As the days of 2009 dwindle, I find myself crisscrossing the country, talking to retailers of every stripe. These conversations have revealed a few consistent themes, which are likely to drive customer-facing retail technologies in the coming year.

To my relief, and that of probably everyone in the industry, there’s a sense the economy is coming back. Last month, I was at the Kioskcom Self Service Expo in New York, and I would describe the mood as "unexpected optimism." Retailers and technology buyers of all sorts were on the floor in surprising numbers with specific projects they needed to execute. One exhibitor even exclaimed, "We’re on the way up!" while making a swooping airplane motion toward the sky. Now that’s what I call a return to confidence. It is a safe bet that retailers who have been waiting on the sidelines will resume investments in their store experiences in the coming year.

The dominant theme I have heard from retailers is the need to inspire shoppers. Retailers are seeking technologies that do for any product category what mannequins do for apparel — show the customer how to bring many items together into a compelling, personalized solution. An expectant mother furnishing a baby’s room, a couple designing a home theater, a parent building a fish tank for his child — shoppers need to be inspired and guided to a final solution. Retailers understand that addressing a consumer’s end goal is the key to driving more sales, yet doing this with human interactions is expensive. So, I expect to see increasingly sophisticated shopper-assistance tools emerge from the simple product selectors of today. Retailers are keenly focused on the problem, and a few are ready to test solutions.

Closely related to inspiration is the idea of cross-selling. Retailers are interested in technology that helps them add items to a shopper’s basket by reaching across the store to cross-sell many product categories. I get the sense from retailers that this is an area in need of improvement. Customer-facing technologies that draw upon in-store and online inventories to automatically suggest the best complementary goods will likely be tested in the coming year.

Another recurring theme is a desire to provide quality customer service where today’s economics simply do not allow it. Many complex products do not sell in enough volume or at high enough prices to justify having human experts in the store. Several retailers see technology as the way forward. Expert systems can give customers the additional product education they need to make an informed choice, while sparing the cost of additional store labor. Expect to see customer-facing technologies deployed most commonly around these so-called "marginal" product categories.

Finally, with recessionary pressures on staffing levels, retailers want to make the most out of their store staff through sales-process automation. They want humans doing what humans do best — guiding customers through complex, personalized, real-world product problems and decisions. For the 80 percent of any selling process that is the same for every customer, retailers are looking for technological solutions that do this work, letting store associates handle more customers in a given period of time. In a sense, self-checkout was only the beginning. The phrase I have heard is "moving customers from questions to the counter" as quickly as possible. I personally view this as challenging to execute in practice and anticipate some failed trials, given the need for seamless integration between store personnel and in-store technology. However, the first retailer to do it will reap significant rewards and set the stage for the future of retail.

Fasig-Tipton, a Lexington, Ky.-based thoroughbred auctioneer, has worked with Hammond Communications Group to design, implement and manage a mobile kiosk and digital signage solution for its auction arenas. According to the company, a horse auction is an information-intensive event where buyers and sellers demand access to content that is both visual and data-driven.

Fasig-Tipton needed to enhance the way information is disseminated during the event, requiring both real-time data and on-demand access to horse workout videos. Furthermore, Fasig-Tipton needed a system that could be moved nationally from facility to facility during the course of a year’s auctions. Auctions are held several times each year in each of Fasig-Tipton’s sales locations including Lexington, Ky.; Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; Miami, Fla.; Grand Prairie, Texas; and Timonium, Md.

Real-time information is shown on digital signs as auctions are in progress.

The system centers on a mobile control unit comprised of multiple equipment racks housing servers, media players, HD camera switching and control, audio, SD and HD playback and recording devices and HD cable head-end A/V distribution equipment. From this control center, Hammond manages all the equipment, media transmission and content the system requires.

LCD panels are located in high-traffic dwell areas and feature a multizone content layout. From these displays, Fasig-Tipton customers can view catalog updates and videos, real-time sales information, a live feed with current hip data, prices from the sales ring and more.

For the two-year-old sales, where horses work out prior to the sale, there is a bank of 18 LCD panels in a separate tent that features a different set of horse workout videos per LCD.

Customers can get information and even buy horses through interactive kiosks.

Beyond the components and infrastructure, Hammond provided a number of services for the system. Starting with system design, Hammond’s staff of managers and engineers formulated a content-delivery strategy, component mix and implementation plan. Hammond’s graphics department designed the branding for the multizone displays, interactive GUIs and tote board system. The company’s video-production services are used to shoot and edit the HD workout videos critical to the information library. Programmers also have developed applications to allow Web-based maintenance of sale information (which also drives Fasig-Tipton's Web site data) as well as integration of real-time sales information from an off-site AS400 database.

ABC reports that earlier this year, as part of his administration's efforts to reform the U.S. healthcare system, President Obama pledged to ensure that all medical records in the United States would be electronic within five years. The plan is sure to have far-reaching effects on the healthcare industry as a whole, and it also is likely to create opportunities for technology providers in the space.

Patient check-in kiosks have existed in doctors' offices for some time, but they've not become as ubiquitous as in other verticals yet. But Josh Napua, vice president of kiosk solutions for Fujitsu's Frontech of North America division, says the impending government mandates are likely to drive more deployments.

"Healthcare has always been thought of as being sort of behind on IT technology," Napua said. "But obviously with the infusion of the Obama initiative for electronic medical records, I think there's a growing interest, to say the least, in trying to figure out a lot of these solutions in healthcare."

story continues below...
		SPECIAL REPORT...Order Now! 2009 Self-Service Survey: Customer Perspectives on Self-Service Technology The 2009 Self-Service Consumer Survey is a complete refresh and update of our hugely popular 2007 edition.  This special report lets you into the minds of consumers to discover how they really feel about kiosks, self-checkout and other types of self-service. Find out what works, what doesn’t, and what makes the difference between a device that helps your business and one that just gathers dust.     Buy Now

Patients can choose to forgo the palm-vein scan and use other methods to sign in, but Napua says providers have been pleasantly surprised to find most users prefer the biometric option.

Fujitsu's Med-Serv 50/60 kiosk features the company's PalmSecure biometric technology, allowing patients, physicians and medical staff to sign in quickly and securely.

"At the beginning, the patient always has the option to check in either using their credit card, a password, which is typically a Social Security Number, or a biometric palm (scan)," Napua said. "Ninety-nine percent of the patients have been opting for the palm biometrics."

Another important advantage of the PalmSecure technology is that it can be used to verify the identity of physicians and medical staff themselves to gain access to medical records systems. Napua says this implementation allows for better protection of patients' private and sensitive information.

"One of the problems that has been publicly noted, especially in Hollywood, is the fact that these records are accessible by anybody who's in the hospital," he said. "They've had problems where people who should not have been were accessing patients' records. So there's another big move for implementing single sign-on solutions, which means being able to use just one security password or biometric to access multiple applications in a hospital or clinic. Because people lose passwords, people lose their badges, people give their passwords to other people, all of that."

And the palm-vein biometric technology, which Napua says is the only one of its kind certified by the international biometric standards consortium Common Criteria, is particularly suited to a healthcare environment because it is contactless and even can capture a person's vein pattern through material, such as a physician's latex glove.

Napua also says the palm-vein scanning is among the most accurate and cost-effective solutions when compared to other biometric technologies. He says fingerprint-scanning, which has been common in biometric deployments thus far, is on the low end of the spectrum in terms of cost but also is the least accurate biometric technology. On the other hand, iris scanning, also a well-known biometric iteration, is the most accurate but also the most costly. Palm-vein scanning, however, accomplishes both goals, Napua says.

"So now position the palm-vein sensor — it is on the low end of that spectrum in terms of cost, competing with that fingerprint sensor, but it is as accurate as an iris scanner," he said. "So you sort of get the best of both worlds with this palm-vein sensor."

