News

Kioskmarketplace: Industry's one-stop shop

KIOSKmarketplace's products and services link is valuable to kiosk deployers, and it's a great tool for vendors who want to increase their exposure with customers.

August 7, 2003

So you've decided that deploying self-service technology (or expanding a current project) for your business is the right thing to do. Good for you. Kiosks and other self-serve devices can increase your customer satisfaction, boost marketing opportunities and make your staff more efficient.

But now where do you turn to find out what components you need for a successful kiosk network and which vendors you might like to talk with? Well, the Internet, of course. There's no better place to do research.

But we all know the pitfall of doing research online -- information overload. As editor of KIOSKmarketplace I'm researching companies, products and end users of self-service technology all day long. I know your frustration. I know what it's like to put "kiosk" into an Internet search engine and retrieve information on coffee stands, jewelry huts and outdoor poster boards.

I know your time constraints. I know that you want to get the specific information you need quickly so that you can move ahead with business plans. I also happen to know a solution for you: KIOSKmarketplace's products and services resource.

By clicking on this function, you can research anything you need to know about self-service deployments, from makers of cash acceptors and touchscreens to full-service kiosk vendors. You can pull up information on the key industry players, or click on the items that interest you and let the vendors come calling.

Chris Zimmerman, editor

The vendors speak

The KIOSKmarketplace products and services link is valuable to kiosk deployers, to be sure. But it is also a great tool for vendors who want to increase their exposure with customers.

Paula Janco, director of marketing at Lewisville, Texas-based Telpar Inc., said she has received leads through KIOSKmarketplace that turn into actual business. Telpar is a designer and manufacturer of direct thermal, impact, kiosk and specialty mini-printers.

"KIOSKmarketplace is awesome. It's a good portal for people to refer to when they need true information," Janco said.

She explained that the site brings in qualified customers for Telpar, and offers her the benefit of monitoring her ROI. "Its lead program has been the most valuable type of marketing we could do." She said it is easy to track leads from the site with reporting tools.

Janco said she has noticed tweaks that KIOSKmarketplace owner NetWorld Alliance has made to the site in the past year. "They've made wonderful changes to their search functionality," she said.

So much more

Look around our site and you'll see even more than the product and services resource. There are many new things featured on KIOSKmarketplace. Besides offering breaking news on the site each day and at least two fresh, in-depth features every week, KIOSKmarketplace brings the issues that interest you most to light in who's who stories and commentaries.

Check the upper-right corner of our homepage and you'll see a section on how-to guides. These are our popular, comprehensive guides on specific industry topics. There, hot off the presses, is "How to Select the Right Display for Your Kiosk Project." You can download for free this attractive, 40-page guide sponsored by Planar Systems.

The guide offers information from display experts and analysts about touchscreens, defining design requirements, evaluating environmental conditions, and sorting through the alphabet soup of different display technologies.

We also have five-page, downloadable special reports on such topics as the importance of multi-channel software to a unified marketing message. This free report, sponsored by St. Clair Interactive, investigates how software can manage and update content on all devices, from wall-mounted plasma screens to POS terminals.

By the end of this month a new special report sponsored by TouchPoint Solutions will launch on the site. This report covers the benefits of intelligent device management from the perspective of enterprise customers, analysts and some of the industry's leading software vendors.

And that's not all, folks. KIOSKmarketplace has also added a reader poll to the site. Every two weeks you can register your opinion on a survey topic critical to our industry, and watch how the vote pans out.

See? Research doesn't have to be painful. Not if you turn to KIOSKmarketplace, the resource that has it all.

And, as always, please let me know if you have ideas for making the site a more effective tool for learning about the self-service industry.