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Tesco trials transactional instore kiosks

By Retail Technology | Friday July 19 2013

Consortium of retail IT providers develop kiosks for Tesco customers to purchase full F+F clothing range instore for first time

Tesco has today announced that its full F+F clothing range is now available on a trial basis for purchase instore via new transactional kiosks in its outlets across the UK. 

The new kiosks will enable consumers to purchase items that are out of stock or not available in that branch, with the option for home delivery or to collect purchases from the store at a later date. 

The retailer is working with digital commerce solutions provider Venda and networking, self-service and interactive store IT partners Cisco, Retec and C-instore to ensure the technology behind the kiosks delivers the optimum customer-centric experience. 

Streamlined multichannel experience instore 

Andrew Beale, head of multichannel and digital development for F&F Clothing at Tesco, said the company needed to make technology work for its customers. “We recognised that it didn’t make sense for customers to interrupt their shopping experience if they can’t find what they’re looking for instore – having to search again for that item again online when they’re at home,” he stated.

The kiosks plug into Venda’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) e-commerce platform, whose interface enables customers to purchase products, view stock availability and receive promotional offers relevant to their product searches. They also include chip and PIN payment facilities to allow for secure transactions, eliminating the need to input additional billing details.

Business recognition of technology success

The initial trial in Tesco Coventry, Woolwich and Pitsea stores is part of a multichannel initiative to participate in the Tesco Group Innovation awards. Having produced above average industry conversion rates from kiosk technology, it won the Tesco Innovation Awards for a multichannel implementation for the UK-based team.

“The introduction of the instore technology effectively brought together our online and instore offering and allowed customers to make purchases instantly – even if their products weren’t immediately available,” added Beale. “Venda’s platform made it extremely easy for us to facilitate sales for customers using the kiosks – which resulted in sales that may have otherwise been lost.”

The retailer first spoke exclusively to Retail Technology magazine about its kiosk trial and other F+F instore technology trials in the March/April 2013 issue (p21).

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