Retailers increasing use of web-based kiosks, new study says

As specialty retailers learn of additional ways to serve customers with web-based in-store kiosks, more are adding kiosks to their multi-channel strategies, research and consulting firm LakeWest Group says in a study released this week.

LakeWest notes that 33% of the retailers surveyed for its 5th Annual POS Benchmarking Survey are using in-store kiosks to serve customers, up from 25% a year ago. The survey is based on interviews with 100 leading specialty retailers.

The LakeWest study notes that 56% of respondents are using kiosks to let in-store customers order online. It adds that kiosks are estimated to generate $6.5 billion in revenues for multi-channel retailers by 2006.

Retailers are also using in-store kiosks to provide product information, access to their web site, and the ability for customers to check the availability of products in other stores and channels.

LakeWest also noted that respondents rated the ability of customers to search cross-store and cross-channel availability of products as the most important goal of multi-channel functionality, scoring 4.06 on a scale of 5.