Global Entry kiosk program

Another government initiative driving the growth of biometric deployments is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Global Entry Trusted Traveler program. The project's pilot phase was launched in June 2008 and is now in 20 airports nationwide.

The kiosks employ fingerprint- and iris-scanning biometrics, along with a series of declaration questions, to confirm the identity of registered travelers and move them through customs more quickly and efficiently than the traditional method, where customs agents deal with each traveler individually.

According to a news release from the DHS, travelers who wish to register with the Global Entry program must submit their biometric data, pay a $100 fee and go through a background check and an interview with Customs and Border Protection officers.

As of August, 16,000 members were enrolled in the program and the kiosks had been used more than 51,000 times, according to the DHS. The kiosk and biometric solutions are provided by KIOSK Information Systems and CSC, neither of which chose to comment on the topic for this article.

Regardless of its size, a kiosk rollout can be a serious expense, and return on investment can be difficult to predict. But some deployers are beginning to discover a less expensive option in the midst of challenging economic conditions: refurbished kiosks.

While refurbished kiosks represent only a small part of today's self-service market, refurbished ATMs have been popular for some time.

Mississippi-based Triton Systems recently opened its ATMGurus business, which specializes in providing ATM parts and repair, as well as refurbished units.

"The whole idea is, in today's economy, if you can buy that product, it's like buying a car or anything else, you make that economical decision," said Dan Swain, general manger of ATMGurus.  
 
Swain's colleague, James Phillips, says that for a time refurbished ATMs were scarce in the marketplace because the technology was so new and popular, mirroring the lack of refurbished kiosks deployed right now.

"Triton has offered (refurbished) units for many, many years. It's not something that really was at the forefront of our business, though," Phillips said. "When we first got into that business in the early 90s, it was a very explosive market. Used ATMs really weren't necessary — the marketplace was exploding so much, everybody was purchasing new machines and so forth."

But, Phillips says, once the ATM became ever-present, many operators began discovering the benefits of refurbished units.

"As the market has grown, the ATM has become more ubiquitous across all niches and marketplaces, and you've seen transaction volumes at the ATM drop," he said. "So as the transaction volumes have dropped off considerably in the last decade or so, you've seen the need for lower-priced equipment become more and more important, especially for the ISOs out there who live off surcharge income and so forth. So to maximize their profits and keep their cost of ownership as low as possible, used or refurbished ATMs have become much more prevalent."

Refurbished kiosk deployments growing

Though they may not be as popular as new units, Sandy Nix, president and CEO of Mequon, Wis.-based D2 Sales and Service, says she's seen the number of requests for refurbished units increase in the last 12 to 18 months.

"Definitely. Everyone is much, much more careful with how they're spending the precious budgets that they have," Nix said. "And so we're finding a lot more folks are at least considering it as an option."

Nix says refurbished models account for as much as 10 percent to 15 percent of D2's business. The units typically are pre-owned kiosks that have been returned at the end of another client's lease term. If the unit is in good condition overall, D2 then cleans it, runs diagnostics on the equipment and assesses what needs to be restored or removed. 

"Anything that isn't top-notch gets either repaired or replaced," she said, "so they're in what we refer to as 'like-new' condition."

D2 also offers the same warranty, services and support on refurbished units as it does on new models. Nix says the cost of a refurbished model can be anywhere from half that of a new one to 35-percent less and that prices are determined based on the kiosk's age and condition, the type of equipment in the kiosk and the price of comparable new equipment.

"We have very close to the same level of uptime (on the refurbished units), and we offer the warranties at virtually the same price as on a new unit, because we have that much confidence in the product we're putting out," Nix said.

Though a brand-new, shiny kiosk may seem like the better choice, Nix says refurbished kiosks can be a good fit for a business that just wants to do a trial deployment or simply needs a more economical option.

"They tend to be folks who are either looking to test a concept or, for some similar reason, want something that is a very economical alternative," she said.

The show floor of KioskCom's Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show Europe was smaller than last year, but that didn’t seem to affect the impressions of the more than 40 exhibitors present. While some commented that foot traffic was slow, many still appreciated the extra focus they got to have with attendees.

Jim Dalziel of Kiosk Manufacturing Systems, a longtime KioskCom exhibitor, said attendees were “more serious” about upcoming self-service projects and were asking more involved questions.

Cisco's Dos Dosanjh speaks at KioskCom Europe.

1. Lack of motivation: There has to be a reason for the customer to watch or interact with the screen.
2. Lack of targeted content to a targeted audience: Many industry pundits are now saying “relevance is king,” meaning no matter how good the content is on the screen, if it doesn’t resonate with the viewer it is worthless.
3. Results are not measured: If no measurement takes place, there is no way to judge the effectiveness of the campaign.

Down a third

Here are some other headlines from the tradeshow floor:

Nexcom showed its NDiS 540 and NDiS 162 media players, following an announcement that the company was partnering with software provider Scala. The joint venture is intended to pair Nexcom’s media players with Scala software to simplify the digital signage solution for customers.  Nexcom used the NDiS 540 to power a four-screen video wall, highlighting its quad-DVI output functionality. Nexcom also released its own simplified digital signage software at the show. Customers can choose which software package they need pre-installed on the player.

Nexcom's NDiS 540 player featured at KioskCom Europe.

ProTouch, a supplier of electronic point-of-sale kiosks, announced a partnership at KioskCom Europe with YesPay, a provider of card payment-processing services. The partnership resulted in several kiosk solutions designed to offer retailers the ability to process self-service card payments. Protouch said the solutions will be geared toward supermarkets, rail stations and cinemas that want to offer self-service chip-and-PIN credit and debit card payments.

Star Micronics showed a check-in kiosk designed for Premier Inn, equipped with the Star Micronics TUP992 kiosk printer. Star also announced that it is the exclusive kiosk printer manufacturer for Premier Inn, which is rolling out self-service check-in kiosks across its chain of hotels, as well as replacing traditional A4 laser printers at the reception desks with Star TSP800 printers.

One of the busiest booths was that of U-Touch, which showed a 103-inch, optical touch-enabled Panasonic plasma screen. The large-scale touchscreen may look familiar — it was used by both CNN and BBC to show exit poll results for the 2008 presidential election.

Clemthek is a vending-solutions company that got much attention showing two versions of the ShopRobotic automated vending machine. Used to sell everything from sodas to iPhones, the machines featured touchscreen selection, endcap digital signage and the ability to vend both refrigerated and nonrefrigerated items from the same machine.

The unbanked consumer has gotten a lot of play lately. Self-service and retail partnerships involving Coinstar Inc., TIO Networks, Wal-Mart and Fiserv, to name a few, have made news in recent weeks as the companies go after the growing cash-preferred consumer segment, estimated to number 40 million U.S. households.

Not to be left out, and enjoying a fresh infusion of capital after its acquisition by Korean holding company Eltna last year, Tranax Technologies Inc. has spent the first half of 2009 redoubling its focus on self-service and kiosk applications for the retail vertical, all with the cash-preferred market in mind.

"It's the nature of self-service, and especially financial self-service," said Wes Dunn, director of business development for California-based Tranax. "Absolutely, we realize that relevance and the opportunity for our ISOs and for retailers."

The company focused on that opportunity at its Dallas sales office Aug. 19 during a one-day seminar designed to drum up awareness of its partnerships with providers of self-service money-transfer, bill-payment and check-cashing solutions.

At the meeting, Dunn spoke at length about Tranax' renewed philosophy of "letting the solutions dictate how we build the product," and alluded to a greater flexibility and quicker go-to-market capabilities due to Eltna's ownership and a relationship with sister company Hantel.

The applications

Throughout the event, Tranax brought in representatives from its partner vendors to discuss applications for the TK1000 kiosk, which Dunn says is its self-service "bread and butter." In addition to a stand-alone model, a through-the-wall version of the TK1000 is available.

