— Andreas Bruck, Head of Corporate Communications for Wincor-Nixdorf

"It’s all about knowing the customer really well.”

— Michael Struempfler, Wincor-Nixdorf marketing manager for branch automation

“We are supporting service and self-service in the retail environment. We can unify the platform so that everything, including different devices, runs on the same software application. The only difference is the user interface.”

— Joachim Pinhammer, marketing director for retail for Wincor-Nixdorf 

“It’s the payment process that slows down the checkout.”

— Joachim Pinhammer, marketing director for retail for Wincor-Nixdorf

 

  

"They’re like cell phones, once you’ve had it, you can never go without it again."

— LobbyGuard chief security administrator Steven Shaw, describing LobbyGuard’s security kiosks

  
 
  
   Caution: Digital billboard ahead
 
"Drive down a road with an electronic billboard on it and you’ll know right away that they attract attention. The electronic billboard is so bright compared to everything else around, especially at night that it’s impossible not to notice."

 "I believe legislation will eventually strike a balance and dictate a correlation between video and traffic speed."

— John McDermot, analyst with technology consultancy Accuvia

"When the screen (on I-95) is displaying something with a lot of white or light colors at nighttime, my pupils constrict to the point where I do have to slow down and let my eyes adjust."

  
"It’s important to point out that in the past, many people have made unsupported claims that billboards in general are a traffic safety problem. However, to date, I am not aware of any reputable traffic safety experts that see billboards, in general, as being a major safety problem."

— Bill Collins, research analyst and president of Decision Point Media

  
"Content is the working class, the meat and potatoes — not the king," he said. "It is always the content that is doing the work."

"If you rely solely on in-house staff, you can fall into a creative rut where everything looks the same."

— Christopher Hume, vice president of production services for MGM Mirage Advertising

  
 
  
 Is Google eyeing digital signage?
 
"I think Google’s patent is absolutely a signal that Google is interested in continuing to expand its advertising solutions into other media outside of the Web."

— Shar VanBoskirk, senior analyst with Forrester Research

  
"The world is a very large place, and very targeted ads are very, very valuable. Even small improvements in targeting … can drive extremely large amounts of revenue."

  
"Electronic displays appear to be a reasonable target for Google, especially if they can enable advertisers to use an AdWords styled interface to bid upon and offer ads."

  
"I believe we need to keep patents in perspective. For example, bicycles have over 5,000 patents, but that hasn’t stalled innovation in the bicycle marketplace."

— Alex Richardson, founder of Netkey and now managing director of Selling Machine Partners

  
“Google will place ads on signs throughout the country and will allow a new class of small digital signage network owners to participate in the digital signage advertising space."

  
 

 “Optical scanners are a step backward in technology, but we have to maintain voter confidence.”

— Kathy Dent, Supervisor of Elections, Sarasota County , Florida

 

“There has been a lot of criticism of touchscreens, mainly because of a lack of familiarity with the users. But they’ve proven to be extremely accurate and lessen the likelihood of unintentional voting.”

  
 

 Music kiosks struggle for rhythm

“When you integrate everything into a one-stop shop they only have one butt to kick.”

“If we put a kiosk in, we would have to sell an ungodly amount to recoup our expenses.”

— John Timmons, Owner, ear-X-tacy, Louisville, KY area independent music store

“[Music kiosks] don’t look like terribly promising things. There was a lot of excitement for them at one point, but they won’t last all that long.”

“Unless they can make media kiosks universal and able to work with iTunes, they don’t have a lot of life left in them.”

“Acquiring the licenses costs a lot of money, so there is always a lot of pressure for the labels to give up DRM. Even though the DRM battle will keep going on, it’s still better to be in the market.”

“Believe it or not, people actually still want to get out of their houses.”

“There is a place for entertainment in retail. To say its gone is a mistake. Kiosks are alive and well, and there is a business here.”

  
 

 
“As long as growth continues in the prepaid space, like EBT, etc., the ATM will always be at the forefront.”

