TMCnet News
Kiosks put shoppers in touch(Las Vegas Review-Journal (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 11--A sizable gap still divides the big-money realm of online shoppers from those who buy goods in traditional stores. But interactive kiosks have become an effective bridge between those retailing sectors and could soon bring both even closer, an industry expert said Monday in Las Vegas. Tamara Mendelsohn, a consumer markets analyst with Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research, spoke at the KioskCom trade show at Mandalay Bay. Store operators, she said, should look into kiosks to attract the elusive but lucrative pool of cross-channel shoppers, which she termed "key to revenue generation in the next era of retailing." Forrester Research surveys show about 55 percent of U.S. consumers study a product online before they buy it in a store. Such cross-channel purchases typically account for $109 billion in sales per year, plus another $17 billion in incremental purchases that occur when an online researcher buys something extra once inside a brick-and-mortar store. "Bringing cross-channel shoppers into stores influences revenue growth," she said. "They're going to get value because they're used to going online to get information. "And kiosks are a great way to get information without talking to a sales associate." Mendelsohn said many consumers still prefer in-store shopping because they offer immediate, hands-on exposure to goods without additional shipping charges. Online research is popular because it often offers better information on a product, and allows comparisons to occur on a shopper's schedule without pressure from a sales representative. The trade-only KioskCom runs through Wednesday. Before leaving town, many attendees will tour some local businesses that have successfully deployed kiosks, including Alamo Rent A Car, Television City at MGM Grand and the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles. Other examples raised Monday included national chains with a Nevada presence to smaller regional companies from around the globe. Quincy, Mass.-based grocery chain Stop & Shop has installed portable kiosks in shopping carts at several of its 360-plus stores in the Northeast. The pilot program has had a few kinks, but still could be harbinger for future interactive retailing models, Mendelsohn said. Stop & Shop's kiosks combine in-store and at-home access. By logging onto the company's Web site, a consumer can over several days build an electronic shopping list. Once they arrive at the store, that list loads into an in-cart kiosk when a shopper swipes their store card or some other identifier. As they stroll through the store, an interactive map alerts shoppers to which aisles hold products on their list. "It even beeps to say, 'Hey, you missed that can of tomato soup you really wanted,' " Mendelsohn said. Cellular South, McDonald's and the U.S. Postal Service are using kiosks to improve customer service and build new revenue streams. The hamburger chain, for example, is using Redbox kiosks to make money renting movies. Redbox devices are also in Las Vegas-area Smith's grocery stores. Mendelsohn warned store operators not to install kiosks unless the devices can help customers or employees. Kathryn Gallagher, a spokeswoman for The Home Depot, said her stores are using kiosks do just that. The Atlanta-based home improvement chain has replaced several staffed check-out lines with scan-it-yourself kiosks. "It gets our customers out of line faster," Gallagher said, adding company research shows 40 percent of Home Depot customers use the devices. Kiosks allow The Home Depot and other businesses to shift employees to other parts of its stores, increasing customer service without adding to the payroll. In addition, informational kiosks trim time spent training workers on a product's features, a bottom-line benefit to companies with high turnover. Other notable users include Staples, which has kiosks answer questions for prospective digital camera buyers such as "What's a megapixel?"; Target's kiosks link to articles from Consumer Reports magazine; while Mazda dealers let customers use kiosks to research car and truck values through Kelley Blue Book. Virgin Megastores customers can access the Virgin Vault, an interactive kiosk system that plays movie clips and music and offers access to reviews from independent publications like Rolling Stone or The New York Times. All a user must do is scan a barcode. The company is looking into ways its kiosks can cross-sell items by suggesting a similar sounding album, style of video game or different movie featuring the same starring actor. "They're getting 400,000 look-ups per month," Mendelsohn said of kiosks' popularity among Virgin customers. |