From Left: Hayley Meenan-Wilkin, Head of Web Operations, Tesco.com Centre: Mike Woods, Sales Director, Protouch Right: Darrel Boxall, Managing Director, XN Leisure

We have won the Retail Systems Award for the third consecutive year. 

We previously scooped awards in both 2008 and 2009 for best use of technology and EPoS innovation of the year, and this year we were awarded best use of technology in the hospitality and leisure sector.   

Tom Quarry, Managing Director of Protouch is delighted by the achievement. He said: “We are very proud to have won a kiosk technology award three years in a row. This is fantastic recognition of our capability across the self service industry”.   

We received the award in partnership with XN Leisure and Aberdeen Sports Village Leisure Centre for their ‘Virtual Receptionist’ kiosk solution during the awards ceremony held at Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane on 28 October 2010.   

“The award went to a project that is helping a company to control costs, increase profitability and efficiency while at the same time increasing the standard and quality of service,” announced the Retail Systems judges.   

The 2010 judging panel included: Luke Phillips, Head of Information Systems, Kurt Geiger; Sharon Peters, Programme Manager at Retail Systems, Marks & Spencer; Hayley Meenan-Wilkin, Head of Web Operations, Tesco.com; and Scott Thompson, Editor for Retail Systems.   

Now into its fifth year, the Awards look to recognise excellence and innovation in the field of information technology within the UK retail sector.   

The ‘Virtual Receptionist’ automated the whole booking, ticketing and payment process for Aberdeen Sports Village and is now used by 80 per cent of its members.   

It has leveraged Aberdeen Sports Village resources by turning receptionist staff into Customer Service Ambassadors and has greatly enhanced customer experience by increasing the speed of transactions and efficiency with which customers can now check in and make bookings.   

For more information on our touch screen kiosks, visit us today.

As a common alternative to in-store staff, kiosks are quickly changing the economics of retail. As retail stores can often achieve greater ROI with multi-purpose kiosks, the staffing requirements of major retail stores are beginning to dramatically change. With informational kiosks, businesses are able to assign more staff to high priority customer service events, lower their reliance on floor staff, and empower customers to shop independently.

Moves towards self service in retail are likely to trickle down to other service-based industries. As a wider range of major companies experiment with in-store retail self service kiosks, smaller retailers and independent stores are likely to follow. With this comes a distinct shift in the way retail stores operate – staffing commitments are likely to be lowered, resulting in a new dynamic for retail stores and a significantly more lucrative per-customer ROI.

The retail industry is already seeing major shifts towards this model. With Nintendo of Japan’s integration of self service kiosks into their retail gaming outlets, customers are able to shop much more independently than before. With ticket machines taking over public transport, self service payment systems dominating supermarkets and shopping centres, and in-store information kiosks quickly moving into retail, the only question left is how quickly other industries will adapt to the new self service movement.