One such application is money transfer, which Tranax works with Nexxo Financial Corp. to provide. Nexxo's Freddie Seba said the Northern California-based company caters primarily to the burgeoning Hispanic market in the United States, many members of which are unbanked and routinely send cash home to their families in Latin America.

Seba cited statistical evidence that Hispanics in America transfer money an average of 1.5 to 1.8 times per month, with the average transaction totaling $300. Nexxo, he said, processes as many as 2,000 transactions on some of its money-transfer kiosks, whose U.S. deployments number around 500, with locations throughout California, Arizona, Texas and Illinois.

Seba said money-transfer remittances are expected to grow to $100 billion through 2015, and Nexxo also offers bill-payment and mobile top-up as ancillary applications.

Dunn says the deployment of solutions for money transfer and bill payment, which Tranax partner VendTechs was on-hand to discuss, is a natural extension of current kiosk applications.

"You and I use the Internet to transfer money, have direct deposit ... and pay our bills with online banking," he said. "The financial self-service kiosk business is, by nature, geared toward the unbanked and underbanked."

During a presentation on bill-payment processing, Will Hunt and Latrice Claiborne, both from VendTechs, spoke about the proliferation of ATMs in the past few decades and how they have fostered a higher comfort level among consumers when making self-service transactions.

VendTechs has been in the self-service industry since 2004 and provides customizable options for billers through its payment-processing partner, Transaction Solutions.

Uniquely, end-users can pay any bill from any company using VendTechs' application. If the biller doesn't happen to be a company that works with Transaction Solutions, the payment processor simply issues a money order to the biller to complete the transaction.

Tranax partner Valid Systems also was on hand to educate ISOs on its check-cashing application, available for deployment with Tranax' 500CS turnkey check-cashing hardware, complete with card reader, check scanner, ID card scanner, fingerprint scanner, keyboard, printer and full LCD display.

John Templer, from the Ft. Worth, Texas-based company, discussed the application with attendees and touted its all-in-one, user-friendly configuration. The solution accepts payroll, tax and government-issued checks and employs more than 60,000 combinations of rules to prevent check fraud.

Valid works with many of the top-10 banks in the United States, Templer said, in addition to some of the country's largest payday lenders, rent-to-own companies, check-cashing services, grocery stores and convenience stores.

Additional solutions

In addition to its kiosk hardware and applications, Tranax demonstrated its latest check scanners, including a single-feed model and an all-in-one version that features a fingerprint scanner, barcode reader and USB and serial connections, as well as a bulk check imager.

The check-scanning hardware caters to retailers interested in deploying remote deposit capture, which representatives of ProfitStars, a Jack Henry company, touted during their presentation.

Also on display was Tranax' line of traditional retail ATMs. The company offers sidecar hardware for its ATMs, ideal for applications such as bill payment and prepaid card dispensing.

Many of the Tranax ISOs in attendance at the Dallas meeting were impressed by the manufacturer's renewed commitment to the self-service and kiosk industry.

"The industry is quickly evolving," said Jamil Adair, president and CEO of Merchants First Choice Inc., a Tranax distributor. "We are moving into an era where offering value-added products and services (is) vital to the success of any ISO. Merchants are keen to technology, and they simply expect more from their ATM cash machines. Tranax has taken a proactive approach and positioned itself to deliver on these higher expectations."

The nationwide footprint of redbox kiosks — and DVD-rental kiosks generally — has expanded so much, so quickly in recent years that it's no surprise some of the kiosks' user-friendliness may leave a little to be desired. And with the advent of social media outlets, such as blogs and Twitter, Internet-savvy consumers can make their grievances known with the simple click of a mouse — and two DVD-rental kiosk companies are listening and responding.
 
Redbox, e-Play to offer low-hassle DVD return
 
Perhaps the complaint heard most often from redbox users is that they have to wait in line behind customers making rental selections when all they want is to return a disc.

Gary Cohen, redbox's vice president of customer experience says, in addition to software updates that should reduce the time it takes to vend a disc, redbox is exploring new features that will make the return process quicker.

"We will be testing quickreturn at hundreds of redbox retail locations nationwide this year," he said. "Quickreturn will allow customers to make returns while other customers are browsing films and making movie selections." 
 
Similarly, Alan Rudy, CEO of entertainment-kiosk brand e-Play, says the company has developed a system whereby retailers can deploy extra touchscreens, each integrated with the nearby kiosk to browse the selection separate from the vending machine. The company has deployed the "expansion stations" in one Columbus, Ohio, retail location and is working with Wal-Mart to place them in as yet undecided locations, in addition to deploying them at gas station pumps, reaching consumers when they have a few important minutes of forced free time.

"So you can browse to your heart's content," he said. "And the idea would be you might have five or six of these next to one machine, so people don't have to wait in line. They're also all pulling out of the inventory, so you don't have to check three different machines. We can get away with that because we have machines that can hold up to 3,000 discs, so we don't have to put multiple machines in to handle the volume."

Redbox says its machines house about 700 discs.

More entertainment options

The niche gaming segment has long been dominated by a select few retail outlets. Amazon and online-rental service GameFly have gotten a cut of the action on the Internet, and now DVD-rental kiosks are set to grab a piece of it as well.

In May, e-Play announced a 77-store pilot program with retail giant Wal-Mart, and the company's goal was to do just that. While e-Play kiosks offer DVDs, Blu-Ray and video games for rent, their primary differentiator is that they also offer video game trade-in, where a customer receives credit for used titles.

And redbox just announced it has begun testing $2 per-night video game rentals in Reno, Nev., and Wilmington, N.C.

Getting the word out about online reservation

Redbox's kiosk footprint might be huge, but its title selection is not, say some users. Ohio reporter Jason Freed is a movie buff and a former redbox fan. His favor for redbox turned when he recently attempted to rent some of last year's Oscar contenders and was unable to find them.

"I guess that's what kind of turned me off, because I used to be a big proponent of redbox, and we rented tons of movies from it," Freed said. "I like the ease, and I like the convenience of it. But the last few times I've been there, the selection has been outdated."

This is in spite of the company conducting ongoing research to determine which titles it needs to stock most at which locations, redbox's Cohen says.

"To help please all customers, redbox spends significant resources evaluating rental patterns in specific locations to ensure each local redbox retail location features the movies appropriate for that market," he said. "In addition to ensuring more of the most popular new releases are in stock, our customers continue to ask for a broader selection of titles."

Though its kiosks typically house upwards of 3,000 titles, e-Play also receives complaints about out-of-stock titles the most, Rudy says. He and Cohen agree that greater consumer adoption of the online-reservation functionality offered by both companies would help minimize the out-of-stock issue. Using the online tool, a customer can check her first choice location for the titles availability before making the trip.

"I wish everybody understood the concept of online reservation, because you can not only reserve it ahead of time, but you can find a kiosk that has it," Rudy said. "You can get what you want if you're willing to go online first."

The technology behind self-service DVD rental is, relatively speaking, still young, and for all its advantages — convenience, economy – the companies behind the devices continue to work out the kinks. Both redbox and e-Play say the user experience is their top concern and that they're constantly working on improving it.

"Feedback from our customers is the No. 1 gauge on how we are performing," Cohen said. "We regularly ask our customers for feedback and shape updates based around their experiences and desires."

Coinstar spokeswoman Marci Maule says the company is still in the process of determining which locations will be involved in the pilot, and Coinstar plans to evaluate the kiosks' performance in the grocery/supermarket channel against the success TIO has enjoyed in the convenience store segment with brands such as Exxon Mobil and Circle K.

Hamed Shahbazi, founder and chief executive of TIO Networks, hopes Coinstar's clout will translate to success for the pilot.

