InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
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March 12, 2001 |
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Kiosks: Finding What Works Is A Process Of Trial And Error
By Terry Sweeney
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ometimes customers use them, sometimes they don't. Maybe they're not willing to walk through the domestics and garden departments to get a question answered concerning a feature on a computer desk. Then again, maybe the store's overhead lights make the Web kiosk screen difficult to view, or people end up waiting in lines (if they wait at all) because there aren't enough kiosks to go around.
Whatever the issue, retailers are learning what works and what doesn't with in-store Web kiosks. And they're mining user feedback to solve the issues that arise. Here's advice from some of the recent kiosk adopters.
o Proximity is everything. "We found we needed to deploy multiple access points within the store," says Scott Floeck, VP of information systems at office-supplies retailer Staples Inc. "We needed the ability to answer questions as close to the point of contact as possible." By January, Staples had installed as many as five kiosks in each of its 1,000 stores in the United States, he adds.
o Flexibility is key. Sometimes kiosks are poorly positioned in the store, and retailers must be willing to move them around as needed. "We know [kiosk] usage by store, so if terminals aren't being used, we try to find out if the location or something else is wrong," says Circuit City Stores Inc. CIO Dennis Bowman. Ideally, such information should bridge the cultural gap between the marketing and IT departments.
o Online isn't very sensual. You can't smell perfume online or feel the weave and texture of new wool blends, says an E-commerce project manager from one of retail's trendier clothing companies, who asked not to be identified. "You also can't see all the other cool people shopping," he says.
o Play it safe. Circuit City's kiosks are thin clients on an in-store LAN, which uses frame relay to connect back to company headquarters in Richmond, Va., and then on to a backbone fiber connection to various Internet service providers. Why route it through headquarters? "It gives us a degree of security so we don't introduce viruses or get bad software downloads," Bowman says.
o Make customers comfortable. Staples.com found that some of its build-to-order transactions ended up taking a while. "It was much more conducive to give customers a place to sit down, so we needed to add chairs," Floeck says. The first generation of kiosk used by Staples had an integrated keyboard and mouse that customers either didn't like or were uncertain how to use. "We moved back to a traditional keyboard and mouse," he says, with the apparent approval of customers and salespeople.
o Integrate wherever and whenever. Kmart Corp. moved to integrate Bluelight.com LLC's order-management functions with its in-store kiosks to let service representatives accept returned merchandise, even if the product wasn't offered or sold in a physical store. Service reps use a Web interface to connect into the Oracle Financials application that manages Bluelight's orders. Every retailer can expect a bit of difficulty creating links between Web and legacy systems and data.
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