“Non-bank prepaid card companies are using prepaid cards to tap into the market. FIs are considering prepaid cards as a product to offer when someone doesn’t qualify for a checking account.”

“There is a lot of interest in using prepaid to build credit. There’s nothing like that at the moment, but credit bureaus are interested in the data.”

“Prepaid cards that are overly expensive don’t make sense.”

“On the payroll side, there is significant potential, but for the most part banks see this as a way to help their commercial customers solve a problem or reduce costs. They don’t really think or know much about the end-user.”

“There are a lot of similarities between the normal debit and prepaid space. When you look at the underbanked or unbanked, they don’t have access to checking accounts. Prepaid cards give that underbanked consumer the same kind of flexibility.”

“Security, flexibility and the cost of electronic transactions is easier. (Transactions) ride existing telephone lines and networks; you don’t have to create anything new.”

 

 

"Self-service in healthcare is in its infancy. Going to a doctor is a pretty big deal, and having healthcare kiosks in pharmacies, for example, can make it easier and more private."

 

"It’s changing the sizing system because we’re getting better anthropometrics on sizing. Before body-scanners, you had to get data from a tape measure. That was very inaccurate, depending on where you began measuring, how much the tape was stretched, and so on. And at this point with this technology, we’re just scratching the surface with how we can use it."

"Because the hourglass figure represents such a small percentage of American women, the larger the market share a retailer targets, the more likely it is to provide clothes based on the wrong body shape."

"At the time that the Intellifit scanner was developed, I was helping a few retailers improve their size specifications. We tried to do a manual measurement survey using trained seamstresses, and we realized the limitations of taking 36 points of measure on a body manually. We looked to other body-scan technologies as a first step, thinking that would be a way to automate the tailor. But all these technologies required the subject to get undressed, step into a booth, and basically get their picture taken. It was no faster than manually measuring someone."

"Consumers see the value proposition immediately. They understand what it can do for them. Most people are willing to give a couple of minutes of their time to get scanned, because their sizing information is then online and they can utilize it to get better-fitting clothes."

"The apparel industry isn’t quite ready to fully accept it yet. They recognize that there’s an opportunity, but in order for the industry to actually reach the level of acceptance we’ve seen from consumers, there needs to be a higher conscientiousness between the consumer and the industry. That may be up to five years from now."

"There’s no doubt that these scanners will become a big part of the shopping experience. It’s a matter of how long it will take for retail owners to become acquainted with the technology and its application."

 

 

"I’ve found self-checkout machines to be less intuitive than they could be. I hate having machines talk to me. If one is using cash, it’s always a pain. Sometimes the laser won’t read the bills. I never have the right amount of silver. I’ve had problems with scanners. The few times I’ve used them, I’ve always had to call the clerk for assistance."

"The data we’re seeing among consumer response is that consumer satisfaction with the devices is continuing to improve. The primary likes are, number one, it’s faster, and number two, it’s more convenient."

"We’ve seen the results of studies where people have taken the time to measure how long it takes at a cashier versus how long it takes for a layperson scanning the items in self-checkout, and it takes longer for the layperson. But because they’re actively involved, it seems like it takes less time."

"These are preliminary hypotheses. This is a hypothesis of mine — the findings of the final report will clarify all of this."

“(Self-checkout systems) have not significantly improved the customer experience. … These systems have met several operational and store-navigation roadblocks such as lack of a strong customer interface, inflexible store formats and frustrating self-scan and bag procedures. Customers have never found self checkout convenient or time-saving."

"The larger problem lies in that it is not being done properly. The systems that were in place five to seven years ago, when the technology emerged— when there was adoption and first opinions were formed — were bulky systems and they weren’t very flexible in terms of how intuitive they were for customers."

"But it’s not a technology that is going to go away. Let me be specific. It can be enhanced."

"I wish stores would enforce item-limit rules. I’ve seen people with full baskets using these. There is no way they are faster than a ‘professional’ checker in those cases."

