Retail Kiosk

No one has the time or patience to wait in lengthy queues these days. So how are advancements in the retail sector brought about to adapt to the customer’s needs? And what are the changes that have been implemented to achieve it? The shopping experience in supermarkets and the retail sector in general has remained essentially unchanged for the past many years until recently when technology began to make its appearance, in the form of self-service kiosks. So, what is so special about these devices? And do they really make your life easier as a consumer? Or maybe you’re a business owner wondering whether it will fetch you your returns on your investments. Let’s explore a few benefits and use cases in supermarkets where kiosks really shine.

Types of Kiosk

Different types of Kiosks can be positioned in various strategic locations within the supermarket, where they can best fit into their roles, so as to be of most help to customers. If you’ve dreaded looking for a specific item among a huge selection of categories and you don’t know where to start looking, the navigation kiosk, (such as our own Wayfinding Kiosks) would be a good start. It greets the customer at the entrance to spares them the time and effort of finding their way in and out of the maze that is the supermarket. Point Of Sale (POS) Kiosks in the billing area can help automate the billing process or at least reduce the load on cashiers to speed up the billing process and bring down the queue wait times as a result. Point Of Sales system can assist in billing with a variety of features like bar code scanning and secure payment features. Digital signage displays may be put up in the billing area to keep the waiting customers occupied with something to look at, without getting bored. Especially when digital signages displays the latest offers and other promotions, which works in the benefit of both the customer as well as the shop keeper.

All in one Kiosk

A unique concept involves integrating the self-service kiosk with the wayfinding kiosk to result in the Automatic Payment Cart. It’s an all-in-one kiosk fitted into a shopping cart, where the customer can do everything from locating a product, along with checking its price and availability to scanning their bar codes and even finishing the payment there itself. Furthermore, kiosks can even find their use outside the store, where they can serve as fully automated machines that issue parking tickets to visitors who drive in with the help of Parking Ticket Kiosk.

Summary of Retail Kiosk

Apart from adding kiosks to an already existing store, the supermarket can be planned and built from the ground up, centered around the concept of self-service enabled technology. The resulting self-service ecosystem can offer great benefits to all parties involved. The customer is the king in fully digitalized kiosk supermarket. If they are in a pinch, about four self-service kiosks are positioned right at the entrance for the customers to place the order and finish the payments there itself. A staff member receives the order, picks them up from the store room and within just a few minutes, delivers the whole package to the customer standing right there, who didn’t even need to enter the store. Better yet, vending machines can be integrated into the self-service kiosks or placed as standalone kiosks to deliver the items directly to the customer without involving anyone else. However, if they want the traditional supermarket experience, they sure can venture inside for just that, but only better with digital signages lining each rack to display the latest offers and discounts on relevant products. Of course, working in the background, away from sight is the powerful AI and smart technologies that enable most of the experiences and make intelligent suggestions for more satisfying customer interactions.