We’re not entirely sure that’s true. Over the last thirty years there’s been another major revolution in retail – one that’s distinctly less observable for analysts and technology enthusiasts. It’s a revolution in self service, particularly in the massive progress caused by self-service kiosks and user-powered utilities in hundreds of industries.

We’ve picked seven of the world’s biggest industries, and highlighted exactly how self-service has contributed to their ongoing success. From multi-million dollar retail chains to key public facilities, the impact of self-service kiosks and interfaces is undeniably huge. With experts predicting multi-billion dollar savings and major strategy changes, this is one revolution that can’t be ignored.

1. Grocery Stores and Supermarkets

If there’s a single shining star of the self-service world, it’s the grocery industry. Faced with lowered profit margins and high staffing costs, self checkouts and interactive kiosks have helped thousands of major grocery outlets keep their budget balanced and their profits high.

Studies have demonstrated a six-hundred percent boost in employee efficiency when self-service checkouts are implemented, allowing businesses to cut staffing costs while simultaneously raising their overall output levels.
Despite early security hiccups, self-service checkouts are also relatively safe. Weight sensors and other helpful additions have kept theft levels low, while the monitoring and assistance of employees allows even the least technically minded user to operate a self checkout unit easily. Consumers and businesses are in agreement: self-service checkouts are great for the grocery industry.

2. Air Travel

Airlines have been using self check-in technology for almost twenty years, although the service has only found a wider audience within the past decade. Statistics from 2006 peg the rate of self check-in usage at eighty-six percent, indicating that long haul travelers are quickly growing fond of the efficient check-in and baggage register method.
But it’s not just airlines implementing self-service kiosks – a large number of immigration services are now opting for the automated devices. Passport scanners are now available in a number of EU and Australasian airports, giving flyers an alternative to standing in endless passport control lines.

3. Cinemas and Entertainment

Over the past decade, self-service kiosks have crept their way into cinemas and other entertainment booking areas. Once used almost exclusively for film information, a large percentage of UK cinema chains now use interactive kiosks for ticketing, feature film information, and previewing upcoming events.

While the new technology may have dulled the casual matinee environment, it’s certainly found support in theatergoers and cinema operators. With dwindling margins and a greater reliance on confectionary purchases, cinemas have been able to focus their staffing efforts on the snack bar, cutting the cost of staffing and boosting efficiency at the same time.

4. Digital Media, Movies, and Music

Currency kiosk firm Coinstar certainly hit the mark when it bought a share of Redbox in 2005. The McDonald’s funded company offers a variety of movies for rent through its kiosk network, allowing users to pick up the latest and greatest theatrical releases from as little as one dollar per night.

After passing the 100 million rental mark in February 2008, Coinstar bought the company outright for almost $180 million. The company, one of several movie rental operators using kiosks, plans to offer Blu-ray movies and television series within the coming months.

It’s not just Redbox that’s making waves in the self-service media world, either. Apple’s much-loved iTunes Store started offering movie rentals in 2007 and continues to do so today, alongside its huge and ever-expanding archive of classic albums and artist singles. Apple recently announced their ten-millionth sale – an important milestone in online self-service media sales.

5. Public Transport and Rail Travel

Commuters have been making use of self-service kiosks for almost two decades. With the ubiquity of automatic ticketing desks and automated account systems, it’s no surprise that a growing number of the world’s public transportation networks have been able to report healthy income figures.

Alongside the immense success in light rail ticketing systems and bus passes, several cities have seen successful results from self-service bicycle loan programs and communal transport solutions. Self-service kiosks remain a common sight along toll roads and major highways, letting motorists cut down on the amount of time required to pay travel costs and usage fees.

6. Fashion and Retail Shopping

What could possibly cause the world’s most exclusive fashion brands to adopt a kiosk-only retail strategy? Huge boosts in customer satisfaction and loyalty. While self-service kiosks are a common sight in major shopping malls and department stores, the latest retail developments have seen them appear in high-end boutiques and luxury lifestyle shopping centers.