"We believe we've landed on something pretty exciting," Coinstar CEO Paul Davis said in the company's Aug. 4 Q2 earnings call. "It's clear to us that our core strength is in the area of automated retail. … The combination of retailer demand, consumer adoption, our core competencies and opportunities for innovation all point to this as being a sustainable platform for future growth."

A shared focus

According to 2008 data from the Center for Financial Services Innovation, 40 million U.S. households, or 106 million individuals, are considered "cash-preferred." These consumers lack traditional relationships with financial institutions or have them in combination with other financial services, such as payday lenders or prepaid debit card providers.

The scarcity of services catering to the cash-preferred has, in part, led to TIO's success in bill-payment processing for companies in the telecom, wireless, cable and utility sectors. The company has enjoyed a steady increase in transaction endpoints, which include retail kiosks, POS systems and an online component — this year, the count has reached more than 18,000.

Though Coinstar has remained quiet about the future of the partnership thus far, it certainly has the potential to pay off in the long term, as the company also relies on business from cash-preferred consumers.        

"Coinstar has long seen the value in offering solutions that meet the needs of the cash-preferred customer," Maule said. "Coin-counting is a prime example. With regard to targeting this demographic within the financial services space, we're expecting the total market for self-service walk-up billpay to increase over the next several years."

Coinstar also believes efforts on the part of billers to deflect foot traffic from their offices may contribute to the success of the program.

"It is estimated that 2009 self-service billpay will account for about 20 percent of all walk-up billpay," Maule said. "Similarly, billers are driving a shift from payment in a biller's office to payment in retail locations to increase customer convenience, reduce costs and to increase on-time payments. We believe a steadily growing number of walk-up billpay customers will choose to pay bills through self-service options offered in a variety of convenient retail locations."

Shahbazi says he can't speak for Coinstar regarding long-term goals for the partnership, but that the company likely has designs on billpay as one area of self-service expansion in the future.

"From my perspective, I think they're really trying to learn and evaluate for future consideration," he said. "I think that's the big thing here, they're embarking on … really learning and understanding if this is a great opportunity for them or not."

The most common goal of airports and airlines is to make traveling less stressful for their customers. Touchscreen self-check-in at airport kiosks has proven to be a time-efficient option. However, John Vinelli, IT manager for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, says there is still a great divide between the ways leisure and business passengers deal with their respective check-ins.

“Airports are struggling with what the airport process actually means nowadays, especially if you don’t check-in a bag,” he said. “I believe that, as time goes on, a larger number of people will be checking in at home, but the kiosk does have a benefit for people who don’t normally check-in. Airlines seem to be pushing away from dedicated check-in and towards self-service.”

With mobile phone check-in being developed as an option, Vinelli thinks that the traditional kiosk also should adjust to provide an improved service in the near future. “Ideas have been suggested where you can get information from your car hire company or hotel check-in at the airport kiosk,” he said. “If you can reduce the number of kiosks and increase the functionality to give them multiple functions, that makes sense.”

Web vs. kiosk

Doug Godard, senior manager of design & strategy, guest services for WestJet, says the company has experienced an annual boost in its check-in options via the Internet — a possible sign that traditional airport kiosks are losing their appeal. Indeed, more and more travelers are giving preference to Web-based check-in than actual airport facilities — a money-saving trend for the airlines.

“From an airline perspective, the Web is definitely the preferred method, due to its low development costs, ease of deploying new product features and operating costs,” Godard pointed out.

Since mobile technologies are becoming increasingly widespread, customers with the compatible phone capabilities can opt not to be so dependent on kiosks as they previously were — at least when they arrive at the airport.

“Mobile check-in with WestJet is still relatively small, but with the rapid technological improvements and acceptance among the various stakeholders, we feel it will grow in popularity over the coming years,” Godard said.

Although e-ticketing and mobile self-boarding passes are limited to computer and mobile phone networks, it is anticipated that kiosks will still play an essential role in other key areas of the process. “Self-tagging baggage is one product change that we are actively pursuing with our kiosk application, and with good results,” Godard said.

The International Air Transport Association’s Fast Travel Initiative, which is working on ways for travelers to check-in via a variety of common-use self-service, or CUSS, options, aims to make sure kiosks achieve their full potential.

“I think the airport kiosk will become far more important,” said Paul Behan, manager of the Fast Travel Initiative. “(What) we want to see in the future is the ‘bags ready to go’ project — the idea that you can process the bag yourself at the kiosk. It can read the passenger’s boarding pass, which would have already been printed at home, as well as printing your bag tag for you to take to the agent to be weighed.”

In a similar trend, Real Time Engineering, which has been investing in the next generation of mobile boarding passes, thinks that kiosks prevail when it comes to passengers with luggage. Alaistair Deacon, Real Time’s technical director, says that the hold baggage customer still must do some form or other of check-in through a kiosk during the bag drop process.

“Where I do see a changing role in the kiosk, I predict it will continue its role with passengers with hold baggage and will move to passengers doing self-tagging. The kiosk may decline, but it will play a key role in the final function in the tagging and dropping off,” Deacon pointed out.

Real Time Engineering and British Midland Airways are now implementing the “first pass” program in association with many of BMI's domestic flights. Rather than printing documents from the Internet, passengers can opt for the “paperless boarding process,” where a barcode is sent as a picture message, ready for verification at the security gate. Following its success, a further roll out to other BMI routes is scheduled for the next year.

As specialists are pushing forward with Web and mobile technologies, check-in without the physical kiosk is a rather improbable scenario, Deacon says.

“The kiosk’s role is not just about being a check-in machine — it’s no longer the first port of call but will be an integrated point for all aspects of booking. The physical things you can’t do on the Internet — that’s where the kiosk comes in.”

Continental Airlines is using the latest technology to provide self-service kiosks. It is the first airline to introduce the baggage service kiosk — used if a bag gets stranded. Continental’s customer self-service director, Jared Miller, said that the self-service kiosk has a crucial role to the airline and should not cease to be in the future.

“The self-service platforms are a really big component to our customer service experience, and we are continuing to invest in those platforms,” Miller explained. “The motivation for kiosks is that, while we’re always conscious of costs, our primary focus is to improve customer service and the kiosk puts more control in the hands of the customer. I think kiosks are playing more of a different role. Most people have already checked in when they get to the airport, but they will still use a kiosk for other functions, such as dropping bags and adding frequent flyer points. The kiosk here is a value-added feature that will improve their experience.”

Ross Falconer is editor of Check-In: The Magazine.

The old adage “The early bird gets the worm” has become truer than ever for those in the kiosk and self-service industry. And by bird, we mean tweet. And by worm, we mean follower.

Confused? You’re not alone. Although it launched publicly in August 2006, Twitter has morphed into the current mammoth version of itself, at least in the business world, only in about the past year. It's increasingly common to get a business card or e-mail from an industry acquaintance with that little @ handle or a link to follow her or her company on the social networking site.

Twitter’s many uses

Different people use Twitter for different reasons. Many simply want to be engaged and keep up with the times — after all, this is the technology business. But if a user wants it to, Twitter can be a new avenue of communication, both with others in the industry and end-users, and it can function as a treasure trove of consumer insights.

Company information and updates: Similar to the association happenings Drain tweets about, some use Twitter to inform followers about what’s new with their companies. TIO Networks (@tiobillpay) regularly tweets about new deployments and expanded capabilities on its bill-payment kiosks, while Ed Crowley of OneSource Interactive (@kioskgypsy) often tweets about traveling for business meetings and attending tradeshows.

News and information: Others use the site mostly to share interesting news bits. Francie Mendelsohn of Summit Research Associates Inc. (@franciem) and Craig Keefner of KIOSK Information Systems (@gokiosk) regularly tweet links to industry news. Those who report the news themselves also have taken to tweeting. KioskMarketplace.com (@kioskmktplce), the KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show (@KioskCom, @Digitalsignshow), Supermarket News (@SN_news ) and many other media outlets tweet headlines throughout the day and point readers toward relevant content from other sites.

