EyeLock and Diebold have teamed up on a new screen-less, self-service ATM concept that harnesses emerging technology to create a vision of what the fu…
Source: eyelock.com
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — AVT Provides Head-to-Head Comparison of the MultiShopper to the Crane Vending Merchant Six. Technology and…
Source: www.prnewswire.com
AVT PR listing out difference in vending machine automation with Crane. Worth taking a look at the two companies as well. AVT has struggled of late.
Source: m.youtube.com
You can still rent movies, especially in the Midwest. Family Video’s CEO explains why that won’t change.
Source: www.usatoday.com
Retail kiosks such as Sephora, AT&T, Sprint, Marks & Spencer, Macy’s and more. Retail kiosks strengthen customer relationship and get new customers.
Source: kioskindustry.org
Updated retail kiosk section of kioskindustry.org
MYRTLE BEACH, SC — National Automatic Merchandising Association senior director and counsel of government affairs Sandy Larson provided an update on NAMA’s ongoing work in familiarizing all levels of government with micromarkets, and in developing technical standards for the fast-growing unattended retail model.
Source: www.vendingtimes.com
Sometimes I get the feeling that people believe that everything in the future will happen online and all transactions will be automated without any or with very little human interaction. Success stories with self service solutions such as Taco Bell who recently in an Bloomberg articleannounced that orders made via their new digital app are 20% pricier than those taken by human cashiers or Chili’s, after installing self-service tablets, reported a similar increase in dessert orders, further influence this perception.
Source: customerthink.com
Excerpt: Drawbacks with automation
According to a recent article in Harvard Business Review technology lacks flexibility. When we’re interacting with a person and we’re having trouble understanding something, the person can adjust to us. If we’re having a misunderstanding, they can help clarify it. Technology really can’t do either of these things. A person has the ability to delight us or disappoint us. It’s really hard for a technology to ever delight, however, because it’s standardized and is built on a set of rules. But it is possible for technologies to disappoint us.
Dennis Campbell, Frances Frei, and Gretchen Gavett have done research looking at self-service technologies, in banks in particular. In one case customers’ overall satisfaction with the bank fell as the proportion of their total interactions shifted away from face-to-face channels and toward using automated solutions. Cambell and Francis also some years ago looked at banks that introduced online banking and found an interesting pattern; customer who switched to the online channel came into the branch more, and they started using the call center more, which was actually more expensive. So the tradeoff wasn’t all a favorable one from an efficiency/cost point of view.
So, automation of service transactions is apparently not always good. But is there something that can bring the best of the two worlds together? Yes, integrated mobile apps for employees in the physical location has the opportunity to change the game.
Inside a Randalls grocery store, you might see an unfamiliar yellow kiosk near the cash registers
Source: www.khou.com
We go in with a wallet full of cards from a coworker, and our first try is a card from Fleming’s Steakhouse.
The card has a balance of $37.03. Coinstar Exchange offers us $22.96.
It’s not an even trade, but it might be worth a swipe if the card has been sitting in your wallet or you don’t plan to use it.
Coinstar tells KHOU 11 News it offers up to 85 percent of the value, and it varies according to each retailer.
Bill Allaz walked in with a $50 gift card to Best Buy. He accepted the offer of $32.50 from Coinstar.
“I wanted to get a little extra money today,” he said.
The kiosk accepts about 130 cards, but didn’t offer Ayo Codrington enough for hers. She had a $25 Bath and Body Works card. The machine offered her $15.
“I was hoping that it would be closer to $25,” she said.
There are more than 70 kiosks in Texas and 23 in the Greater Houston area.
Tap/click here to find the nearest Coinstar Exchange kiosk.
National Returns Day is Jan. 6, 2016, when consumers are expected to ship more than a million packages back to retailers on that single day. By the end of the first week of January, UPS expects to deliver more than 5 million returns packages – 500,000 more than last year,.
Source: money.cnn.com
According to the UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper™ study, 45% of consumers have returned an item by shipping it back to a retailer – 42% of those said they made a new online purchase during the process.
“As online shopping volumes grow globally, so do returns volumes,” said Teresa Finley, UPS senior vice president of global marketing. “Online shoppers tell us they want free, fast and easy returns. We help our customers provide flexible options that create revenue and attract potential buyers.”
Returns now play an important role in purchasing decisions as 67% of consumers said they look at a retailer’s return policy before they complete an order. Consumers also want a hassle-free returns experience: 66% want free returns shipping and 47% want an easy-to-print return label.
Additional UPS research reveals an appealing returns policy has the power to attract customers and many retailers need improvement. Only 32% of retailers offered free returns and less than half specified a merchandise exchange timeline on their website, which is a key component of the return policy that is viewed by 88% of online shoppers.
UPS offers a wide variety of returns solutions for merchants. Some retailers provide return labels within outbound shipments, while others have technology that allows them to offer a consumer credit or refund as soon as the item is scanned into the UPS network.
Consumers can drop off their pre-paid and pre-labeled return packages at any of the 8,000 UPS Access Point™ locations around the country. They can also visit any of the 4,800 The UPS Store® locations or give the packages to a UPS driver.
