News

Kiosks sweeten the pot for Fannie May Candies

December 7, 2004

CHICAGO - With Fannie May Candies shops reopening in the Chicago area, the company is introducing an innovative new way to market them through mail order, according to a news release. Insight 360 Degrees, a Chicago-based Website and business software provider, has reached agreement with Chicago-based Fannie May Confections, Inc. to begin installation of stand-alone touchscreen mail-order kiosks initially in 22 of the 47 candy shops.

The user-friendly kiosks will allow in-store customers to select and send Fannie May candies to anyone, anytime, anywhere in the United States. The convenient new customer service tool will generate additional sales for Fannie May's existing mail-order business.

The Insight 360 Degrees kiosks being installed in Fannie May stores will offer a new ordering system designed to be more user-friendly for older adults. The new kiosks also will allow the candy company to eliminate the previous, more time-consuming mail-order system which required salespeople to fill out a handwritten form for each customer's order.

As a special holiday feature, Fannie May is offering coupons for free shipping for gifts purchased through the in-store kiosks between Thanksgiving and Dec. 31. Customers will be able to pick up the coupons at store counters and will need to enter the coupon code on the kiosk at the time of purchase.

"Fannie May has been a favorite gift for Chicagoans to give for years," said Dave Milazzo, vice president, marketing and sales, for Insight 360 Degrees. Milazzo added, "The kiosks will allow customers to easily satisfy last-minute and future gift-buying needs for family, friends or clients - no matter where they're located across the country."

In addition to installing self-serve kiosks in Fannie May stores, Insight 360 Degrees has signed on Fannie May, along with more than 70 other local and national vendors, to its Famous American Foods kiosks which have begun appearing in American airports, hotels, convention centers and shopping malls.

Two hundred existing public-use Internet access terminals at 13 airports across the nation also will feature the Famous American Foods mail-order Web-based operation. Insight 360 Degrees hopes to add its own free-standing Famous American Foods kiosks and other Internet access kiosks in to 400 additional locations.