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Automated Retail
Automated retail is the category of self-service, standalone kiosks that operate as fully automatic retail stores through the use of software integrations to replace the traditional retail services inside in a traditional retail store. These standalone kiosks are often located in heavily trafficked locations such as airports, malls, resorts and transit hubs. Consumers often browse and select products using a touchscreen interface that operates similar to an ecommerce website, pay for purchases using a credit or debit card, and then the product is dispensed through a system other than gravity fed drop systems, often via a robotic arm inside the kiosk. These software integrations, the consumer experience and the delivery mechanisms are what differentiate automated retail stores from vending machines. ZoomShops and Redbox are examples of companies that pursue an automated retail business model.
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Best Buy Express
Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebranded under its current name with an emphasis on consumer electronics in 1983. Best Buy operates internationally in Canada, and formerly operated in China until February 2011 (when the faction was merged with Five Star) and in Mexico until December 2020 (due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic). The company also operated in Europe until 2012. Its subsidiaries include Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, and Pacific Sales. Best Buy also operates the Best Buy Mobile and Insignia brands in North America, plus Five Star in China. Best Buy sells cellular phones from Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile, Boost Mobile and Ting Mobile in the United States. In Canada, carriers include Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless, Telus Mobility, their f ...
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Self-service
Self-service is the practice of serving oneself, usually when making purchases. Aside from Automated Teller Machines, which are not limited to banks, and customer-operated supermarket check-out, labor-saving of which has been described as self-sourcing, there is the latter's subset, selfsourcing and a related pair: End-user development and End-user computing. Note has been made how paid labor has been replaced with unpaid labor, and how reduced professionalism and distractions from primary duties has reduced value obtained from employees' time. Over a period of decades, laws have been passed both facilitating and preventing self-pumping of gas and other self-service. Overview Self-service is the practice of serving oneself, usually when purchasing items. Common examples include many gas stations, where the customer pumps their own gas rather than have an attendant do it (full service is required by law in New Jersey, urban parts of Oregon, most of Mexico, and Richmond, Briti ...
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Debit Card
A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The term '' plastic card'' includes the above and as an identity document. These are similar to a credit card, but unlike a credit card, the money for the purchase must be in the cardholder's bank account at the time of a purchase and is immediately transferred directly from that account to the merchant's account to pay for the purchase. Some debit cards carry a stored value with which a payment is made (prepaid card), but most relay a message to the cardholder's bank to withdraw funds from the cardholder's designated bank account. In some cases, the payment card number is assigned exclusively for use on the Internet and there is no physical card. This is referred to as a virtual card. In many countries, the use of debit cards has become so widespread they have overtaken checks in volume, or have entirely replaced them; in some instances, debit cards ...
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Vending Machine
A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The first modern vending machines were developed in England in the early 1880s and dispensed postcards. Vending machines exist in many countries and, in more recent times, specialized vending machines that provide less common products compared to traditional vending machine items have been created. History The earliest known reference to a vending machine is in the work of Hero of Alexandria, an engineer, and mathematician in first-century Roman Egypt. His machine accepted a coin and then dispensed holy water. When the coin was deposited, it fell upon a pan attached to a lever. The lever opened a valve which let some water flow out. The pan continued to tilt with the weight of the coin until it fell off, at which point a counterweight snapped th ...
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ZoomShops
ZoomSystems specializes in the design, technology, software development, and operation of automated retail stores. ZoomSystems technology and services support automated, self-service retail stores called ZoomShops located in airports, malls, military bases and retailers. ZoomSystems service offerings include location procurement, supply chain integration, inventory management, account management, creative services and project management. The company has partnered with well-known brands to open over 1,000 ZoomShops across the U.S., Europe and Japan. ZoomSystems has partnered with companies such as Best Buy, Apple, Macy's, Proactiv Solution, Procter & Gamble and Max Wellness. Product types currently offered in ZoomShops include consumer electronics, cosmetics, wireless accessories and personal health products. ZoomSystems corporate headquarters is located in San Francisco, California. History In 2002, after several years of research and development to create the kiosk, Gower ...
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Redbox
Redbox Automated Retail LLC (stylized as redbox.) is an American video rental company specializing in DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD rentals, and formerly video games via automated retail kiosks. Redbox kiosks feature the company's signature red color and are located at convenience stores, fast food restaurants, grocery stores, mass retailers, and pharmacies. As of the end of November 2012, Redbox had over 42,000 kiosks at more than 34,000 locations. As of September 2016, Redbox had 51.8% market share of the physical rental market. In May 2022, Chicken Soup for the Soul announced its intention to acquire Redbox for $375 million. History Redbox Automated Retail LLC was initially started by the McDonald's Corporation business development team. Originally the kiosks sold convenience store products under the name Ticktok Easy Shop, however in late 2003 McDonald's ended its use of the kiosks for these products. Instead, McDonald's executive Gregg Kaplan decided to use the kiosks for DVD ren ...
