room for storage. We have to think outside the box,” Kee says. “We can have fabric with an environment and do projections off the fabric. We can do it off metal. There are so many ways to implement hi-tech to give a kiosk a whole different look and the customer a whole different experience.” Technology is especially making a huge difference in
food kiosks where the introduction of the convection oven meant that even common areas could serve pizzas and similar products and that expensive grease traps are being reserved only for more complicated food items. Portable refrigerator and freezer cases are increasingly
WIDE ANGLE MARKETING
Light on Kiosk designers are also increasingly turning to lighting as a way of attracting mall-goers’ attention. Take the example of Wide Angle Marketing’s Meatball Obsession kiosk. The entire front panel is made of tile and back-lit for an arresting effect. To create a special bubble and flask effect for their
Bubbleology kiosk, Wide Angle invented a lighting system that used “beakers”—a metal fabricator built a UL-approved light that hangs in each beaker and shines through colored resin in each to create a dramatic display.
Shannon Juett of STAK Design says the company uses localized lighting to have kiosks stand out in darker areas of the mall. Backlit displays make the difference in such cases. Lighting has to be subtle and draw customers without being a major distraction, Larson says. Strobe lights are out. Industry professionals agree that kiosk lighting, especially with the advent of new LED technologies, is going to be a huge trend to keep an eye out for in the industry. Gee says the lighting for the virtual reality kiosk was LED with a DMX controller that can be used to change the lighting every few minutes if need be. Loeff says to keep an eye on a whole host of LED materials including entire flat panels. The lighting component is an integral part of graphics
these days, Sandberg says, whether the signage is digital or a light box or just a panel done in vinyl.
Tech talk Along with lighting, other aspects of technology are increasingly going to be integrated into kiosks especially as tech-savvy millennials seek the next big experience at the mall. AKM’s virtual reality kiosk is a prime example. Digital is going to be integrated with the merchandise, not just by having digital signage but through other ways such as touch-screen digital kiosks, Sandberg predicts. Whatever technology is used still needs to be simple and
meet the physical size of the constraints of the kiosk, which according to industry professionals, is mostly decreasing in size or staying put. “When you have kiosks there’s not a lot of
64 Specialty Retail Report n Winter 2017
lending themselves to seamless merchandising as in Wide Angle Marketing’s kiosk for Baked by Melissa. The islands in the middle of the kiosk are refrigerators that house the cupcakes. The rise of technology has also manifested itself in the
growing improvements in vending machine kiosks which sell everything from shoes to ice cream, Larson points out.
The long game Whatever the technology, the material, or the lighting for kiosks, at the end of the day, they have to be functional while attracting customers. “The tricky thing is that no matter how beautiful a kiosk is or how great the design is, if it doesn’t function, it can’t be leased and then it’s not going to make it,” Sandberg says. But the right kiosk with the right look and at the right
budget can work wonders for specialty retail sales and all the trends in the field point toward a whole host of eye-catching designs and special technology effects. And that’s precisely the game plan of kiosk manufacturers, Sandberg says. “The common area is the doorstep to the whole mall.
When you design great kiosks, you freshen up the whole mall. That’s what’s going to bring your traffic. If we can make the mall an exciting place to visit beginning with the kiosks in the common area, it’s a win-win for everybody.”
WIDE ANGLE MARKETING
Poornima Apte is an experienced freelance writer and editor with a specialty in the retail and franchise industries. Visit her at
wordcumulus.wordpress.com.
SpecialtyRetail.com
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