The Kiosk Advantage

By Allan Pulga

Kiosks and cellular phones have always gone hand-in-hand. Pun intended.

The cellphone has become a part of our everyday lives. Like a car owner pulling into a gas station, a cellphone user walks up to a cellular kiosk – it’s second-nature. Besides, handsets and accessories are small and don’t require a lot of stock space. The kiosk is an ideal sales venue.

That’s why in places like Asia and Europe, where wireless trends are often born, demand for cellular products and services has created a market highly dependent on kiosks. Many countries now have “wireless malls” full of kiosks competing to sell handsets, accessories and data content like ringtones and MP3s.

And even here North America, you’d be hard-pressed to find a single major shopping centre without an existing cellular kiosk.

So if you’re not selling cellphones in a kiosk, there are countless reasons why you should.

• User-friendly. Kiosks are easily accessible and, by design, customers can inform themselves. And because they stand alone, they are open to impulsive passersby: “Oh, I just have a quick question…”
• Visibility. The high-traffic location is a must. Because kiosks are multisided, they are approachable from all directions.
• Add-on sales. Cellular retail is especially tactile and kiosks are well equipped with demo handsets for customers to feel and touch. Likewise, accessories and services can be readily presented on adjacent walls.
• Versatility. Customers can address whatever concerns they have about their phones: review contracts, download data applications (ringtones, music, etc.) and even top up their prepaid credit, and do it all at one, compact location. It’s like a microcosm of your entire store.

• Calculate your objective. “Is it to capture sales that otherwise might be lost, or to help customers obtain information on products?” wrote Karen M. Kroll in Multichannel Merchant, last December. “Do you want the kiosk to improve customer service or to serve as a promotional tool? The answer should influence the way in which the kiosk is deployed.”
• Location is key. “Place your kiosk where customers can easily see it. The place should be comfortable enough that customers will want to spend time there,” says Kroll.
• Don’t skimp on signage.  Visibility and brand recognition are essential to a kiosk’s success. Your customers need to know it’s you.
• Hire somebody to design your enclosure. “The most costly mistake is trying to design your own enclosure,” says Scott Hallihan, manager of consumer access solutions and kiosks for IBM. “You might get it right on a few, but what do you do when it comes time for mass rollout? It’s best to hire a reputable enclosure firm.”
• Keep it modular. “If the project isn’t flexible, you can get painted into a corner,” says Robert Ferguson, manager of retail-consumer goods strategy and solutions for Intel.
• Think from the customer’s perspective: “If it’s not compelling, they won’t try it,” adds Hallihan. Displays need to be attractive and interactive to draw attention and then keep customers interested.
• Measure kiosk traffic regularly: “Measure how, and how many customers are using the kiosks,” adds Karen M. Kroll. “This knowledge may prompt improvements in store merchandising.”