In the week before Christmas I took time to watch customer interaction with the bill payment / parcel post kiosks at an Australia Post outlet in a shopping centre where I have a newsagency. These are the new kiosks, the ones newsagents will need to compete with if they want to play in this space.
In this busy retail week before Christmas the kiosks did what they were designed to do – serving customers completely away from the counter. I watched six people do transactions. Four appeared to know what they were doing and two seemed to be new to the kiosk. Those new to the kiosk soon sorted it out. The technology guided them. Paying bills and posting parcels seemed very easy.
That people could do all this from the kiosk without staff involvement is a point of difference newsagents wanting to play in this space will need to confront. The other point of difference is the kiosk solution itself – this kiosk is elegant and is packed with everything necessary for true self service.
I appreciate some newsagent long after being able to offer a bill payment service. If that’s you take a look at what Australia Post offers. It’s impressive.
It would be nice to think that the rollout of these kiosks marks the beginning of fewer AusPost retail stores, downsized store footprints and greater access to a less time-restricted postal service.
Given the investment by AP is does seem they are focussing more on their core.