Finisher’s Corner: Photo Kiosk Trends—From iPhone Apps to Paying Bills

Finisher’s Corner: Photo Kiosk Trends—From iPhone Apps to Paying Bills

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Building the latest and greatest photo kiosk is a formidable challenge in today’s retail environment. Manufacturers have to deliver appealing high-quality products, at competitive prices, with convenient access. The following is a brief overview of some of the latest popular kiosk features.

DNP Photo Imaging America has partnered with Mediaport Entertainment—a digital content distribution company—to provide on-demand music downloads through its versatile, multifunction PrintRushMP kiosk. 

DNP’s store-branded digital imaging systems already provide retailers with conventional minilab and digital image printing capabilities, as well as photo gifts, DVDs and personalized photo gift cards. Now, by adding Mediaport’s delivery-on-demand music solution, retailers can offer the music industry’s most popular and up-to-date music downloads from Sony, EMI, Universal and Warner Music Group.

PrintRushMP combines two or more order stations with a high-speed photo print tower to process and direct customer orders. An expandable product catalog allows retailers to selectively add digital services that will appeal to their clientele. Mediaport’s music service enables consumers to browse and select individual tracks or albums and have them downloaded to a custom printed CD or directly to a USB device or media card. dnpphoto.com

Fujifilm North America is offering several new photofinishing products designed to boost retailers’ revenue streams: the new GetPix II kiosk solution, capable of guiding consumers through the design and printing of a wide range of personalized products; the GetPix Version 5.0 kiosk terminal software for Fujifilm’s GetPix F7 kiosk; and a new Multi-Service Kiosk system that combines digital photo printing capabilities with expanded prepaid services. 

The Fujifilm GetPix II is a fully automated duplex print solution that combines Fujifilm’s proprietary Image Intelligence technology with Fuji Xerox printing and an integrated binder to instantly produce finished and folded “Fun” books, cards and calendars ranging in size from 6×6 to 5.5×8.5 inches. Retailers can turn the GetPix II into a complete, instant kiosk solution with the addition of two Fujifilm dye-sublimation printers—the 6-inch ASK 2500 and 8-inch ASK 4000. 

The DIMA-winning GetPix F7 kiosk terminal has a new user interface—the Fujifilm GetPix Version 5.0 software. GetPix Version 5.0 is designed to simplify the order process, while expanding the range of Fujifilm photo products. The terminal software can be configured for use on any Fujifilm kiosk or Frontier solution. 

Fujifilm’s new Multi-Service Kiosk system is targeted at retailers who want to expand traditional photo printing services by including non-photo-related prepaid services like ringtones, music and event tickets, as well as paying domestic and international bills, prepaid tolls and cellular plans. The additional products are being offered through a partnership with PinServE, LLC, which provides backend services for the management and distribution of prepaid products. fujifilmusa.com

HP announced the HP Photo Center 5i instant print solution—a front-of-counter, self-serve setup capable of providing innovative new in-store photo products. Consumers place their orders at one of the multiple input stations and return later to claim their items from a secure order storage and release feature. Products range from 4×6- to 8×10-inch prints to creative products such as collage prints, cards and calendars. Other HP Photo Center 5i features include: the ability to add up to six input stations without having to add additional printers; a fully automated CD or DVD dispensing component; and a premium themes engine that offers licensed content for use in consumer-created, in-store-produced photo products, using content from Dr. Seuss, Norman Rockwell, Marvel Comics, Star Trek, Nickelodeon and others. hp.com

Eastman Kodak is showcasing its newest retail photo solution—Kodak Picture Kiosks with output from Kodak’s Adaptive Picture Exchange (APEX) dry-lab systems. New features include online ordering, improved delivery estimates for customers to pick up finished jobs, and in-store premium products such as passport photo IDs and canvas poster enlargements. 

Retailers that want to take advantage of the latest APEX and Kodak Picture Kiosk software upgrades can do so by automatically upgrading fleets of stores, while still maintaining specific store settings and preferences. New software capabilities include: a video snapshots feature that lets consumers quickly review and select individual frames from their video files and store them on Photo CDs, convert them to still images or use them to create digital premium products; a pet-eye retouch feature to fix the common problem of pet-eye glare caused by flash photography; and a facial retouch feature that helps smooth wrinkles, improve skin tone and diminish (or erase) blemishes on the skin of their human companions. See these and other Kodak products at kodak.com.

Lucidiom, now owned by Noritsu, is featuring three software upgrades: APM Kiosk Version 7.5, with new profit-building features like bundle prints and premium content surcharges; Photo Finale Web 7.0 for improved online ordering; and Pocket Pics 2.0, an iPhone application that enables customers to instantly upload their images to and place orders from their iPhones.

Lucidiom APM 7.5 bundle prints permits retailers to sell a package of multiple products as a single item, “a proven marketing technique that offers customers a value package while increasing the store’s average sale at the same time,” said Lucidiom CTO Jason Pareti. And, its new premium content surcharge feature allows retailers to offer and charge for premium creative content from popular designers, while a retail branding feature can be set to automatically print your company logo on the back of printed merchandise. 

Photo Finale Web 7.0 features Lucidiom’s complete creative product engine for online ordering, so retailers can offer the same products virtually as they do in-store. The software also incorporates the Lucidiom Store—a central fulfillment service for traditional photo products, custom photo gifts and creative products. Lucidiom’s Pocket Pics 2.0 is available free to all Photo Finale Web account holders on Apple’s iTunes Store. Customers can use it to synchronize their online photo accounts with their iPhones as well as place orders directly from their phones to the retailer.

“The challenge for retailers has been finding ways to profit from the social revolution,” added Pareti. “Pocket Pics alerts subscribers whenever new photos have been added to a collection, which automatically increases the retailer’s sales potential.” lucidiom.com or noritsu.com

Sony’s Digital Photofinishing division is showcasing affordable photo kiosk solutions for small to mid-level retailers. The company’s entry-level solution is a SnapLab digital photo printer (UPC-R20L), originally developed for event photographers. By enclosing the SnapLab in an end-cap display unit, the $2,000 instant printer fits comfortably into a retail environment. On its own, the SnapLab makes standard-size digital prints ranging from 4×6 to 6×8 inches. For $1,000 more, retailers can add an 8-inch printer that makes 8×10-inch prints, photo greeting cards and scrapbooking pages up to 8×10 inches.

For mid-level retailers who already offer digital photo printing, Sony offers a closed system kiosk solution built around the Sony PictureStation. For information on these and other products, visit sony.com

While not producing the actual kiosks themselves, there are various companies in the photo kiosk sector that provide the software and applications that enable consumers to create a growing range of photo products and gifts via kiosks and order stations.

Storefront.com took home DIMA Shoot-Out awards in the Instant Print and Multifunction Photo Kiosk categories. Its Instant Print Station, a photo kiosk application based on its PhotoKiosk software engine, allows customers to purchase instant prints and DVDs/CDs that are fulfilled by onboard photo printers and disc burners. Instant Print Station supports multiple output devices and photo printers, offers real-time online payments, creates index prints and generates customer receipts. Retailers can apply custom branding, as well as remotely administer pricing and software updates, and monitor sales and replenishables.

Storefront’s Omnishop Multifunction Kiosk is a self-service platform that sells a variety of products to end consumers, including customizable music CDs, ringtones, telephone wallpaper, Web-browsing services and generic shopping, in addition to all of the products offered by Storefront’s PhotoKiosk application. storefront.com

 

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