What can ATMs learn from kiosks?

Whether you are at the self-checkout at the grocery store, checking in at the doctor's office or ordering fast food, most of us have had some interaction with self-service kiosks.

In fact, kiosks have become an essential part of the customer experience journey. That being said, what can the ATM learn from this rise of kiosks?

"Kiosk user adoption increases dramatically each year as businesses target customer convenience as an easily identifiable differentiator," Cooper Frandsen, EVP, NextATM, said in an email interview. "Customers use self-service at hotels, theaters, grocery and hardware stores. The question has gone from 'can someone help me use this kiosk' to users looking past long lines for the option of a kiosk experience."

To gain more insights into the topic of self-service kiosks, ATM Marketplace reached out via an email interview to Michael Graham, VP retail strategy and solutions at Hyosung America.

Q.What's driving this most recent surge in self-service kiosks?

A. With the return to physical 'in-person' shopping post the pandemic, our new normal of 'point and click' shopping has forced businesses to accelerate omnichannel transformation, spanning online and in-store experiences. As a result, self-service kiosks have leaped into the limelight as a leading tool to enhance customer experiences. In addition, we can't forget about the 'Great Resignation' impacting retailers and hospitality service specifically, creating challenges support traditional cashier and checkout processes, leaving business owners scrambling to meet returning demand.

Most importantly, augmented by the proliferation of self-checkout kiosks in grocery stores and big box retailers, consumers preferences for self-service kiosk have shifted significantly in a just over a decade. A recent study indicated that 73% of consumers were in favor of self-service checkout options as compared to 46% in 2012 and 65% of customers said they would visit a restaurant more often if self-service kiosks were offered versus just 42% in 2014.

Q. Beyond the fact that there are simply more kiosks installed, what's really driving positive sentiment around self-service kiosk use?

A. It's all about control. Customers have become accustomed to almost everything they need being at the touch of a finger. That means speed and efficiency are now viewed as non-negotiable expectations. Sure, the friendliness of the cashier, clerk or ticket agent can still have you clicking a smiling face on an exit interview, but in the end — speed, real or perceived, drives customer satisfaction more than any other experience outcome.

Q. What types of benefits can self-service kiosks afford to business owners?

A. While the features of self-service kiosks vary by industry, the benefits are fairly common:

• Customer controlled user experiences.
• Decreased wait times.
• Operational efficiency/staff optimization.
• Multi-service functionality (one system can provide information and take payments, for example).

Retailers are reaping the benefits, gravitating quickly to the ability with kiosks to offload non-value added to lower costs channels while their employees focus on higher engagement/value added service. Let's not forget the obvious staff optimization efficiency levers combined with the aforementioned improved customer experiences.

Q. What about fears that self-service kiosk will reduce sales per transaction?

A. Actually, those fears aren't substantiated. For example, in many cases businesses are experiencing increased sale and are seeing significant upticks in the average 'spend per person' at a kiosk. Fast food chains using self-service kiosks indicate the consumers spend an average of 12% to 20% more when the order with their eyes and touch than when ordering from a cashier. McDonald's indicated in their own proprietary research that they have increased average ticket size by 30% since introducing self-ordering kiosks in 2017.

Q. Where might we see self-service kiosks next?

A. Doctor's offices and hospitals are now leveraging the efficiencies of kiosks to optimize patient check-in. In fact, for those medical offices offering check-in kiosks, 58% of patients gave top customer service marks. In addition, self-service kiosks are starting to provide access ramps to digital services, for cash preferring consumers, including hi-tech services like buying cryptocurrency. Case in point, the global crypto ATM market size has an expected growth rate of 58.5% from 2021 to 2030.

Furthermore, the integration of gaming technology to a self-service kiosk deals a wide range of benefits for customers visiting casinos, card rooms, and video gaming parlors. Customized components such as bill acceptors, card readers, and ticket printers enabled these kiosks to meet the operational needs of gaming establishments. For example, a ticket redemption kiosk with cash out slot machine could ticket to the penny, eliminating a trip to the cage.

Q. What might consumers expect from Hyosung as it relates to self-service kiosks?

A. Understandably, as businesses evaluate the move to self-service kiosks, they should consider the malleability of the solution to adapt to customer changing demands. Launched just recently here in July '22, Hyosung introduced the MetaKiosk, a purpose built self-service kiosk initially targeting cryptocurrency and gaming industries. However, staying true to Hyosung's legacy of modularity, the MetaKiosk has an inherent flexible design allowing for easy integration and low cost upgrades to support multiple self-service solutions.

For example, the Metakiosk will support Bitcoin purchases in a convenience store today, but with simple enrollment to Hyosung Cloud Services (fall of 2022), the kiosks easily pivots to support a utility payment, a money transfer to Mexico or top-up to a prepaid phone plan. Emerging industries such as cannabis would harvest the benefits of automated check-in and could facilitate curb-side orders and fulfillment. Gas stations could redirect cash paying consumers to self-service versus standing in line to put '$20 on pump #5'.' Truly, the possibilities for the MetaKiosk will only be limited by the imagination of the business owner searching to deliver optimum customer experiences.

Finally, I would tell customers to keep following and watching Hyosung. We're planning for additional product launches soon with kiosks to support self-service in a number of industries, from quick-serve restaurants, grocery and convenience stores for starters.