WEGMANS TO ADD KODAK'S IMAGE KIOSK TO ITS PICTURE

JOEL ELSON

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- This month Wegmans Food Markets plans to place Image Magic sticker prints kiosks from Eastman Kodak in all 55 stores chainwide. Both companies are based here.

The photo sticker kiosks, introduced by Kodak last month, will be operated in a shared-revenue arrangement, according to sources. Wegmans had no comment.

Kroger Co., Cincinnati and Piggly Wiggly Corp., Memphis, Tenn., also have the kiosk under consideration, according to Kodak.

Using digital photography, the kiosk produces postage-size stamps that consumers can place photos of their faces on. The kiosk's zoom lens allows from one to four people to fit into an image, pose and interact with scenes or backgrounds that are printed on the stickers.

A sheet of sixteen stickers retails for $2 to $4, with the retailer getting 30% of the profit, said a Kodak source. Sticker sizes are 1-inch-by-three-quarter inch, and one-inch-by-one-and-a-quarter inch.

The concept of photo stickers emerged in Japan about two years ago primarily at outdoor mini-arcades. It has mushroomed into a $2.5 billion business there with one million Japanese consumers using the kiosks daily, according to I.T. Strategies, a Boston-based research firm. The concept has become especially popular with teen-age girls in that country, the research firm noted.

Two different sticker styles are available -- general scenes such as holiday themes or cartoon-like content and those with branded illustrations like movie themes, animated characters or sports logos. Sticker stamp images and backgrounds are regularly updated through program content that is downloaded over the telephone lines.

Wegmans most likely will position the kiosks at several areas to determine the ideal location for reaching the prime sticker customers: "teens, mom and kids," said the source.

The chain is expected to test the kiosk at greeting card departments, photo service sections, magazine centers, toys and in front of the its large video rental departments, according to the source.

With the kiosk's user-friendly interactive graphics a sheet of 16 personal image stickers is produced in about 30 seconds. The unit accepts dollar bills for payment.

For the past two months FAO Schwartz toy stores in New York, Orlando and Las Vegas have had the kiosks in a test mode, averaging sales of about 40 to 50 sticker sheets a day at each location, according to the manufacturer.

"The kiosk program contents can relate to different product themes, seasonal promotions and cross-merchandising events like licensed children's products tied to a movie," explained the Kodak official.

Kiosk sticker programs include Sesame Street, Walt Disney and Touchstone movie themes and characters, Barbie (Mattel), and professional and college team logos. Funny sayings like "Born to Shop", and 'Go Girl" are among the most popular stickers, according to the source.

The kiosk occupies 10 square feet of space.