"It comes down to customer service. You might have the greatest technology in the world, but if customers don’t like it, it’s not a positive. Vice versa, you might have a technology that has its own failings, but if the customer prefers it over what they had before, that’s a positive. Customers tend to be forgiving — they will overlook shortcomings."

"At most other retailers, people will not tolerate that. But at Wal-Mart, they will.”

"Again, there are issues that arise, and I’m not discounting anything that the Aberdeen folks have said. But if you want to focus on the negatives, my car has almost 200,000 miles on it and the window doesn’t go up and down right. I could find all sorts of things to complain about on the car. But it gets me from point A to point B safely."

 

"We have spent considerable time designing in-store displays that will best showcase the Wii console's unique games and provide an entertaining experience for players while still fitting well into a retail environment. Wireless controllers will be used, and we are asking retailers to have staff available to help consumers have a successful first experience with Wii."

 

"The speed at which the industry is moving toward a self-service passenger model is clearly borne out by the technology investment priorities of airlines. Eighty percent of airlines responding to the survey see projects with proven pay-back and cost-savings, such as online booking, barcoded boarding passes and self-service check-in as their highest priority, up from 50 percent last year."

"The trend for the last few years has been a declining expectation of savings from B2B investments, but this has now reversed with airlines anticipating savings in the order of 13 percent compared to traditional processes, up from the 10 percent we recorded in our last survey."

 

"Advertisers are able to target content more successfully; doctors are able to reduce paperwork and facilitate a more structured, meaningful doctor-patient conversation; and patients are able to research and ask questions based on information they receive during downtime in the waiting room."

"And the best part is, this all can be done at no cost to the doctor or patient, as advertising pays for the solution."

"We are thrilled and extremely proud to be recognized with three awards at a trade show where there were so many innovative products. Coming from the industry itself makes it even more special. We have worked closely with many individuals at the Nevada DMV, and it’s a validation of their forward-thinking and efforts to be more consumer-friendly as well."

"I’m not surprised that the DMV Self-Service Kiosk won this award. Great self-service solutions solve a problem or enable a service, and this one does both. These kiosks were deployed in response to a measured problem: long wait times and the need for longer business hours. It’s not surprising that they’ve seen high adoption rates and great success."

"Our self-service kiosk program is key to our strategy of serving the fastest-growing state in the union. Kiosks are an effective and efficient way to serve the large cash economy in Nevada, and our customers rave about getting their documents immediately. The program has been highly successful to date and, as we expand services available at the kiosks and seek private-public partnerships to expand locations, we see nothing but continued success in the future."

"The beautiful thing about the kiosk is its ease of use. Without training, anybody can complete a transaction using either cash or credit in less than 90 seconds. The comments and feedback we get from end-users at the DMV has been phenomenal."

We are very pleased to have won this award, which we feel gives recognition to our achievements in introducing a significant new service offering in our branches."

"Whilst many financial institutions have piloted kiosks over the years, this project has been the first full-scale rollout of a financial services kiosk in the U.K. The key to our solution, which we feel had a major part to play in winning this award, is the application — both in terms of functionality and the intuitive customer interface. … The result has been so successful that we are seeing usage increase week on week without further investment in customer migration initiatives."

"Rather than just providing a plug-and-play solution, Galvanon went the extra mile and helped us to refine our workflow in a way that would complement our patient self-service strategy. From patient-flow management to improved revenue-cycle processes, MediKiosk has enhanced virtually every aspect of our business operations."

 

"Many of these merchants have concentrated locations while others have committed to accepting contactless in select regions. As more banks launch contactless programs, we expect the number of regions to grow. This is particularly the case as more regional banks become committed to the technology."

"There is a lot of confusion in the market. More and more merchants and supply-chain operators are using (RFID). That’s why the industry is labeling this as contactless cards."

 

"I can ask a manager what’s on the (traditional) signs out here and they can’t tell me, because after two days it’s wallpaper."

"Think of this like a video jukebox."

