News

The magic of product information

April 13, 2005

Some people say things were simpler for the shopper just a few years ago. Maybe. Maybe not. But before the dawn of the mega-retailer, customer choice was considerably smaller in scope than it is today. Shopping for tea bags or diapers or car air fresheners or milk? Chances are, consumers had just a handful of options for each.

Today, tea bags can be organic or imported or specially infused or made from exotic acid-free paper, which is to say nothing about the tea inside them. For any given product, consumers are asked to make a bewildering number of choices.

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

In the case of IKEA Canada, the challenge was to introduce customers to a very specific product line: Swedish food. Like many ethnic cuisines, Swedish food can be intimidating to someone approaching it for the first time. Although it is relatively simple compared to French cuisine, for example, Swedish food employs a wealth of exotic ingredients such as surströmming, a fermented herring with a very strong smell, or messmör, a soft whey cheese. Such items have the potential to languish on the shelf if customers aren't educated - but could turn into big sellers once customers get a taste for them.

IKEA asked Ontario-based KING Products and Solutions Inc. to help alleviate this situation. KING developed and deployed product information kiosks that allow customers to explore ingredients, get recipes and learn the stories behind the food. The Food Facts kiosks were installed in four IKEA Canada locations in 2004.

"As well as having descriptions of food, they have several link-outs to Swedish traditions," said Robert Giblett, vice president of North American sales and marketing for KING. "What kinds of food people would make for a Christmas dinner, for instance."

According to Sarfraz Khan, a spokesperson for IKEA, the kiosks have been a big hit. "The reactions from the customers are very positive, and usage of the kiosk is very high on peak days," he said. "And it is helping our Swedish Food Market sales."

More than information

Product information kiosks can do more than just dispense information - they also can suggest other products. After all, you've already got the customer's attention, so why not introduce them to a new potential purchase?

"You get some upselling, by saying `Hey, this kind of herring goes really well with this kind of biscuit,' for instance," Giblett said

He added that the modularity of the system allows for future expansion. This kind of planning is crucial to economic kiosk deployment - even if you don't need all of the bells and whistles today, make sure you'll be able to add then when and if the time comes.

"We can very easily add other modules as their needs change. In some IKEA stores, for example, they don't have this Food Facts module, but they do have a wayfinding component."