Connecting with customers: Perhaps most interestingly, Twitter and the various applications that complement it can be an excellent way of keeping a finger on the pulse of what the public thinks about self-service. It can be done using programs such as the popular and widely recommended TweetDeck, where users can set up columns for specific search terms and see every tweet that includes that term.

For instance, KioskMarketplace.com uses TweetDeck to keep an eye on what consumers think of self-checkout. The tweets range from glowing reviews of grocery store systems to scathing rants about malfunctions and long lines. Regardless of their content, though, keeping up with end-users’ tweets lets businesses know what consumers like and dislike. And it also can be a way to make them feel connected to the companies behind the technology — all it takes is a retweet. Kirk Nelson of ArcaTech Systems (@ArcaTechOEM) regularly replies to and retweets consumers’ comments about self-service technology, whether they’re positive or negative.

Dos and don’ts

For all its benefits, social networking still can be a nebulous and intimidating concept, so for the business that is getting into Twitter, it’s wise to heed a few tips and tricks. 

Connie Chesner, vice president and director of discovery at brandMIND Research Group (@brandMINDRes), offers a list of “dos and don’ts” for business Twitterers. She suggests they “aim for a healthy mix of education, entertainment and promotion” in their tweets and “provide exclusive benefits and promotions just for Twitter users.” However, she says it’s important not to concentrate too much on promoting a company or product. “Don’t be overly promotional. Mix promotional content with other content,” she said. A few more of Chesner’s tips:

• Take time to thank loyal customers and express gratitude when they give you positive buzz via Twitter.
• Don’t over-tweet. Create a schedule to tweet at peak times of the day to reach the largest audience possible.
• Follow others in the industry who are thought leaders.
• Engage in conversation, both with end-users and others in the industry.
• Add personality to tweets, but don’t get too personal.
• Make sure tweets reflect your brand identity and consistently represent what you hope to convey about your company. “This is important when you have more than one person managing your Twitter account,” Chesner said.
• Retweet posts from others when you find them relevant.

I attended the NACStech show recently held in Grapevine, Tex. and PCI compliance was certainly on the minds of the attendees, exhibitors and show management. Indeed, seven workshop sessions pertained to PCI.

For those not familiar, PCI stands for Payment Card Industry, and when PCI is mentioned, people typically mean compliance with the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Retailers, including convenience stores, have been scrambling for months to understand the PCI DSS and make sure they are compliant.

Compliance is mandated by the payment card brands such as Visa and MasterCard. In simple terms, the standard is to protect consumer’s credit card data to prevent fraud. Secure networks, encryption, restricting access to cardholder data and having a security policy are all involved.

Who has to comply? According to the PCI Security Standards Web site, "All entities that transmit, process or store payment card data must be compliant with PCI DSS."

Jeff Lenard, vice president of communications for the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), which produces NACStech, said one of the themes of the show was "making scary go away." Attendance was down, as has been the case for most trade shows and conferences this year, but Lenard estimated the attendance to be about 1,000 with 90-plus exhibitors.

Lenard said that the retailers have had to address two scary topics at this year’s event – credit card fraud and social engineering. Social engineering, according to Wikipedia, "is the act of manipulating people into performing actions or divulging confidential information." Lenard talked about how security breaches can really hurt your brand.

When asked about the impact of digital signage at c-stores, Lenard said, "Signage at the pump is huge. Changing a sign manually takes time and money." Also, you can "show in-store promotions and boost sales."

When asked about kiosks, he commented that using "kiosks for ordering food takes labor out of the question." As to other advantages, he pointed out that younger people are used to it, you can offer service in multiple languages and "kiosks always know to upsell."

From the show floor

Citizen’s booth featured one of its latest products, the CT-S2000 Memory Printer with 32 MB of memory. It can print out journal data on demand, is six times faster than impact printers, have fewer moving parts, comes with a three-year warranty and there are no ribbons to buy.

Dresser Wayne, manufacturer of fuel dispensers, rolled out pay-at-the-pump in 1986. The big push this year is on security. On May 15, Dresser Wayne announced the iX Pay Secure Payment retrofit kits for Dresser Wayne and Tokheim fuel dispensers. The kits help retailers comply with the PCI Encrypting PIN Pad (EPP) requirements.

Gilbarco Veeder-Root had several interesting products on display:

• An Express Ordering food kiosk, using IBM Anyplace Kiosk hardware
• Intelligent Device Management (IDM), which consolidates remote monitoring of all devices and gives a retailer the ability to monitor anything in the store: heating, air conditioning, refrigeration, even the back door. One can track how many people are coming and going, manage lighting levels and generate alarms when something’s amiss.
• Applause Media System, a screen housed within the fuel pump itself, rather than on top, featuring rich content and the ability to print coupons on demand. New to the Applause system is the addition of video and audio.

NEC featured several products: its Twin POS 5500, digital signage and tablets for mobile communication between stores and within stores. For example, headquarters can notify stores if a product has been recalled. In addition, the tablet serves as an inventory management tool. NEC also promoted the fact that it provides business and IT consulting.

Working with Ingenico, Orpak makes retrofit pay-at-the pump devices for PCI compliance.

The Pinnacle Corporation, which makes automation technology for c-stores, had a clever sign in their booth that read: "There are only 3 certainties in life: Death. Taxes. PCI Compliance." What also caught my eye was a food ordering kiosk. Pinnacle makes kiosk software to backend software so it ties into the POS.

Radiant Systems, a manufacturer of hardware and software for POS, had on hand a new 17-inch all-in-one kiosk terminal featuring an encrypted magnetic card reader and dual core chip. James Hervey, in global product marketing, also pointed out that the unit is passively cooled. Radiant has a solid state version (no moving parts) and makes an outdoor version as well.

Also in Radiant’s booth was Intelio, demonstrating its activation unit for car washes. At $12,000, John Carroll, president & CEO, said that his system was the same cost as a typical car wash activation unit, but featured full motion video and remote management for the operator.

VeriFone’s MX800 series standalone terminals and PIN pads can be used for various applications, such as movie rentals, price checkers, applications for credit and surveys. All terminals are PCI compliant and the MX870 combines color, video and digital sound with secure payment capabilities.

Wincor Nixdorf featured its cash management systems. Chad Wagner of Wincor pointed out that their product offers cash recycling, a fast bulk note acceptor and one slot for checks and cash giving the operator convenience and security. The machine can be configured to face the customer or the employee. By having a cash recycler, Wagner said, a store can reduce the amount of cash kept in the store by as much as 60 percent. "It could eliminate the cash drawer," he said.

For months, Tom Harold had been throwing his loose change into a couple of jars on his dresser, filling both containers until the quarters, nickels and dimes began to spill from their tops.

That’s when he made his first trip to one of the green, seemingly ubiquitous Coinstar change-counting kiosks. He fed about $86 from one jar and more than $150 from the other one. With money tight in this ragged economy, Harold, a public assistance consultant from Indianapolis, said every penny counts.

"I'm bucks-down now," said Harold, 29. "And I used a bunch of that money to buy things that were outside my strict budget: a bunch of art supplies and some music."

Thanks to Harold and millions of people like him who tote their cans, bottles and buckets of coins to the green machines, the stock of Coinstar continues to soar even as the overall market sits near its lowest levels in years. A recent management shakeup isn’t expected to slow an expansion plan that will give Coinstar and its recently acquired movie-kiosk company, redbox, a footprint of about 40,000 machines in the United States by the end of the year.

And while no one will say outright that the success of the Coinstar companies is directly related to the economy, a case could be made that the downturn has uniquely positioned Coinstar and redbox, which rents movies for a dollar a night, to thrive as Americans clamp down on every cent.