It’s not just high-end stores that are seeing the benefits of a self-service strategy, though. Shopping mall operators are increasingly opting for self-service information booths as an alternative to help desks, slimming staffing requirements while simultaneously making information more accessible.

Many of the world’s largest retailers have implemented self-service kiosks within their stores. Book stores continue to lead in self-service usage figures, while entertainment and multimedia stores have started to report high interactive kiosks usage rates despite low levels of consumer demand.

7. Catering, Restaurants and Food Services

Workplace cafeterias have enthusiastically adopted self-service kiosks, allowing users to place their orders more efficiently and easing the duties of serving staff. With the workweek forever extending and free time in a constant shortage, employees seem to be opting for self-service ordering systems in order to cut down on wasted rest time.
Touchscreen kiosks are also becoming popular in the commercial restaurant world, where both staff and customers are benefiting from more efficient ordering systems. Kiosks are often used to record customer orders and make notes on meals, allowing wait staff to accommodate diners with specific dietary requirements.

As more hospitality companies implement some form of IT-based self-service, many are seeking to reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction, and possibly reach new customer segments. A new hospitality study from Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) points out that when self-service functions correctly, it does enhance guest satisfaction and improves hotels’ financial results.

The study, “Integrating Self-Service Kiosks in a Customer Service System,” is published by Tsz-Wai Lui and Gabriele Piccoli who compiled statistics from two hotel chains totalling 163 hotels to determine the ratio of automated check-ins and the ratio of failed check-ins, using lobby self-service kiosks. They matched those data with aggregate financial performance from Smith Travel Research.

The hospitality study found that installing self-service kiosks did improve the hotels’ financial results, but the improvement showed a time lag. Therefore, they caution hoteliers not to expect instant returns from adding self-service kiosks.

However, when something went wrong with the self-service check-in, the hotels in question saw a reduction in guests’ willingness to pay and willingness to return. For this reason, Lui and Piccoli urge careful rollout of self-service technology, along with substantial staff support for guests who are using computers to check-in.

South Africa’s Southern Sun Hotels’ Sandton City is launching what it bills as “Africa’s very first hotel self check-in and check-out kiosks,” according to the chain’s Facebook page – nicely timed for the 2010 World Cup that begins in June.

The touchscreeen-enabled kiosk allows guests to check-in and out and to perform certain in-house hotel functions within the hotel environment. Guests can check in by identifying themselves by reservation number or credit card, and then the kiosk integrates with the hotel’s operational system, allocates a room, authorizes a debit or credit and dispenses a room key card. Check-out follows a similar identification process.

“Our guests already use self check-in facilities at airports and the movies, and at economy, economy plus and brand hotels overseas. Generally, they welcome technology that enables them to ‘do it themselves’ – not to mention quickly,” said Southern Sun managing director Graham Wood.

For those seeking a human interaction, Garden Court Sandton City hostesses will continue to provide check-in services at reception, and will also be available to assist customers with the self check-in terminals if needed.

Check out this new self-service vision test kiosk, focused on providing people with an insight into their eye health.

Not only can consumers get an accurate screening of their vision in about 3 minutes, but they also can learn about eye conditions like cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration. And the doctor locator feature encourages consumers to schedule an appointment with an eye care professional to get a full eye health exam.

Oh – and it’s free to use!

For more self-service kiosk information, head to Protouch.co.uk.

There are more mobile phones than people, in the UK – and that’s a fact. The reason for this lies with people like myself, who upgrade and upgrade and upgrade and are just too plain lazy to do anything with their previous handsets (unless you have younger siblings who see hand-me-downs as Godsends).

My younger sister has now reached a point where she turns her nose up at my discarded Samsung Soul and so I’ve had to think of new ways to flog my old mobile and extract some cash in doing so.

