Photokiosk Roll-out

Printer-friendly version

Since the 1980s, Kodak has been one of the world´s leading suppliers of image management solutions. We wanted to know how they viewed the market of today, and take a closer look at one particular roll-out in a German drugstore chain.
 

Kodak Retail Printing Solutions, and particularly the Kodak Picture Kiosks, have been installed across the world and have met high standards of reliability.
 
The cooperation between Kodak and dm Drogeriemarkt, one of Europe’s leading drugstore chains, began in 2005. Already, just 5 years later, there are over 3,700 Kodak Picture Kiosks in dm outlets across Germany. In June 2010, Kodak achieved an 88.7% share of the dm revenue with their instant prints. These figures have been achieved through an intelligent marketing concept, as well as personal consultation and customised solutions for individual outlets, helped by the recent boom in digital photography. These photokiosks have become central to the business model both of the drugstore chain and the Kodak brand.
 
We talked to Wolfgang Venzl, Sales Manager Kodak CDG & FPG, about this roll-out in more detail.
 
KIOSK EUROPE: What have been the key factors in Kodak establishing its market position in the photokiosk world?
 

Wolfgang Venzl: Apart from the high reliability of our equipment and excellent picture quality delivered at a reasonable price, the technical service side of the installation is actually becoming more and more important. End customers trust the Kodak brand and therefore have very high expectations of our photo products. To satisfy these expectations and to make the operation of our systems as trouble-free as possible, we offer the dealers a comprehensive range of services, which is a considerable additional benefit for them.
 
KE: What do these services incorporate?
 
WV: They basically consist of technical support and training for the dm staff at the point of sale. dm can choose between three categories of service, ranging from basic support coverage Monday to Friday to a 24 hour service including the use of a technical courier, who not only delivers spare parts, but also installs them in the equipment onsite.
 
KE: How is this support organized, and what about availability in the case of malfunctions?
 
WV: In our call centre we have 15 qualified staff who, because of their skills and many years of experience, are able to deal with 65% of issues and offer solutions on the telephone. In addition to this, we guarantee a response time of 20 seconds maximum, which keeps waiting times to a minimum and is a great advantage for the staff in the outlets, especially at peak times.
 
The dealers can also opt to have our equipment connected to a network so that automatic ‘health checks’ can be conducted on an hourly basis. Both dm and the call centre then have access to the error files, which ensures better supervision of the systems and optimises the correction of any faults which may occur. A further advantage of networking the units is that we can run smaller software updates remotely rather than onsite. For example, we can remotely update the layouts for photobooks or calendars, post new on-screen promotions or make adjustments in pricing. Our aim is to keep maintenance time to an absolute minimum and, with an uptime of 98%, I think we do this successfully.
 
KE: How important are the staff in the outlets for the successful marketing of the kiosk systems and care of the end customers?
 
WV: Sales assistants are critical for the success of each kiosk. If the end customer wants to produce, for example, a photo book or a creative collage, or make copies of her analogue prints, it is easy for her to get qualified assistance. Staff are also responsible for ensuring that consumables, such as paper and colour ribbons, can be replaced quickly and reliably, and the print heads cleaned when necessary. We offer comprehensive and ongoing training for in-store staff to make sure that the customer´s needs can be fulfilled to her complete satisfaction.
 
KE: How is this training carried out?
 
WV: The training is conducted free of charge by Kodak service staff onsite, both when a kiosk is first installed and whenever there are any modifications, such as software upgrades. Kodak also provides special training manuals for each type of equipment.
 
In addition to this, we have developed the training tool Flashpedia, which POS staff can access and use online via the kiosk terminals. This offers a complete and flexible source of information for all present and future customer requirements and user-friendly tools for operating the photokiosks.