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Automated Retail Dispensing At Airports Electronics - The Source
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines. Automation has been achieved by various means including mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, electronic devices, and computers, usually in combination. Complicated systems, such as modern factories, airplanes, and ships typically use combinations of all of these techniques. The benefit of automation includes labor savings, reducing waste, savings in electricity costs, savings in material costs, and improvements to quality, accuracy, and precision. Automation includes the use of various equipment and control systems such as machinery, processes in factories, boilers, and heat-treating ovens, switching on telephone networks, steering, and stabilization of ships, aircraft, and other applications and vehicles with reduced human ...
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Automat
An automat is a fast food restaurant where simple foods and drinks are served by vending machines. The world's first automat, Quisisana, opened in Berlin, Germany in 1895. By country Germany The first automat in the world was the Quisisana automat, which opened in 1895 in Berlin, Germany. A similar restaurant existed in Breslau in 1904. Japan In Japan, in addition to regular vending machines which sell prepared food, many restaurants also use food ticket machines ( ja, 食券機, shokkenki), where one purchases a meal ticket from a vending machine, then presents the ticket to a server, who then prepares and serves the meal. Conveyor belt sushi restaurants are also popular. Netherlands Automats ( nl, automatiek) provide a variety of typical Dutch fried fast food, such as frikandellen and croquettes, but also hamburgers and sandwiches from vending machines that are back-loaded from a kitchen. FEBO is the best-known chain of Dutch automats. Some outlets are open 24 h ...
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Automated Restaurant
An automated restaurant or robotic restaurant is a restaurant that uses robots to do tasks such as delivering food and drink to the tables and/or cooking the food. History Restaurant automation means the use of a ''restaurant management system'' to automate the major operations of a restaurant establishment. Even in the early 1970s a number of restaurants served food solely through vending machines. These restaurants were called ''automats'' or, in Japan, ''shokkenki''. Customers ordered their food directly through the machines. As of 2011, across Europe, McDonald's had already begun implementing 7,000 touch screen kiosks that could handle cashiering duties. More recently, restaurants are opening that have completely or partially automated their services. These may include: taking orders, preparing food, serving, and billing. A few ''fully automated'' restaurants operate without any human intervention whatsoever. Robots are designed to help and sometimes replace human labour (su ...
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Automated Teller Machine
An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, funds transfers, balance inquiries or account information inquiries, at any time and without the need for direct interaction with bank staff. ATMs are known by a variety of names, including automatic teller machine (ATM) in the United States (sometimes redundantly as "ATM machine"). In Canada, the term ''automated banking machine'' (ABM) is also used, although ATM is also very commonly used in Canada, with many Canadian organizations using ATM over ABM. In British English, the terms ''cashpoint'', ''cash machine'' and ''hole in the wall'' are most widely used. Other terms include ''any time money'', ''cashline'', ''tyme machine'', ''cash dispenser'', ''cash corner'', ''bankomat'', or ''bancomat''. ATMs that are not operated by a financial i ...
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Business Process Automation
Business process automation (BPA), also known as business automation or digital transformation, is the technology-enabled automation of complex business processes. It can streamline a business for simplicity, achieve digital transformation, increase service quality, improve service delivery or contain costs. It consists of integrating applications, restructuring labor resources and using software applications throughout the organization. Robotic process automation is an emerging field within BPA. Deployment Toolsets vary in sophistication, but there is an increasing trend towards the use of artificial intelligence technologies that can understand natural language and unstructured data sets, interact with human beings, and adapt to new types of problems without human-guided training. In order to automate the processes, connectors are needed to fit these systems/solutions together with a data exchange layer to transfer the information. A process driven messaging service is an opt ...
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Cashierless Store
A cashierless store (also called a till-less store, checkout-free store or Just walk out store) is a store which allows customers to shop their products and leave without having to wait in line and pay at a checkout. Stores use a combination of technologies such as cameras, sensors, computer vision techniques, and deep learning to register which products someone picks up or puts back. Technology History 2016 In 2016, Amazon announced Amazon Go, a brick-and-mortar store featuring various technologies to eliminate the checkout. People require the Amazon app (formerly a specific Amazon Go app) to enter the store, shop for whatever they need, and exit to be billed afterwards through their account. 2018 The first Amazon Go store opened in 2018. 2019 In 2019, Sainsbury's opened the first cashierless store in the United Kingdom. However, it was closed a few months later. 2020 In July 2020 a Finnish company called Korttelikauppa opened a cashierless store in Kuninkaantammi, Helsinki. ...
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