And so it’s great to hear of self-service kiosks that take your old phone off your hands in return for money! A new eCycling Station has been devised that inspects your phone electronically, assigns it an on-the-spot secondary market value, and churns out gift vouchers or cash if the phone is still worth something. If it’s worthless, you can simply consign the device to the recycle bin to be refurbished or disposed of in an eco-friendly fashion.

The machines use a camera-based system to detect the condition of the phone, looking for signs of wear like cracked screens, missing keys, and scuff marks. The cameras then help to weigh-up a value for the phone.

Right now, the self-service kiosk only accepts phones but in future they will be able to accept and recognise other gadgets such as MP3 players, digital cameras, notebooks, printers, and storage devices.

Every local church around the globe want to reach out to people and watch their congregation grow.

To fulfill this dream many are starting to realise that people nowadays require more ways to connect with them. And the route of this growth stems from the integration of technology finding new and innovative ways to greet, inform, entertain, educate and grow the congregation whether new or old.

And digital kiosks have been sign posted as the way forward.

Kiosks are interactive systems available for public use and can be used in a wide range of different ways. Already, churches use kiosks for event registration, children’s check-in, e-giving and as digital information and direction stands, similar to those found in shopping stores.

With the technology being straight forward and running off dedicated hardware, churches do not have to worry about hiring a computer expert to run them. All the information, both to and from the kiosk is sent over a standard network allowing content changes to be made from virtually anywhere, through a password-protected Internet connection.

And the digital kiosks are so easy to use. People are able to interact with the information on the screen, print out name badges, tickets and event information without having to ask for help from staff or volunteers.

However, churches have found that having volunteers nearby is helpful for engaging in conversation once a person has finished using the digital kiosk.

And the kiosks can be outfitted with electronic card readers as an e-giving solution, or barcode readers for quick-scanning check-in or event registration.

One church took the world of kiosks a step further and installed giving kiosks in their lobby, which saw giving double. And every church that followed suit saw a large increase in donations, which many put down to the anonymity provided for people who feel uncomfortable making their donations public.

The bonus of this e-giving service is that it frees the time of staff members and volunteers to work on other jobs within the church.

Kiosks can come at different costs depending on the style, size and software you want, however the amount of facilities and services a kiosk can provide soon makes you realise that they eventually pay for themselves.

For more information about kiosk systems visit Protouch today.

The health care industry has come on leaps and bounds of the past few years with the implementation of kiosks and hi-tech systems to improve the efficiency and quality of service the health system provides.

Doctor’s surgeries have installed touch screen kiosks to reduce the waiting time at the reception desk so staff can concentrate on other tasks in and around the surgery.

And in Boston an electronic ‘doctor kiosk’ is under development at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) to improve the way the health care system works in America.

The self service kiosk promises to increase efficiency both inside and outside the physician office setting by gathering basic information from patients, such as the patients medical history, weight, pulse, blood pressure, and blood tests for glucose and cholesterol, and directing that information to a physician prior to an office visit. 

It will also be able to function as a virtual health concierge for managing chronic illness, prompting the patient to answer a series of important health questions such as ‘did you take your meds today.’

The whole process of investing money into health care technology is to increase the efficiency of the health care system and the patient health care process.

Many patients, however fret about the lack of doctor-patient time they will receive if a lot of their time in doctor’s surgeries and hospitals is spent in front of a screen.

One of the consistent problems with the continuity of care is the lack of resources and time that doctors spend with their patients after being diagnosed.

So although kiosks may ease the weight off staff when it comes to the mundane tasks of obtaining information and filing data, the care of patients should not be replaced by kiosk systems unless they receive offer better after care than what they have now.

Kiosks in the healthcare industry must make patients feel more connected to their health information-not less so. If patients feel that the increase of technology replaces their time with their GP rather than supplementing it, they will most likely reject it outright.

Yet these kiosks are designed to reduce the amount of paperwork a GP has to go through allowing them to be more efficient with their patient and spend more time talking than writing notes.

Nurses are there to assist the doctor and many often take up the mundane tasks the doctor does not have the time to fulfill.

