Kiosks have been around since 1977. Since then, kiosks haven been used globally for interactive photos and internet portals. You’ve seen how the kiosk helps larger businesses. Airlines, grocery stores, and other retailers use them to help cut down on employee costs and processing times for customers. The companies spend less and customers save time. It’s a win-win situation. You may have thought that kiosks are meant for big businesses with a large clientele, but kiosks can be just as helpful for small businesses. You don’t need a high-volume flow in order to take advantage of the kiosk’s many perks. Here are several ways that small businesses benefit from kiosks.
1. 24-hour services without employees
If you wish you could provide services for more hours of the day, consider the kiosk as a way to meet customer needs for longer hours and your need to cut back on employee hours. A kiosk could be used to help customers with making orders or payments without any human help.
2. Vending works just fine
If your company sells standardized products, consider a vending machine. If you’ve seen iPhones sold in kiosks at the airport, you’ve seen that even high-priced items can have their place in a vending machine.
3. Be in two places at once
If you’re on the brink of opening a second location but just can’t quite meet the budget requirements, you may consider setting up a kiosk instead. A kiosk could open up a clientele demographic by being available in an area that’s not close to your original location. Even if you sell larger items, you can still take mail or delivery orders through the kiosk. You cut back on rent, employee, and insurance costs.
4. Address routine procedure needs
If customers need to consistently manage their accounts, kiosks can address those needs and make your services more convenient than the competition’s services.
5. Share advice with clients
You don’t have to train your employees to have a Ph.D. in your product. Instead, invest in a kiosk that can be set up in your store. For example, multiple U.S. wine stores use wine advice kiosks to inform customers on wine purchases. Customers are able to scan a bar code from wine bottles that reveal the details of the wine — food pairings, seasonal information, and background can be accessed. You can even cross-sell other products, which makes it possible to cross advertise with other businesses. Especially if you have several product choices, a kiosk can help consumers feel confident in their selections.
6. Job applications
If you have too much on your plate with customers, partners, and you have limited employee help, you can use the kiosk as a built-in HR department. The kiosk can take job applications and help to keep records.
7. Receptionist replacement
Just look at how many grocery store customers prefer the self-service check-out lines. People are less and less interested in dealing with a human face. Humanists may take this personally, but technology marches on. If you could provide the services of a receptionist without the price of receptionist’s salary, you could save a lot of money. Since customers are more and more comfortable with computers, this is a real possibility.
Today’s economy invites small businesses to get innovative and it rewards innovation. Think outside the box by getting your own box. The kiosk system is just getting tapped into and you could be the next beneficiary of technology’s benefits.
About the Author: Haley Brown writes for several business sites. Check out Phoenixkiosk website to get information on desktop kiosks for your business.