This article appeared in the C-store Self-Service Executive Summary, Spring 2006.
Integration is all the rage in retail and grocery kiosks, where companies try to squeeze as much functionality as possible into a single unit. In the c-store, where ATMs are known to attract customers, and bill payment and advanced-function financial kiosks offer hot new revenue streams, experts agree: It's better to keep the two separate.
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When the ATM is used for lower revenue functions that can be accomplished by relatively inexpensive financial kiosk hardware, ROI drops.
"I am not saying that you can't use an ATM as a platform for additional services," Wheeler said. "But the truth is that most ATMs have high dollar hardware and $80,000 in cash in the vault which make them more expensive than application-driven kiosks. If it comes to transaction fees, the ATM must stand alone without other services to slow it down. If it is about convenience and services, then the stand-alone financial services kiosk is a must."
The difference in deployment philosophies stems from the difference in the stores' missions. C-stores are, after all, about convenience.
"I would say that the c-store kiosk objective is adding services and convenience which build customer loyalty and bring the customer back every two weeks to cash their checks or get money orders to pay their rent," Wheeler said. "Whereas a retail kiosk can be used for loyalty programs, their main objective is to move product, cover for stock-outs or back-orders and educate the consumer to the product line in the establishment."
Forrester Research senior analyst Kerry Bodine said combining kiosks with ATMs also can create an identity crisis. If the higher functions like bill pay or money order printing are integrated into an ATM, the customer might not identify the machine's other capabilities.
"The second issue is that you don't want someone performing a 10-minute financial transaction when the person waiting behind them just wants to withdraw a couple of bucks," Bodine said. "Solutions for this are creating single purpose kiosks or just placing multiple multifunction kiosks in the same location."
Kiosk magazine founder Lief Larson, now research director at Valhalla Worldwide LLC, doesn't categorically dismiss integrated kiosks in any environment. It all depends on the situation and the customer.
But Larson knows the frustration an integrated financial kiosk creates in a busy environment.
"I'm a big fan of hybrid ATM-kiosks. I've used them and love the concept. I have been really (upset), though, standing in line waiting for cash when some dude was taking forever to make a deposit at the same terminal. That's the biggest case I can think of for keeping them separate."
