's kiosks, explained that this age group expects to see something that rivals all the elements of a large-screen TV, Xbox and the Internet. Since many of today's consumers are used to plasma TV screens at home, "the richer the media, the better," he said.

The Nanonation software gives Mazda customers a multimedia experience, explained Jeff Hochheimer, project manager for Mazda.

In addition to leveraging a brand, kiosks must provide value to the customers who use them. They must solve a problem or, at the very least, give the customer something such as a coupon, discount or loyalty points.

Transactional kiosks can easily offer users a more compelling experience simply by adding something. For example, airline kiosks could add weather information for its users' travel destinations.

Kiosks can also give customers exclusive or unique experiences. One of Nanonation's clients, the NHL's Minnesota Wild, gives its lucky fans in the luxury boxes an exclusive on-ice view of the hockey game through large-screen kiosks. The kiosks' interactive displays deliver branded HDTV content, as well as downloading and viewing options to fans in the suites.

Retail benefits

Offering a more compelling customer experience benefits retailers in a variety of ways, including higher-volume sales, upselling, cross-selling and new product sales. The goal is to give customers a deeper connection to the store and a desire to return.

According to Brian Ardinger, Nanonation's director of business development, kiosks are ideal for monitoring and managing customers in order to build relationships. Retailers use information gleaned from the kiosks - what users view and how often - to make key marketing decisions.

Adding RFID capabilities and motion sensors gives kiosks the added bonus of attracting customers unobtrusively.

"A typical kiosk requires a customer to do something Â… such as press a button or swipe a card," said Walker.

But with RFID tags incorporated into store merchandise, a customer picking up a shoe from a shelf, could activate a small kiosk built into the store fixtures. The kiosk provides details about the shoe, creating a more relevant shopping experience for the customer. The retailer, in turn, learns what merchandise is most popular and can plan accordingly.