By Allen Kopelman
Nationwide Payment Systems Inc.
Apple's trademarked slogan, "There's an app for that," reflects our growing fascination with the self-attended world, where buying or selling anything can be solved with the click of a button. The company trademarked that phrase in 2010 and continues to expand and update the Apple App Store with products that drive convenience, speed, and customer loyalty.
Now that the self-attended trend is here to stay, I'll explore how we, as ISOs and merchant level salespeople (MLSs), can cash in on it.
Apps offer a new way for customers to pay for goods and services and flexible ways to receive them. At a store, a customer can use an app to scan merchandise and check out, skipping the checkout line. On virtual and mobile channels, a customer can order and pick up at a store or at curbside. At a quick-service restaurant, a customer can use an app and pick up an order inside, at the drive-thru lane or at curbside.
As merchant service providers, we need to help our merchant customers navigate the sometimes baffling world of apps. And let's face it, not all small and midsize businesses can compete with apps, but we can offer them alternatives. For example, we can help them set up an ecommerce website, so they don't lose business to customers who prefer to shop ahead or online or across multiple channels.
Remember the Where's Waldo book, where you'd look for Waldo's little face in a sea of people and buildings? Navigating the digital world can feel that way to some of our merchants, especially after the pandemic created new ways for people to buy products and services. Some of these digital payment methods are finding their way into business-to-business transactions. Apps make buying goods and services simple and easy. What's not to like about convenience?
But sometimes online and mobile services can go too far. Regulators have begun to crack down on marketplace sellers, which are like virtual bazaars for small and micro-merchants. Some of these marketplaces have been caught selling drugs, guns, ammunition and counterfeit products, none of which are acceptable to the card brands or authorities.
If you've noticed more kiosks at stores and restaurants lately, you're not alone. At these times of logistical challenges and labor shortages, these self-attended solutions are a welcome relief to all types of merchants. Even major chains, fast food restaurants and airports are installing them, and prices are coming down.
We'll probably see more kiosks at small and midsize retailers and restaurants, and you may soon get more requests for this type of service. Don't miss out on this new emerging market and opportunity. Shop around and find a POS vendor that offers good training and support. The big boys are deploying kiosks, so when do you plan to start promoting them? A good partner will help you sell self-attended solutions and explain the benefits to your customers. There's no doubt that kiosks will reduce your customers labor and training costs, but don't expect everyone to jump on the bandwagon. Some customers will love them; others will hate them. And kiosks that prompt for tips will not make their customers happy.
Temple University published an April 2024 study in Kiosk Marketplace examining the wait-time at kiosks and its impact on customers (see bit.ly/4eKbcuX). Researchers found some customers rushing to complete their order when people are standing behind them and concluded that self-selling technology (SST) may cause stress at quick-service and fast-casual venues.
"According to the results, the presence of a waiting line can lead to time-pressured menu ordering behavior, especially when interacting with SSTs [versus human staff]," researchers wrote. "Further, we verified that customers' perceptions of responsibility for service outcomes explain this SST-conditioned effect."
If you've had experience with selling or deploying automated teller machines (ATMs), keep this mantra in mind: kiosks are for ordering and paying for goods and services or just paying. While some ATM deployers are adding ancillary services, the primary purpose of ATMs is to dispense cash.
As I've said before, Who Moved My Cheese, by Spencer Johnson, is one of my favorite books, and I tell all my employees to read it. It's a great story and a business bestseller about four curious mice with different ideas about what cheese is and how to find it. They go through a maze, and the ones that keep it simple outperform the overthinkers.
Payments industry friends, we're having a Who-Moved-the-Cheese moment right now. We'll see a lot more kiosks in the next two or three years. With improvements in technology, growing adoption and affordable solutions, don't be the mouse that overthinks it and gets left behind
Want to know more? Keep reading The Green Sheet and consider following me on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/allenkopelman) where we can share ideas and support each other. 
Allen Kopelman, a serial entrepreneur, is co-founder and CEO of Nationwide Payment Systems Inc. and host of B2B Vault: The Payment Technology podcast. Email him at allen@npsbank.com and connect on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/allenkopelman/ and Twitter @AllenKopelman.
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