Best Buy kiosks coming to airports

Talk about brand extension.... This interesting article on Yahoo! Tech notes that bricks-and-mortar consumer electronics retailer Best Buy will be rolling out several self-service kiosks (vending machines would be a better description, actually) to major airports. So far, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and San Francisco all have the devices, and supposedly more are on the way.

The giant gadgets dispense much smaller gadgets (think PSPs, digital cameras, MP3 players and assorted cables), which consumers can select using a touchscreen system that provides product information and pricing. The swipe of a credit card can reunite business traveler with long-lost power cords, for example, or perhaps give little Sally an iPod to play with on the long flight home.

Tags: kiosks, self-service, vending machines

The lowly vending machine reaches newfound heights...

... at least that was the conclusion drawn in this Business Week article about "luxury" vending machines and new devices that can dispense everything from hot soup to iPods and charge your credit card for the privilege. The article notes:

"The new luxury machines in the U.S. use a robotic arm to retrieve the products and are much more slick, high-tech, and interactive than the machines peddling soda and snacks. The gold-and-silver Coty machine in Queens Center, for example, has larger-than-life pictures of J.Lo and Becks plastered all over it. Instead of pushing buttons, shoppers use touchscreens to make their selections and get instructions on how to return purchases. A flat-panel TV continually plays a demonstration video with music.

"Certain machines have additional high-tech bells and whistles such as a 'virtual beauty consultant' at the Elizabeth Arden kiosk, which suggests the best product for a given skin type. The Coty machine lets customers sample the perfumes by pushing a button that releases a scented puff of air through a quarter-sized hole below a picture of the fragrance."

While numerous shoppers have indicated a preference for buying certain types of articles from a machine rather than a person, the article suggests that we're in fact witnessing a fad whose novelty may wear off. While I'll be surprised if machines selling plasma TVs or exotic lingerie will ever become commonplace, there's a tremendous convenience in being able to shop, buy, and instantly receive your product after hours or without being bothered by a bunch of salespeople. The high-end machines that carry these items bring the best of the Internet (easy shopping and operation at all-hours) together with an important bricks-and-mortar advantage: instant gratification.

Tags: self service, vending machines, kiosks

Zoom vending kiosk hacked to give out free ipods

A few months ago we mentioned that a company called Zoom Technologies was rolling out smart vending machines that dispense personal electronics like walkmen and ipods instead of the usual chips, candy or cigarettes. As some predicted at the time, these machines are now becoming the targets of crime, as hackers find a way to bypass the payment systems and have the machines spit out their high-priced items for free. Machine Tricks has the initial information (and some fun discussion) about the "hack," which basically just allows a savvy user to take advantage of Internet Explorer's weak security model to easily get into the host operating system. There are some additional details at Davis Freeberg's Digital Connection, including this insight:

Since most of the Zoom’s kiosks are either inside of a Macy’s location or in an airport, this limits the effectiveness of this hack because there are still security guards that can watch out for this, but this hack could still undermine the usefulness of kiosk technology, if you have to have physical security monitoring the machines. While I’d be surprised to find out that Zoom hasn’t already responded to this threat by making it more difficult to gain access to the file explorer window, this hack still highlights an important issue for kiosk manufactuers to consider when designing their vending solutions.

By removing an actual human from the transaction process vending can save time and money for many businesses, but without the right theft controls, it can also expose retailers to even higher levels of theft. Even with this exploit, I would still be willing to bet that retailers see significant less shrinkage with Zoom kiosks than without them, but for a technology that depends upon removing humans from the transaction process, these sorts of exploits are a significant threat to the kiosk industry.

Since most of the kiosks in use today (apart from traditional vending machines and ATMs) don't actually dispense product, this hasn't been much of an issue. But as more companies look for ways to automate the actual sale of real goods, both physical and electronic security will need to be improved and monitored.

Tags: kiosks, self-service, vending machines

Cadbury Schweppes to web-enable 5,000 vending machines

In sort-of kiosk-like news, Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages is web-enabling about 5,000 vending machines that dispense Dr. Pepper, 7 Up, Snapple and other soft drinks in several major cities to accept Internet-based credit card payments, according to Internet Retailer. The technology, supplied by USA Technologies, allows users to pay by cash or magnetic card (credit, debit, etc.), as well as contactless radio-frequency payment devices from major credit card companies, for those brave enough to use that technology right now.

The e-Port system also allows the vending machines to be remotely managed via a web interface, allowing for more accurate and efficient stocking, cash collection and servicing.

Tags: kiosks, vending machines, remote management, e-Port