Best Buy Introduces Mini-CD Kiosk

An interactive kiosk that introduces shoppers to an innovative audio format -- recordable mini compact discs (CDs) -- is making company executives sing at Best Buy Co. The unit has helped exceed the company's goals since its placement last August by surpassing the sales achieved when Best Buy introduced this category without the display several years ago.The wire and sheet metal unit demonstrates what mini disc technology is all about and how it differs from cassettes and traditional CDs. It interacts with customers in a way that highlights and reinforces the technology's major selling points.The unit installs on the standard Best Buy gondola slotting system used in all stores, including low bay and 8-foot over-rack gondolas, and is typically placed on high-traffic endcap locations.The endcap placement is intended to entice customers into finding out about the technology and its advantages and then draw them to adjacent inline sections where they can view the mini disc systems available from audio equipment manufacturers."Another of the unit's key features is its reusability," says Kirk Schneider, manager of store fixtures and display design for the Eden Prairie, Minn.-based company. "When mini discs are no longer considered new technology and we no longer want to dedicate prime space to the product, the graphic panels may be replaced and the unit moved elsewhere in the store to where another new program is being featured.""It is very difficult to write off fixture assets, so it is key that important new fixtures like this one be flexible enough to stay in the store to merchandise other product categories," Schneider says.All 280 Best Buy stores nationwide are implementing the interactive kiosk. The units are placed by Best Buy's merchandising teams.The kiosk's look and configuration was conceived internally at Best Buy. Final engineering and manufacturing was handled by Thorco Industries Inc., Lamar, Mo.

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