Gokis Kiosk Self-Service

KIosk Market Research Report Released

VDC Releases new report on the kiosk industry at recent tradeshow.

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Thursday, November 17, 2005
By Rick Redding

Optimism Abounds in New Report

Industry Growth Predicted to Approach 20 Percent Through 2007

It’s been seven years since Venture Development Corporation published research on the Interactive Kiosk market. Needless to say, a lot has changed since then.

With its newest kiosk research coming out this month, the 30-year-old Massachusetts-based firm sees investment in self-service and interactive kiosks at its highest level, with more to come.

Among the research company’s initial findings, released at the KioskCom.com Fall Summit in Miami Nov. 9, is that the search is still on for the next great application.

“The search for a killer application is on the forefront of everyone’s mind,” said Bennett Mason, one of VDC’s research analysts. “People are looking for the next one. Industry growth is driven by key indicators.”

The history of electronic self-service, of course, starts with the ATM and continues with airline ticketing kiosks. Self-checkout, photo kiosks and bill payment have helped fuel industry growth in the recent past. Mason mentioned two areas that could significantly contribute to a predicted annual growth rate of 18.8 percent during the next two years.

“I think quick-service restaurants and music downloads are getting a lot of interest,” he said. “With QSRs, there’s a lot of questions about how you sell, how to get to the ownership. For a killer app, you need the perfect storm of user interest and industry interest, like what we experienced with the airlines.”

The interim findings suggest that revenue and unit shipments place North America slightly ahead of Europe in 2005. In an estimated $680 miilion market, with more than 265,000 units, North America represents 50 percent to 55 percent of shipments. Mason said the final numbers may be adjusted.

“The markets are really different. There are a lot of smaller players in Europe, while in the U.S. you have a number of large deployers,” Mason said.

The report acknowledges that the European market has more product innovation, functionality and advanced payment options.

Mason said European projects are more likely to be customized from the ground up, and have more smaller deployments. He added that the rest of the world makes up a small percentage of kiosk shipments.

Another significant finding is VDC’s projected growth by vertical market. VDC has divided the kiosk landscape into four verticals: Retail, Hospitality, Health Care and Government. Not surprisingly, it cites Retail as the largest sector, estimating 46 percent of the overall combined revenue shipments in North America and Europe. The annual growth rate in retail is also highest at 20.4 percent. Still, VDC considers government and health care as "greener field" opportunities, especially in supplying informational kiosks. Health care and Government are much smaller verticals (each below $55 million), but Mason said there are plenty of emerging applications in those markets.

VDC's preliminary results predict annual growth rates of 20.4 percent of Retail, 18.2 percent for Hospitality, 14.0 percent for Health Care and 16.2 percent for Government.

The report’s news for the kiosk industry is significant and encouraging. It predicts increased technology innovation and investment in all facets of the industry.

The full report will be available Nov. 30. For more information on the study, go to www.vdc-corp.com or contact Marc Regberg ([email protected]).

Posted by keefner at November 20, 2005 08:55 PM