On Screen, With Music, Sony Will Test Sales in Kiosks
So what will it be — a candy bar or a digital camera? With the
installation of new souped-up automated kiosks in three shopping malls
this week, Sony hopes to make the purchase of many of its electronics products as easy as buying a piece of chocolate.
The
first locations — in malls in Atlanta; Boulder, Colo.; and Santa Rosa,
Calif. — are part of a bigger test by Sony to increase sales by melding
the simplicity of online buying with the immediate gratification of a
store purchase.
But please, do not call these new devices vending
machines. "This is automated retail; we call them robotic stores," said
Gower Smith, founder and chief executive of Zoom Systems, the San
Francisco company supplying the technology.
Eric Taub
June 12, 2006
Source:
New York Times