In-Store Kiosk Goes Virtual Product
Wichita, Kan. — Virtual Concierge from Integrated Media Group (IMG) is designed to guide and provide assistance to customers in the store. The kiosk uses Ubiq Window Component, a gesture-driven technology allowing the operation of a computer without any surface. Customers operate the digital signage display without touch as they interact with images generated, says IMG CEO Jason Opat.
IMG combines the Ubiq Window Component and Virtual Concierge in its self-enclosed Autonomous Sales Kiosk (ASK). Each kiosk can be rolled into retail settings and powered up without accessing stores’ IT systems.
Virtual Concierge’s images project large-scale holographic images of a woman who greets shoppers, and she appears to speak directly to them. “You feel like you’re interacting with her,” Opat says.
Opat expects mall-type department stores to use several ASK systems, one in each department. “It uses web-driven content, and will call out to our servers,” he says. The Virtual Concierge will greet consumers, and announce a sale on a particular item. “We know you will walk right up to her,” he adds.
After doing so, a customer might, for instance, gesture toward a button called “Camcorders.” In a two-minute interaction, he will be given three camcorder options. Choosing one, he gets a photo, specs and FAQs. “When he’s ready to buy, the assistant appears, pulls open a map and shows him exactly where to go in the store to buy that product,” Opat says. “Or the concierge can allow him to buy the product right at the kiosk.”
