Kiosks are seeing a wide variety of applications in supermarkets these days.
allowing Marketplace Bank, Orlando, Fla., a unit of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Toronto, to offer mutual funds in kiosks in 100 stores. Whatifi Financial, Boston, is managing the four funds that have a minimum investment of $100, appealing to novice investors.
Dominick's, Willowbrook, Ill., is using a self-serve kiosk to take care of its photo-processing customers. Among the players in the photo kiosk business are Eastman Kodak, Rochester, N.Y., Fujifilm, Elmsford, N.Y., and Pixel Magic, San Marcos, Texas.
Ukrop's Super Markets, Richmond, Va., has documented increased sales via the kiosk program of Meals.com, a subsidiary of Coinstar, Bellevue, Wash. The Ukrop's kiosks are linked to the Internet, as well as to its shopper card program and point-of-sale data.
Lunds Food Holdings, Minneapolis, has six kiosks from NCR Corp., Dayton, Ohio, positioned throughout its new Store of the Future. They provide general information at the entrance, expedited ordering at the deli, and information and recipes in such areas as cheese, wine, natural foods, and seafood, meat and produce.
The Xpress Deli Kiosk from InterMedia, Owings Mills, Md., is seeing rapid deployment among a number of top retailers, including Stop & Shop, Giant Eagle, ShopRite, Genuardi's, H-E-B, Meijer, Gelson's, Big Y and Brookshire's Grocery, according to the InterMedia Web site. Overall a dozen chains are using the kiosks in a total of 310 stores, said Kevin Sheehan, senior vice president of InterMedia. The device allows customers to order deli items on the kiosk and do other shopping, rather than waiting on line.