"We already have the toolkit built. We just don’t have the ‘user-friendly’ [aspect]. That will be rolled out in two to four weeks."

"You’re going to see the same thing out here that you can in there," Adamczyk said. "(His digital signs are) a work-in-progress. They’re baby steps."

 

"There are two factors: First and foremost, they have to be convenient. Second, they have to take the labor equation where it needs to go," he said. "It’s not about reducing the workforce. It’s about letting machines do what machines do best, and people do what people do best."

"Time is money, and time is really what we sell."

"Clearly, technology will play an ever-increasing role at our stores. And it already is in Asia. The cell phone you have today acts nothing like the ones they are using in Japan and Korea. But you will soon see them here."

"Customers will receive offers on their phones and redeem electronic coupons with their phones, and Web applications will allow them to find the lowest-priced products between them and their next destination. As retailers we will market our gas prices to customers as they drive down the highway and customers will have their cars programmed to seek out food offers they prefer. The in-car convenience store billboard is closer than you think."

"At NACS, we believe that technology is an investment, that if you make it wisely, it should yield a competitive advantage."

"While we continue to be on the forefront in battling these ridiculous interchange fees, the NACS Card Processing Program that we introduced in 2003 at the NACS Show also has allowed smaller independent operators to reduce their expenses to the tune of more than $4,000 per store, per year. Because other card processors dropped their rates to be competitive with ours, we estimate the net savings overall to our industry is upwards of $60 million."

"The biometrics can be used to reduce the number of keys and cards c-store operators have to give employees. They can be used for loyalty programs as well when they’re customer-facing."

 

"It allows us to produce our foodservice offer faster. From customer order to sale, we are more efficient behind the counter. It helps us with queuing our orders and accurate production of food orders. So it helps us on both sides of the counter. Both our customers and our employees benefit from self-service technology."

"First and foremost, it has to do with transaction speed. You’re able to process customers much faster. You can put a whole block of them in there and a bunch of customers can be ordering at one time instead of having a bottleneck at an order taker."

"When you put a self-service kiosk in, misorders pretty much drop to zero. They put it on a bright, easy-to-understand interface and it’s easy to go back and change things."

"Our flagship customer self-service terminal has one fan. And it almost never turns on because it uses the case itself and other non-moving components to take the heat off the chips."

 

 
 
 Comark Corp. displayed its Multi-Touch indoor/outdoor kiosk:

"It’s geared toward any kind of severe environments. Hot, cold, dust, subway. This is completely sealed. It’s liquid cooled."

"In a doctor’s office, the application is completely free, since the pages have ads on them sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. It’s there for patients to fill out while at the doctor’s office. We do the software that locks down the application."

"We bring meaningful content from multiple sources to one platform to promote the content to the end-user. We deal in real-time environments, where the information is needed right away. For instance, we can translate the opera for a user."

 
 
 IBM’s Instant Credit Kiosk:

"We’ve found that people like to use this, because it’s fast — between two and three minutes — and it’s private."

 
 
 KING’s KAVEO:

"It really is meant to be used anywhere that needs security. We even envision this working in a theme park, where identities need to be verified and members don’t want to carry cards."

"It’s an interactive way to bring excitement to a product."

 

 

 
  
 Tranax, ATM industry react to compromise

 

 

 

 

 Summit Research publishes 2007 retail kiosk report

“Everybody — the manufacturer, the deployer, the employees — they all have to be on the same page.”

 

 GlobalShop 2007: Digital signage, RFID on the rise

“Digital media experienced an 120 percent increase over last year signifying tremendous growth in this area. We are very excited to be able to offer GlobalShop attendees an in-depth look at the digital signage segment and other growing retail trends, such as scent marketing.”

 

“The digital signage allows restaurants to adjust their menus to local demographics. They’re incredibly flexible, dynamic, and they give customers something to look at other than the price.”

 

“The ROI is great. If you make the investment, we can keep refreshing the kiosks and lengthen the life.”