"We don’t attribute the popularity of our coin counting service to the economy as we’ve seen year-over-year growth in coin volume for a number of years," said Marci Maule, Coinstar Inc.’s director of public relations. "We talk to consumers on a fairly regular basis, and what prompts them to cash in coins is when their coin jar gets full. We’re not necessarily seeing people cash in more frequently or earlier, but we consistently see new users coming to Coinstar as more people become aware of the service."

Redbox, she said, was well positioned even before unemployment and foreclosures marred the landscape. "Really before the downturn in the economy, (redbox) seemed to be the right service at the right time."

Coinstar’s stock so far this year has been trading above $31 per share, more than double its price in December. This is fueled in part by its agreement in February to purchase the remaining shares of redbox, in which it already had a majority stake. Revenue is expected to grow as both companies plan to add kiosks this year — redbox is planning to jump from 14,000 machines to about 20,000, and Coinstar hopes to add about 1,000 units this year to surpass 19,000 coin-counting kiosks. But can the good times last?

Other analysts say DVD rentals can’t stay profitable forever, as new technologies emerge to replace them. In a column earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal expressed doubts about redbox’ long-term value, saying its price wasn’t a bargain compared to competitor Netflix, which was performing more than 25 percent above expectations and ships movies right to devices like the Xbox 360.

Another potential hindrance for redbox is its lawsuit with Universal Studios, which argues that redbox’s cheap rental model will lead people to stop buying movies. Universal last year sought to withhold DVDs from redbox until 45 days after release to prevent competition with sales. Universal then instructed wholesalers to cut off supplies when redbox rejected the deal. Redbox later sued Universal, alleging restraint of trade. Maule said the company cannot comment on ongoing litigation.

But Coinstar’s fortune continues to be further linked with redbox.

Paul Davis, who had been hired as Coinstar’s chief operating officer last May, recently moved up to replace the retiring Dave Cole, who had been Coinstar’s chief executive since 2001. Davis was an experienced executive who had worked for Kettle Foods and PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay Company.

Davis was replaced as chief operating officer by redbox executive Gregg Kaplan, who had been redbox' CEO. Redbox chief financial officer John Harvey is taking the same position at Coinstar after chief financial officer Brian Turner decided to leave the company.

Last year, Coinstar processed $3 billion in change at 18,400 machines, up slightly from $2.9 billion processed at 15,400 machines.

Coinstar also has worked to keep its offerings fresh. It is seeking new retail partners for its Coin to Card program, which waives its 8.9 percent service fee if a customer chooses to convert the change counted into gift cards for partner retailers such as Amazon and Starbucks. The program was started in 2005 to attract people who balked at the service charge.

The total takeover of redbox gives Coinstar full control of a thriving — and still growing — business. And Coinstar has inroads into grocery stores and convenience stores that redbox has been trying to enter.

"I think it’s quite a good fit," said Francie Mendelsohn, president of Summit Research Associates. "But it’s short term. Five years from now, we’re not going to be talking about DVD kiosks. The model is going to change."

Maule acknowledged that digital downloads are expected to challenge DVD rentals, but pointed out that many customers will still choose DVDs over downloads, which can take hours to transfer and can average about $3.99 per movie.

But the slow economy may delay that change, Mendelsohn said, because consumers won’t want to spend money on whatever machines finally replace DVD players. "If you don’t have a job, you’re not going to buy new equipment," she said.

Coinstar’s own research shows how harsh economic times could work in its favor.

More than one-third of Americans value loose change more than they did a year ago, according to a poll commissioned by Coinstar late last year.

Of the two-thirds of those polled who said they accumulate change, 32 percent said they are recycling or cashing in that change more now than a year ago (the study did not ask how they were cashing in the change — in machines, spending it, or rolling it and taking it to banks, Maule said).

And 46 percent of people said they planned to spend their loose change on fun purchases.

Harold, who cashed in his first two jars this year, said he didn’t mind paying Coinstar’s fee to count his change, since it saved him an evening of rolling change at home. And he said he would use Coinstar again.

"I have a lot of pennies," he said. "I should take those in."

LAS VEGAS — Before hitting the convention center floor Wednesday at the KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show, attendees heard Joshua Weiss recount Delta Air Lines’ recipe for self-service success. Following a merger with Northwest Airlines about six months ago, Delta became the largest airline in the world.

Weiss, who has been with Delta for 13 years as managing director of self-service, shared the airline’s strategies with a packed house and commended the industry for its leading-edge innovation.

"The pace of change in our industry and what we’ve had to accommodate ourselves to, compared to other industries, is pretty unbelievable," Weiss said.

He pointed to the many obstacles that have faced airlines throughout the last decade — 9/11, SARS, fluctuating fuel prices and struggling economies — and spoke of how self-service technology has not only helped Delta stay profitable in the face of such issues, but also see a spike in customer satisfaction numbers at the same time.

Weiss cited statistics that say more than 80 percent of Delta travelers now check in via self-service or Delta.com, and that the airline’s revenue from self-service and online ticketing surpasses the GDP of 80 percent of the countries in the world.

For much of the presentation, Weiss emphasized the critical notion that self-service deployers must cover all of their customer experience, employee engagement and branding basics, while growing globally and maintaining a "best-in-class" cost structure.

"If you embark on a self-service initiative with cost as a singular goal, it will not be successful," he said.

Important considerations, Weiss said, include things like an attractive, easy-to-use interface, consistent branding and experiences across all channels and keeping employees involved in the process. Delta even has employees at different airports compete to have the highest self-service usage rates, which Weiss said leads to agents coming out from behind the counter and engaging travelers with the technology, thereby providing "full-service self-service."

Also during the keynote, Weiss emphasized the importance of catching up to mobile commerce and mastering and standardizing mobile technology throughout the industry.

"They expect us to be on, available, everything they want to do, optimized for their device, 24 hours per day, in their language," he said. "We’re not there yet in mobile, and that, in my mind, is the biggest opportunity for all of us."

Lastly, Weiss said it’s crucial not to forget that technology isn’t the end-all, be-all. Pointing to instances of delayed or cancelled flights, after which airline agents often swim in a sea of meal, transportation and hotel vouchers and arrangements, he shared that Delta has equipped its agents with wireless, handheld devices to help them continue to provide a consistent and supportive customer experience.

"When moments of high stress happen … there are times when people just want to talk to people," he said.

LAS VEGAS — Prior to the start of the KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show, the Self-Service & Kiosk Association Advisory Board gathered on Tuesday at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. With approximately 20 board members in attendance, the group elected eight officers and tackled many issues facing the association and the industry as a whole.

Joel Davis, president and CEO of KioskCom organizer JD Events, touched on the show’s increasingly important relationship with SSKA and shared registration numbers with the group.

While, as expected, those figures are slightly down, Davis assured the board that show organizers "remain completely focused, and even obsessed, on delivering qualified buyers to exhibitors," and are making strategic moves to maximize the event’s impact. Those efforts have included offering complimentary full-conference passes to attendees, getting involved in social media and a telemarketing drive in the wake of the recent swine flu scare.

Following the discussion of SSKA’s presence at KioskCom, the group elected the following board members to office:

Also recognized were three new board members: Dave McCracken of Livewire Kiosk, Tom Pappalardo of Esprida Corp., and Tommy Woycik of NEXTEP SYSTEMS.

Executive director David Drain presented up-to-date membership numbers, which show a growing deployer constituency. Coupled with the election of three officer positions dedicated to that segment, SSKA chairman Dick Good emphasized the importance of the association’s efforts to continue growing it as a membership base.

A highlight of the meeting was a presentation by guest attendee Chris Rezendes of VDC Research, who shared in-depth findings related to potential new deployment environments and what he predicts will be the astronomical growth of mobile commerce in the coming years. Rezendes challenged the SSKA to lead the way in channeling oft-repeated phrases such as "operational efficiency" and "customer service" into measurable and observable terms.