However nurses are often overburdened with a whole host of work and their valuable skills are not used enough. They are trained in the medical profession and spend most of their time doing paperwork, which could be easily sorted with the help of a kiosk.

The kiosk can help collect patient data and allow the nurse to assist the doctor in anyway possible so the patient feels fully catered for and looked after while in their local surgery.

For a kiosk to work in the health care industry, it needs to do the job intended and try and not take over the initial job of doctors and nurses, and instead assist them in doing their job with ease and efficiency.

Visit any airport worldwide and you are guaranteed to find self service kiosks situated at entrance, front desk, car parks, terminals, food counters etc.

The deployment of kiosks in the airports has enabled people to have more control of their travelling to save time waiting in long queues to check-in.

Before the installation of the kiosks, the Government and airport staff were keen to ensure that the usage of kiosks would still ensure the safety of passengers and staff travelling around the world.

A lot of time and energy went into making sure that the kiosks were safe to use and equipped with hi-tech security when people were checking in.

And now the airports have gone kiosk mad. 

“You can do everything with ticketing kiosks, from upgrading your seat, changing your flight, checking your bags or adding an infant on your boarding record-all of which you may have done with an (airline) agent in the past,” said Tania Ladic, spokesman for NCR Corp, the manufacturer of ticketing kiosks for 21 airlines, including American United, Delta, Northwest and Continental.

And according to studies led by NCR checking in at the counter with a ticket agent takes an average of four-six minutes for domestic and international flights, respectively and less than one minute for both when using a kiosk.

“The advantage for passengers is the speed at which you can check in, whether from home or at the airport,” Ladic said.

“The airlines are looking for hassle-free experience for customers. The kiosk automates the check-in process and makes it a faster experience because the customer clicks in what they want. The kiosk doesn’t forget to ask you if you want to upgrade your seat.”

And the more they continue to grow, the more companies jump on the bandwagon offering efficient services to travellers.

Rental cars, accommodation booking and insurance companies are implementing kiosks into airports so travellers have a wide range of services at their beck and call.

Many people have worried about the implementation of kiosks and how they will affect people’s jobs now they are no longer required. However Ladic sees this differently and instead a new way of staff adapting to a change in lifestyle.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean fewer agents,” Ladic said. “Agents are assigned to watch the kiosks and provide assistance when needed.”

Lisa Montoya, American Airlines customer service agent at Tulsa International, said that the younger generation are able to use the kiosks with ease as they are so computer savvy.

“About 75 per cent of people require assistance,” Montoya said.

“If you print your boarding pass from home, scan the bar code (at the airport) recapture your itinerary and pay by credit card you are in and out within 15 seconds.”

For more information about how a kiosk solution can improve the efficiency of your business visit Protouch, the leading distributor and manufacturer of touch screen equipment in Europe.

Cineworld touch screen by Protouch

FILM producers spend millions each year to draw audiences to their movies. And ADVERTISERS take advantage of the pre-cinema screening of ads and promos to promote their products. But now advertisers are moving their commercials to the entrances of cinemas as well, introducing kiosks and advertising boards to appeal to customer’s cinema experience.

Over the past two years, cinemas have been installing touch screen kiosks so cinema-goers can book and buy their tickets with ease and efficiency without having to wait in the queue.

However, kiosks are not just about ticket collection anymore. Cinema-goers want a more enhanced and rewarding experience when they visit the cinema and kiosk systems are the new and exciting way to do this.

Cineword, the UK’s second largest multiplex cinema chain, rolled out Protouch’s Xen X5 and Xen X4 kiosks into a number of its UK cinemas. The kiosk systems were installed to allow users to pick up tickets as well as support Cineworld’s Unlimited Film programme.

Cineworld plan to install the X5 kiosk into all of its cinemas selling the Unlimited programme. John Anderson Cineworld’s Marketing Co-ordinator said, “The Unlimited programme is a large and important part of our business and distinguishes us from every other cinema company in the UK and Protouch’s X5 kiosk is helping us to advance this programme.”

