April 21, 2008
(Digital Signage Universe)
As this year’s KioskCom Self-Service Expo marked its 12th year as the industry’s premier event, it also marks the first time that digital signage has played a significant role at KioskCom with a large number of exhibitors demonstrating signage solutions. The event was held on April 16th and 17th at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. The combined KioskCom Self-Service Expo & The Digital Signage Show drew strong attendance reflecting the impact and momentum each of these technologies is having in the marketplace.
Day one started with an opening keynote presentation by Rob Garf, Vice President, Retail Strategies at AMR Research. His presentation “Delivering Pervasive Interaction with Advanced Selling Technologies” focused on new technologies, trends, and best practices and was based on a new survey of the retail sector developed by AMR Research and RIS News. The study looked at the goal of enabling closed-loop selling strategies that benefit consumers and empower employees to provide better selling experiences utilizing kiosks, digital signage, and mobile devices.
Some key highlights from AMR’s research showed that the Internet’s impact on retail continues to be significant factor representing almost 20% of all retail transactions, however, having a physical storefront is still seen as a key differentiator currently accounting for more than 80% of purchases. The Internet is also influencing in-store purchase decisions, as a case in point, Circuit City reported that 70% of their in-store purchases were influenced by online information.
Additional findings included:
• 40% of retailers plan on increasing spending on advanced selling technologies such as kiosks and digital signage in 2008, with an average budget allocation rising by 17%.
• 64% of store-based applications will be managed centrally by 2010
• 72% of retailers plan to provide direct Web site access in stores by 2010
• Kiosk technologies are moving out of the pilot stage to full deployment with 79% of retailers deploying at least one kiosk by the end of 2010
• Deployment of kiosks will almost double by 2010 reaching almost 49% of store locations.
• Digital signage displays will increase to 75% of retailers by 2010 with an average of 6 displays per location.
• The use of wireless technology will increase, 45% of retailers current use it, and an additional 27% are planning to use wireless by 2010.
Tech Talks, Educational Workshops, and Exhibitors
The Inclusion of digital signage at this year's KioskCom event added many additional suppliers to the exhibit floor. Even though the two shows had separate areas on the exhibition floor, digital signage and touch screen solutions were on display from many kiosk solutions companies as well, including several hybrid solutions that were introduced at this year’s event.
Exhibitors
MediaTile unveiled their Kiosk-in-a boxTM, Marquee Edition, an all-in-one digital signage and kiosk solution that includes a cellular broadband connection. The Kiosk-in-a boxTM is fully networkable and can be administered remotely through MediaTile’s Broadcast Portal via a browser. The system is available with 26” 32” or 42-inch wide displays, and touch screen options include 15” 17” and 19” displays. Optional peripherals include bar code scanning, magnetic card scanning, and printing.
DT Research showcased its recently announced 15” interactive digital signage kiosk at the show. The DS1500 features a display-integrated media player with a high-resolution touchscreen LCD and options for a fully-integrated magnetic stripe reader and barcode scanner. The DS1500 interactive digital signage kiosk provides companies with the flexibility to simultaneously deploy digital signage, self-service and kiosk applications in one system.
Nanonation demonstrated a new application for digital signage and kiosks utilizing Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch, the application enables iPhone users to interact with content on digital signage screens. Nanonations booth demonstrated solutions for delivering targeted marketing messages on a wide range of embedded and traditional signage devices. The exhibit also featured a variety of demonstrations of client work and a preview of future functionality and user interface enhancements to its Software
As A Service (SaaS) solution.
Dynamax Technologies and St. Clair Interactive demonstrated a new software solution for kiosk systems that enables the real-time playback of digital signage content based on input from touch screen interaction.
One of the more impressive solutions that we looked at was a mini all-in-one digital signage display from Flytech. The K207 Mini Digital Signage system is a high-resolution 7-inch display with an embedded Linux kernal running on a RISC platform. The display’s compact size is designed to fit on a shelf or countertop and is VESA compliant for wall mounting. The system includes centralized management via an ethernet network connection to update media content and playlists. The display is fanless, and is housed in a sleek brushed aluminum case and is available with an optional touch screen.
An exciting new solution to the digital signage marketplace is electroluminescent signage from Ecomedia FX. Electroluminescent signage is a new low-power, environmentally friendly solution that uses extremely thin layers of conductive and non-conductive plastic and a layer of phosphor. High-resolution printing is possible on the sign’s surface and the completed sign can be made in custom sizes and shapes, and it is flexible enough to be bent around surfaces. The Ecomedia sign system is self-contained. Illumination is controlled through an external inverter box that runs on standard wall current and uses one-tenth of the electricity on an incandescent bulb.
Tech Talks
Located on the main exhibitors floor Tech Talk Theater held several open seminars and panel discussions. Pictured here Dave Gonsiorowski, General Manager, Self-service Solutions, Flextronics leading a panel discussion on “Gaining Your Competitive Advantage: Design, Build, Ship, Operate & Service Kiosk Solutions to a Global Scale” The panel included Norma Wolcott, Business Line Executive, IBM; Alex Doumani, Corporate Vice President, Engineering, Coinstar; and Ken Justice, VP of Product Marketing and Management, Diebold.
Workshops and Educational Sessions
One of the main focuses of KioskCom /The Digital Signage Show is education. More than 20 workshops and educational sessions were held during the two-day event covering a broad range of topics that included Business Models for Rollouts: Understanding Your Options and Their Implications; Learning From Experience– Discovering What You Don’t Know From Others Mistakes; and Using Cellular-Based Networking for Digital Signage.
One of the highlights of day two included a Keynote presentation by Tim Stanley, CIO and Senior Vice President of Innovation, Gaming, Technology at Harrah’s Entertainment. Harrah’s Entertainment is the largest gaming organizations in the world with more than 50 casinos around the world and 40,000 hotel rooms. Harrah’s also includes hundreds of restaurants and retail shops. Mr. Stanley’s presentation included an overview of Harrah’s Total Rewards Program and how it improves overall customer satisfaction through key consumer touchpoints tied to their network of self-service systems. Harrah’s Total Rewards Loyalty Card Membership database has over 42 million members.
KioskCom Self Service Expo & The Digital Signage Show will be coming to New York’s
Javits Convention Center on October 15 -16, 2008. The New York event will be even bigger
and better.