"If you as an association can achieve this, you will absolutely, positively become the center of gravity in this industry," he said.

Thus far this week, the SSKA presence at KioskCom has been noticeable. During the Self Service Excellence Awards Wednesday, Drain presented three Hall of Fame awards on behalf of the association. Recipients were Gregg Kaplan, president and COO of Coinstar; Rick Malone, founder and president of KIOSK Information Systems; and Bradley Walker, founder and CEO of Nanonation.

ABERDEEN, N.C. — Meridian Kiosks LLC, a manufacturer of kiosks to the North American Market, announced that it acquired the assets of KING Products and Solutions, Inc (KPSI), of Toronto Canada. KPSI is the one of the oldest kiosk manufacturers in the world, initially providing signage solutions since 1944. KPSI was one of the first manufacturers of interactive kiosks and won a prestigious MAC user award in 1995 for the innovative MIKO (Mac In KING Out) kiosk. In more recent times, KPSI was a leading manufacturer of Internet and telephony kiosks for airports, wayfinding kiosks for commercial properties, and retail solutions for major retail customers.

"In today’s economic environment, we’re seeing very good opportunities for consolidating our industry," said Chris Gilder, Meridian’s chief executive. "Most companies are retrenching. Our approach is just the opposite — we see the downturn as an opportunity to gain market share at very reasonable valuations. When we had an opportunity to acquire one of the pioneers of our industry, we moved very quickly to make it happen. Acquiring KPSI not only expands Meridian’s product and segment offering, but also adds critical proprietary software solutions applicable to all of Meridian’s existing clients."

"We take a very structured approach to our business decisions," said Gerhard Renner, Meridian’s chief financial officer. "Our business focus and prudence has allowed Meridian to grow without any outside financing, enabling us to be very flexible, and able to react quickly to take advantage of market opportunities. The acquisition of KING reflects this approach, and will be accretive to our free cash flow almost immediately."

In conjunction with the acquisition, Meridian also announced the expansion of its sales team, led by vice president of sales and marketing Robert Giblett. "Robert is an industry veteran and has played a significant role in increasing sales at each of his employers including a three-year tenure at KING and most recently at Netkey," said Gilder. "He knows how to build and motivate sales teams and has a proven track record of executing. We’re thrilled to have him as part of the team."

Giblett will be joined by director of outside sales Brian Chamberlain, formerly of KPSI; inside sales associate Tony Temple, joining the North Carolina office as part of the business development team; and Randy Haines, director of customer service responsible for service and support, bringing over 14 years experience from KPSI.

"Our stated goal is to make the leap and double in size this year — and we are seeing terrific opportunities to do so, and are on track to make this happen," said Giblett. "Increasing our sales staff allows us to more effectively respond to the needs of our customers and the ever-increasing flow of opportunities created through our strong partnerships. We have the engineering and manufacturing piece down to a science — it was time for our sales team to catch up."

Meridian will continue to operate offices in Toronto for its software and customer service divisions, while centralizing its manufacturing operations to its 65,000-square-foot facility in North Carolina. The software division will be led by the original KPSI team, which will remain largely intact and led by Paul Burden (director of software development) and Luis Gonzalez (KINGnet team leader), combining over 20 years of self-service software development with KPSI. Terms of the transaction remain confidential.

In the coming weeks, we'll know whether the current swine flu scare is a real pandemic or (hopefully) something much smaller. Either way, we are guaranteed to become a population with a heightened sense of germ-phobia and awareness, even if only for a short period of time.

Alex Richardson, industry pioneer and current managing director of Selling Machine Partners, wisely points out that 80 percent of infections are spread by touch. For companies that use touchscreens and PIN pads to interface with their customers, then, cleanliness and proper disinfection protocols take on a whole new level of importance.

Here are five tips for making your touchpoints safe for both your customers and your associates:

1. Clean regularly and often. Richardson recommends an hourly sweep of busy areas, using EPA-registered disinfectants on all surfaces. That includes touchscreens, enclosures, scales, scanners, and anything else the shopper might touch. Now, for businesses that clean their surfaces less often than they should even during non-crisis times, once an hour might seem unlikely — focus on stepping up your efforts to the best of your operational ability.
2. Communicate what you're doing with shoppers. This should be done both overtly and covertly. Make sure shoppers see your associates with cleaning supplies in hand, proactively hitting the aisles and the touchpoints. Add messaging to attract loops that spells out what you're doing for them ("Because we value you, this machine is disinfected every X minutes," for instance).
3. Provide the shopper with cleaning supplies. Richardson suggests placing hand sanitizer dispensers at strategic locations near the point of contact with devices — much like health officials do in hospital waiting areas.
4. Consider investing in non-capacitive touchscreens, so that shoppers can use them while wearing gloves, or IR-based touchscreens that use small LEDs around the bezel to determine the location of the user's finger (and therefore don't actually require a full-on touch). Of course, most companies aren't going to buy all new hardware because of this crisis, but think long-term and use this as a reminder of the importance of purchasing technology that serves the widest possible audience.
5. Be understanding. Some people worry more than others, and there are going to be plenty of people who will be distraught over this issue. Instruct associates to be especially patient and understanding — and never dismissive or belittling — with customer concerns. If any part of a transaction is unsettling to the customer, go the extra mile and handle it for them.

A new barcode standard, in the works for several years and now nearing its sunrise date, could greatly improve the shopping experience while bringing added value to both retailers and brands.

The GS1 DataBar is a 14-digit code symbology that can hold more data than a traditional UPC barcode, while taking up much less space. Its diminutive size means that for the first time, it is practical to barcode hard-to-mark products like fresh foods, loose produce and items with very little surface area like individual tubes of lipstick.

The standards organization GS1 US endorsed the symbology in 2005, and has worked with retailers, brands and technology providers in the interim years to speed its adoption. The organization has set a sunrise date — the date when retailers are strongly encouraged to be able to scan the new codes — of January 1, 2010.

"The interest has suddenly spiked in the last six months," said John Wilson, NCR's senior product manager for barcode scanning solutions. "I've been doing a lot of presentations to retailers in the last six months. There are a lot of projects around retail, vying for dollars, and when you have a date of 2010, suddenly everybody says, 'We've really gotta jump on this thing.'"

Major retailers like Walmart, Loblaw's and Winn-Dixie are already up to speed with DataBar. POS vendors like HP, Microsoft, IBM, Wincor Nixdorf and NCR support the technology; Wilson said all of NCR's scanners since 2002 are DataBar-ready.

A happy medium between UPC and RFID

If you've purchased an apple at a Walmart store recently, chances are you've already come across the GS1 DataBar. Steve Arens, director of industry development for GS1 US, said produce and fresh food departments are coming onboard with the program as seasonal harvests roll in — for instance, grape and cherry providers are getting ready for this year's big harvest, and are investing in bags and labels that are DataBar-ready.

In a way, he said, the GS1 DataBar is something of a "happy medium" between traditional UPC codes and the long-term vision of the Electronic Product Code, or EPC, in which RFID-enabled tags give every single product a unique fingerprint.

GS1 DataBar doesn't quite get down to that level of granularity, but it does provide a great deal more data than a typical barcode or a four-digit PLU code. All bananas are PLU-coded 4011, for instance, but with the DataBar, retailers will be able to easily break out Dole bananas versus Chiquita ones.

To ensure backwards compatibility, GS1 DataBar codes can also contain the product's 4-digit PLU. (Photo courtesy NCR)

The shopper will also have a better experience at checkout, Arens said, because he will no longer have to manually enter the four-digit PLUs when using self-checkout, or hope that the cashier's knowledge of produce is sufficient to correctly recognize what's in the bag.

