Pace to install jewelry selling interactive terminals chainwide - membership warehouse stores

Discount Store News, August 21, 1989

PACE to Install Jewelry Selling Interactive Terminals Chainwide

AURORA, Colo. -- PACE will continue its pioneering use of interactive kiosks by installing another terminal chainwide, this time selling machines that will merchandise an augmented jewelry mix.

Last month the membership warehouse rolled out interactive informational kiosks that provide data on the tires and batteries sold by PACE so consumers could select the merchandise designed for their specific vehicle (see DSN, July 17, page 1).

PACE is using the same name, PACEPARTNER, for all of its interactive kiosks.

The jewelry selling machines to be installed in October will be supplied by Jan Bell Marketing, PACE's jewelry vendor, in a deal that initially runs for five-and-a-half years. A Jan Bell representative said other membership warehouses are considering using the kiosk.

The terminals mark the debut of NCR as a supplier of interactive kiosks. NCR had exhibited its unit in January at the National Retail Merchants Association's convention and in May at Touche Ross' Electronic Retailing '89.

Besides NCR's hardware, the terminal runs on a software and graphics program supplied by Origin Technology and Multivision. Origin failed in an attempt to market its own kiosk and redirected its efforts to developing software. Companion Systems supplies the kiosk housing.

While Jan Bell sponsored the jewelry kiosks, PACE initiated the tire and battery informational terminals, which were developed and supplied by By Video Inc.

Jan Bell's Fort Lauderdale headquarters is online to the kiosks to poll the units and monitor their self-diagnostic program for maintenance.

Jan Bell is the dominant jewelry vendor to the wholesale club industry, supplying merchandise to six major chains: Price Club, Sam's Wholesale Club, Costco, BJ's Wholesale Club, The Wholesale Club and PACE. Last month it began a test program at the Sears Outlet stores in Philadelphia and Washington, with merchandise also due to be included in a Sears specialty catalog in the fall.

Jan Bell president and chief executive officer Alan Lipton said the kiosks represent "the biggest enhancement yet to our growth." Jan Bell's sales last year were $120 million, up 47.5 percent from $72.5 million in 1987. Membership warehouses accounted for about 90 percent of its sales, up from about 80 percent in the prior year.

While PACE merchandises 80 to 120 sku's in its jewelry showcases, the kiosk will sell about 300 items, most of which will be special order goods that aren't found in the jewelry display. Jan Bell was selecting the kiosk's exact mix at presstime.

Customers will buy jewelry through a kiosk by viewing the available items on the terminal's TV screen, selecting the merchandise they want via the touch-screen and obtaining a receipt, listing the specific goods and prices.

The kiosk's presentation will indicate whether the goods are basic items, stocked in the store, or special order merchandise, which can be picked up at the club within five business days.

The customers then take the receipt to PACE's pickup counter to purchase in-stock jewelry and/or to pay for the special order goods. They will have to return to the store to actually pick up the latter merchandise.

Kiosk orders are polled at night by Jan Bell so the vendor can replenish the core in-store mix and to track what special order goods are to be shipped to which stores. But each store also reports the actual purchases of special order goods, so that the vendor doesn't end up shipping merchandise that customers have indicated they want but haven't really bought.

The store handles the entire sale, the Jan Bell representative said, to maintain PACE's identity as the jewelry merchant and to encourage additional visits to the club. As PACE, and other membership warehouses, don't accept credit cards, there wasn't any convenient method for the kiosks to be used as a mail order device, similar to the way customers buy merchandise through other kiosks.

The kiosks, which are being incorporated into PACE's jewelry section showcases, include a telephone so that shoppers can obtain additional product information and even discuss possible customized changes to an item.

Jan Bell has developed different programs for each wholesale club. Some best sellers are carried by all clubs but most items are only merchandised by one chain. The mix includes goods with prices as high as $10,000.

PHOTO : On the heels of rolling out interactive kiosks that sell tires and batteries, PACE will

PHOTO : unveil similar terminals for merchandising its jewelry.