C-stores get hooked to the web

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Circle K expects to roll out ZapLink web kiosks to at least 60% of its 2,000 stores. Furthermore, Templeton sees the ZapLink brand being used by other Phillips retailers. “We intentionally developed the kiosks to have different colors than our Circle K brand,” he says. “We see this as something we can offer to other channels within the Phillips Petroleum Co.”

In spite of web-based kiosks’ early successes, Frost & Sullivan’s Connell says no clear-cut model has emerged to prove the ROI for web kiosks. But he says the fee-based models are likely to change that as consumers start to see and use them in stores. “Convenience stores have a real opportunity to draw people into their stores to access e-mail and from there to capture revenue streams from additional services,” he says. l

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2002 Guide to Retail Kiosk Suppliers