That last point is good news for the store, too: Wilson pointed to a study performed at Dayton, Ohio-based Dorothy Lane Markets, which found that the loss at the POS by cashiers misidentifying produce adds up to one percent of revenue. "That's huge," he said, "especially considering that produce is one of the most profitable areas of the store, if it's properly registered."

PRESENTATION: Watch a 20-minute online presentation that goes deeper into the GS1 DataBar standard

story continues below... advertisement
		The Best Retail Customer Experiences 2009 Find out which retailers consumers crowned their favorites in five different categories across eight different retail segments. Get authoritative analysis from members of the Retail Customer Experience Advisory Panel on why these retailers are succeeding. And learn which retail technologies win over customers — and which ones don’t matter.     Order your copy today!

"The couponing clock is ticking"

For all of its benefits to the supply chain and the customer experience, the GS1 DataBar standard might prove even more useful when it comes to promotions and couponing.

The UPC standard first came out in 1974, but it was never designed to do many of the things it is being asked to do today. Coupons have proven especially problematic, for two reasons: the growing number of manufacturers and the increasing complexity of offers.

Wilson said that when the first barcoded coupons were released in 1985, manufacturer ID codes were five digits long. Today, those codes can be as long as 10 digits, something UPC simply cannot handle. As a result, many of today's coupons require two barcodes to carry the necessary data.

Coupon-based offers themselves have gotten more complex, too. Simple BOGO offers still abound, but so do more arcane "buy three Brand X products and receive this specific item free" deals, which up to now rely on the accuracy of the cashier to execute properly. Coupons barcoded with the GS1 Databar can work with the POS to automatically make sure all conditions are met before issuing the discount.

"The potential for retailers to take advantage of additional data in the POS and supply chain applications is tremendous," said Vic Miles, retail industry technology strategist for Microsoft, whose POS for .NET product fully supports the GS1 standard. "Retailers will now be able to create more complex promotions that match the way consumers want to shop."

On the first day of the KioskCom Self Service Expo, even before all the crates are pried open and the show floor becomes a tangle of power strips and duct tape, one room of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas will buzz with a different vibe.

That’s when dozens of deployers of self-service technology will gather for the Third Annual Customer Facing Technology Buyers Summit. The closed-door, high-level discussion serves as a mini-think tank for deployers and potential deployers of kiosks, digital signage and more to discuss the top issues facing them, as well as to learn from one another how to improve, expand or add to their current customer-facing technology program.

As an educational and networking forum, The Customer Facing Technology Buyers Summit allows its members an opportunity to speak candidly and off the record about issues and programs which may be sensitive or confidential. As such, no press, suppliers, analysts or consultants will be admitted.

"After 13 years of organizing this event, and of leading the charge for kiosks, self-service, digital signage and the like, I often get the impression that some organizations still feel like they are going it alone. You can sense concerns of ‘How am I going to make this work?’ and ‘Who can help me with an unbiased viewpoint?’" said Lawrence Dvorchik, general manager of KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show.

"The Customer Facing Technology Buyers Summit was developed in conjunction with our Board of Advisors three years ago to offer this type of environment, and to challenge people to share their fears, failures and successes. It’s a safe haven of people who are in similar situations in various industries, and it has been refreshing to hear the feedback from past attendees on just how valuable that portion was to their overall experience and success of their project," he said.

The Self-Service and Kiosk Association is a supporter of the Summit. "While deployers will learn a lot from vendors and educational sessions during the trade show, they can also benefit greatly from time with their peers. The Customer Facing Technology Buyers Summit is like a big support group for end user deployers, especially given that many face extremely similar challenges and decisions. We are thrilled to be supporting this type of user-only forum, and KioskCom Self Service Expo is the best place to host it," said David Drain, SSKA executive director.

Agenda for the May 5 event

1:30 - 3:15 p.m.    Part 1: Discussion of top issues faced in attendee's organizations and deployments.

3:15 - 3:45 p.m.    Dessert break, hosted by Nanonation

3:45 - 4:30 p.m.    Part 2: Interactive Q&A discussion period with a panel of top industry experts, answering questions that arose in the private session as well as any questions from the floor.

The Summit is open to anyone who has deployed at least one customer-facing technology program, such as kiosks, other self-service devices, digital signs and more, or a combination of them.

Attendance is by approval only. Go here to apply online, or call 203-371-6322 with any questions.

Approved attendees also receive a complimentary full-access registration for KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show, May 5-7.

For more information on the show, read our KioskCom preview and an overview of the Self Service Excellence Awards.

• Sweitze says Magnesafe technology, which encrypts track data on the head of the card reader, allows for the transmission of data without ever having unencrypted data on the kiosk network. This is one line of defense. Then the data should travel across an IPSec tunnel with at least Triple DES encryption to the data center. Again, this requires either a software-enabled tunnel and firewall or a standalone device that can launch the tunnel, encrypt the data and protect against intruders on the network.
• File integrity management products can “protect” data at rest such as preventing it from being changed and providing alerts when the data is tampered with. This essentially ensures the “virgin” state of the kiosk so that the only programs that can run on the machines are the ones that have been loaded. Even if the kiosk network becomes compromised, the malware cannot run its programs.

How are other kiosk deployers handing the PCI compliance issues? Alex Doumani, vice president of engineering for Coinstar, says fraud and security are constant concerns, and they have invested heavily not only in PCI compliance but also in multiple layers of authentication and encryption for access and data transfer between the kiosks and the Coinstar data centers.

Though libraries often can’t afford the latest technology, these RFID scanners are among the most advanced on the market, which allow patrons to check out multiple books at once, and which have the ability to identify individual items. Many retailers use scanners that can recognize items only at the palette level, identifying groups of items.

3M says its Integrated Disc Media Unlocker is different because its system matches the item being unlocked to the item being checked out, to ensure that thieves don’t check out one item, unlock and remove another, and then return the still-locked first item.

HELIUS
The big story here was the new relationships the company has formed. First, the Blue Man Group announced they would use Helius digital signs in their performances in addition to employing them already for corporate communications. But perhaps a bigger if less enticing deployment was worked through the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept., in California. Helius installed a fleet of signs serving the department's 18,000 users, ranging from law enforcement folks to clerical help to the inmates themselves. Communications help process the evil-doers, spread the word on important policies and procedures, even post the time and locale for the precinct picnic. Finally, the Las Vegas police department has entered into a similar arrangement with the company. --JG

ZIPCAST
The expertise of this company is in deploying and managing networks in shopping centers and other retail environments. Retailers who want to roll out a digital signage project can work with ZipCast to determine the best solutions and locations, with ZipCast acquiring the hardware and other necessary accoutrements and making it live. The cost to the deployer? Nada. Advertising pays for it. The company says its own surveys show that anywhere from 6 to 19 percent of people who see something advertised on a digital sign while they are in the store buy it. An added strength of the Houston-based ZipCast is its strong ties to the Hispanic community. --JG

• An upcoming supplement on digital signage that will be published in USA Today on March 20. The Digital Signage Association partnered with Media Planet to provide editorial direction for the piece, which was edited by Lyle Bunn, principal and strategy architect for BUNN Co.
• The association's plans to roll out a speakers bureau, which would provide opportunities for speaking engagements for interested members. Members will be polled to gauge their interest in participating in the bureau, as well as their individual expertise.
• The next generation of the Association's Web site, which will launch by the third quarter of this year.
• The success of the first DSA webinar, which was held on Jan. 29. Approximately 860 people from 60 countries registered for the webinar, which was titled "Content Best Practices for Digital Signage Networks." That webinar is now available on demand at www.digitalsignageassociation.org.
• The appointment of Jeff Porter, executive vice president of Scala Inc., to the executive committee as vice president representing vendor members.
• Plans for the Content Best Practices Committee to release three more white papers focused on content at the point of sale, the point of wait and the point of transit.

Learn more about the exhibitors at this year's NRF show at Retail Customer Experience: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3