October 25, 2004Price Checking Leads Point of Decision Kiosks in Retail SpaceFrost & Sullivan new report on little price check terminals. October 25, 2004 09:05 AM US Eastern Timezone Price Checking Leads Point of Decision Kiosks in Retail Space PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 2004--Point of decision (PoD) kiosks, also known as mini-kiosks, are emerging as the retail industry's solution to offering a superior in-store customer experience.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (www.it.frost.com), U.S. Point of Decision Kiosk Markets, reveals that this market generated revenue of $36.4 million in 2004. "In a climate of converging positioning strategies among retailers, the focus on in-store experience as a differentiator is being renewed. PoD kiosks are meeting the need for cheaper and smaller alternatives to the standard full-form factor kiosks," says Frost & Sullivan Senior Research Analyst Vineeta Kommineni. Amendments to item pricing laws (IPL) are ushering in a wave of growth in this industry. Nine US states currently have IPLs that require most items sold in a retail environment to have a price label attached to them in addition to price labels on shelves. In 2003, Massachusetts amended its IPL to exempt retailers who install at least one electronic scanner for every 5000 square feet of store selling space from this requirement. This is now prompting retailers and supermarket associations in other states such as Michigan and California to appeal for similar changes. "In order to capitalize on their investments in price checkers, retailers are showing interest in PoD kiosks that enable customer-facing applications other than mere price verification. These include guided selling, loyalty programs, and paging of sales associates for assistance," says Kommineni. For PoD kiosks to succeed, however, they must carry compelling content to motivate usage by customers. For maximum impact, this content needs to be repackaged into short selling messages designed specifically for the PoD kiosk. The impact of full motion content at the point of decision needs to be reinforced. Since this is an emerging market, content providers are yet to develop best practices for optimum message length, number of messages to be strung together, and so on. Issues of content control also abound. "While content management is expected to pose a strong challenge in the short term, it is likely to diminish considerably in the medium term once best practices for content creation and content ownership are developed and alliances between content production houses, retailers and PoD kiosk software vendors evolve," concludes Kommineni. If you are interested in an overview to this new research service, please e-mail Dustin McVey ([email protected]) with the following information: -- U.S. PoD Kiosk Markets (F037) -- Name -- Title -- Company -- Phone # -- E-mail Address U.S. Point of Decision Kiosk Markets is unique in its exclusive coverage of these emerging markets, providing forecasts and key drivers and restraints. It discusses pricing and interchangeability of PoD kiosks and cart-mounted devices in detail. It also assesses which retail segments are most likely to adopt PoD kiosks and provides a comprehensive competitive analysis. Executive summaries and interviews are available to the press. Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. Its advisory expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities for clients. While serving clientele ranging from virtually every Global 1000 to emerging companies, Frost & Sullivan's comprehensive industry coverage includes a global perspective of all vertical and horizontal industries. Its unique coverage combines our ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. For more information, visit http://www.frost.com U.S. Point of Decision Kiosk Markets F037 Price Checking Leads Point of Decision Kiosks in Retail Space Posted by Craig at October 25, 2004 09:01 PM |