And the latest new promo is telecommuncations firm Sprint, is sponsoring the new marketing effort of placing 500 self service kiosks in movie theatres so that customers can scan in a code from their phones and get coupons for snacks.

The coupons will vary in discount and price with some allowing a free upgrade to a bigger popcorn or large drink.

Companies have been expanding their products and services into cinema advertising, as they noticed that cinemas are a good place to reach audiences that don’t have too many distractions.

“People with high mobile phone usage do tend to go to the cinema more than people with lower mobile phone usage,” he said. “Years back, when cinema advertising was just launching, people were a little skeptical on how it would be received.

“It has only been around for a relatively short amount of time, but all the research that came back said, despite initial skepticism, people feel that the advertisements are not intruding-in fact, many ways are complementing-the overall event.”

The coupons being introduced via the self service kiosks will definitely encourage more people to visit the cinema and make use of the deals on offer.

“The first was a reward for their own customers, building that loyalty, and the other was the envy factor,” said Christine Martino, national account director for Screen Vision who suggested the idea to Sprint.

The kiosk works by instructing Sprint customers to text a certain world (like Sprint) to a certain phone number. The cinema-goer then receives a text message that includes a string of letters and numbers. The kiosk features a computer screen next to the scanning device, and people hold up their cellphones, scan that code and can browse through a few offers on the screen.

The customer then selects their chosen offer, to which a receipt will be printed that people can take to the concession stand for a free upgrade, such as a larger drink.

Margaret Clerkin, the head of the invention group at Mindshare, Sprint’s media agency and a unit of WPP, said that offering something to Sprint customers was a necessary element. “There is entertainment value provided by cinema advertising, but there is also an exchange of value-can you enhance their experience?” she said.

In time, ScreenVision would like to see other companies like Burger King offer discounts on a post-show hamburger for instance.

“It is a direct reward for the consumer,” said Andrew L.Blacker, senior vice president for marketing at ScreenVision.

Implementing a self service kiosk into your company can really increase the amount of sales that come into your business…if installed and designed properly.

The whole objective of a self service kiosk system is to free up the time of an employee to interact and liaise with customers as well as general management of your store, so any transactions can be made via the kiosk.

Chris Gilder, CEO of Meridan Kiosks, said, “It is foolish to have a salesperson waste time accepting a payment when they could be working on landing new customers.

“A kiosk is a great way to free up that employee to sell more while giving customers a much better experience of not waiting in line.”

Airport self service kiosk are a prime example of an outstanding system which has changed the way consumers travel. Gilder said it took a concerted effort by the airlines to get people to use the kiosks, but now people seek out the kiosks because they know it means a shorter wait.

The best way to start a kiosk design is to plan it as simple as possible with the end user constantly in mind. However, it still needs to be as reliable as possible in order for it to work.

“There are way too many kiosks out there with blank screens,” Gilder said. “Most of the time it’s the result of poor hardware choices. These things are designed to run 24/7.”

Not only is the hardware very important, the software is just as essential to get it right and working for each individual user. The software needs to meet the needs and requirements of each individual customer and allow them to fulfill their order or transaction so that they go away feeling happy.

And it really isn’t just the hardware and software either, the location of the kiosk as well as its shape and style will play a massive impact as your customer needs to see it to use it.

Think about:

• UL (Underwrites Laboratories) –  This is so that the kiosk meets all the health, safety and fire requirements.
• Ventilation – Proper ventilation will ensure that if the fans fail a back up system is in place so the kiosk doesn’t overheat.
• Accessibility – So that you customers and staff can easily access the machine on a daily basis.
• Environment – Will it be in dusty environment so you need fan filters, or outside so it needs climate control. Make sure you are clued up on these requirements.
• Special Considerations – If it is a medical kiosk you need to may consider a privacy screen so people can’t look over at what the user is doing.

For more information about self service kiosks and how it can improve and benefit your business visit our website today on www.protouch.co.uk