 

 Coinstar enters financial self-service market

“Our intent and goal is to create a quasi-banking capability for those people who are not bankable or who choose not to work with banks. We believe we’ll be covering an area that’s poorly served right now.”

 

“Providing basic cash-dispensing services makes sense in just about any part of town, regardless of the demographic, etc. With services like bill-payment and check-cashing, which target underserved consumers, placement of self-service terminals that offer those services must be much more strategic.”
— Tracy Kitten, editor, ATM marketplace, on bill-payment kiosks

 

“We’re having no trouble at all getting people to place these machines on their sites.”

 

“Our intent is for the system to become a reload network so that any person with any branded prepaid card could come and load their card on our financial services center.”

 

 Self Service Expo goes interactive

“We want to allow visitors to target what they need to see right away, so there’s not so much wandering around. This year’s show is very much oriented for the first-time user.”

 

“The Executive Deployer Summit is not a typical session or seminar, it’s designed to initiate conversations and networking in a low-pressure setting. There are no media, analysts or consultants. It’s 100 percent deployers.”

 

“We want to explain things from a deployer and end-user standpoint, and not limit anything to one industry.”

 

 The new rules of retail design

“Retailing has changed from a product-centric business to a customer-centric business. Shopping is now a user experience where services and products must be built around individual customers.”

 

“Smart merchandising should focus on modularity and flexibility. Technology is constantly changing, so it’s important to look for ways to easily service, change and modify shelving.”

 

“The primary emotional goal of a retail environment should be to make the customer feel comfortable and happy. If the customer is happy, they will buy or buy more. If they are unhappy, they will walk out or buy less. It’s as simple as that.”

 

 L.A. arena wins sponsorships with digital signage

“The signs are an important part of our sponsorship package. They are important because of the vast exposure of our sponsors not only to visitors to the Staples Center, but also to passing viewers.”

 

“Exterior signage, especially marquees visible to freeway motorists is one of the highest valued components of our sponsorship agreements. Most of our founding partner agreements for venues and sports and entertainment districts contain these assets.”

 

 Cheaper, faster alternative found in outsourcing

“We were emerging into a new market and emerging quickly. The timeframe where you have to establish yourself is fairly short. There really aren’t enough years to work yourself into the space you need to be in, manufacture and deploy your hardware, and be successful. You have to be out there in weeks, not months, or else the door of opportunity closes.”

 

“Is manufacturing a core competency or is it not a core competency? And we’ve been inviting that discussion to say that it’s the time to rethink the strategy to determine what is core and what is not core.”

 

“We can reestablish that product through a redesign and help the customer generate more margin into an existing product, where maybe they weren’t investing the resources to redesign that product because all their resources were diverted to generating new products. We find that our customers just don’t have the R&D resources to do that.”

 

 St. Clair celebrates 25th anniversary

“They are a class act and have always produced kiosk applications that are the benchmark against which all others are measured. I think that’s the highest praise I can give for a company whose quarter century of existence speaks to its capabilities and talent.”

 

 Self Service Expo exhibitors drive show to next level

“It seems everyone was busy with quality people with real projects, which is the goal of every visitor and exhibitor.”

 

 Food-ordering gets big bite of NACStech

“I think a lot of us would agree that the biggest change since that first NACStech is in technology. We as an industry have gone from technology laggards to leaders, whether with consumer-facing technology or back-office applications."

 

 Self Service Excellence Award winners: D2, Pro-Tech and NIT

 

“The benefit of this is that it works as a beautiful promotional device on a drive-by basis, or to passersby.”

 

“Kiosks and digital signage have been around for years, but they have operated as separate entities. With ProductSelect, we have integrated the two, and now a brand or retailer can deliver advertising messages to a targeted demographic based on specific user preferences.”

 

 Digital Signage takes the spotlight

“I’m here because I believe this is the year digital signage will finally — finally, finally, finally — come into its own as an industry.”

 

 Self Service Expo award winners: Amtrak/SITA, ARM