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Video Kiosks Make It Easier
To Find A Movie To Rent
Blockbuster Gets Video Kiosks
May 11, 1999
LARCHMONT - Instead of roaming the aisles in search of that movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and a big boat, customers at Blockbuster stores in Larchmont and Mohegao Lake can walk up to a FastTake video kiosk and surf a database of more than 8,000 movies for the title and location. Customers can also watch the movie trailer for "Titanic" on the 15-inch screen.
New York/New England Video Ltd., owner of 18 Blockbuster franchises in
New York and Connecticut, installed four kiosks last month - two in
Westchester County and two in Connecticut - in an attempt to generate more customer interest in older video releases.
"We want to bring more focus to...tapes that many people have forgotten about, movies that have been around for years," said Peter MacKenzie, principal general partner of New York/New England Videos.
MacKenzie said the kiosk would be especially helpful for those customers seeking older movies with their favorite actors. In the next four months, if the kiosks prove to boost sales of older rentals, MacKenzie said the company will install them in all its stores.
The black-and-yellow kiosks, made by ObjectSoft Corp., stand 4-feet wide and 7-feet high. It costs $10,000 to produce, install and maintain a single kiosk. Its body supports a touch screen connected to a PC hidden inside the structure. The PC houses a DVD disk, which looks no different from a compact disk. And, the disk is replaced every month with an updated disk containing new titles. Customers can search the movie database by actor, director, title, rating and genre. Next month, the database will also contain video games.
"One of the problems in (traditional) retail is that you don't have
computers," said George Febish, president and co-chief executive of
ObjectSoft, based in Hackensack, N.J. "You have to walk up and down aisles searching for titles. With the kiosks, you can bring those (search) capabilities to retail."
Febish and David Sarna, chairman and co-chief executive, founded
ObjectSoft in 1990 as a software company. But five years ago the partners won a bid to create information kiosks for New York City visitors. And since then, the two decided to focus on kiosks. The company went public three years ago.
ObjectSoft installed about eight StreetSmart kiosks with ATM-type screens in each borough, including in buildings such as the St. George Terminal of the Staten Island Ferry and the Bronx and Brooklyn Municipal Buildings. The kiosks offer terminal information, but New Yorkers can also use the kiosks to order a copy of their birth certificate or renew a dog license by credit card. Febish said about 26,000 screens are viewed a month at the Staten Island Ferry terminal.
The partners took their technology to retail and began rolling out
FastTake kiosks in March. Febish said the company will have installed at least 400 video kiosks in video rental stores and supermarkets by the end of the year. He anticipates that between 60 percent and 80 percent of Blockbuster customers will spend some time at the kiosk.
ObjectSoft is working towards attracting advertisers so the kiosks pay
for themselves. And soon, customers will be able to buy movies through the kiosks and have them delivered to their homes, Febish said.
"This year we focus on moving into the video business," he said. "Next, we look into probably books or music stores."
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