Print
Email
Print Edition Stories
Sandi Allen
In their own words: David Chang, co-founder/VP of marketing, Snapmylife.com
In their own words: Michael Bayer, CEO, Utterli
MHT managing editor Rodney Brown on NECN: 22 tech companies give back to community
NECN: Scvngr tours explore cities, campuses by cell phone
Eduardo Alvarez, an MIT Sloan School graduate and founder of Vigix Inc. in Cambridge, wants consumers to buy electronics, but he doesn’t want to do the actual selling. In fact, he doesn’t want anyone to do the selling — he thinks a machine can do it.
To that end, Alvarez has teamed with the MIT Media Lab and the industrial design firm Ideo Inc. in Cambridge to create a new kind of vending machine — one that enables consumers in airports or malls to buy MP3 players, cell phones or related accessories without having to walk into a retail store.
Its model is different from competitor kiosk startups such as California-based Zoom Systems Inc., which has deployed more than 780 of its ZoomShops —large vending machines selling electronics such as Apple Inc. iPods — around the globe since 2004 (and has garnered more than $63 million in private funding). While Zoom Systems has a traditional vending model, which requires the manpower to restock machines, Vigix allows its kiosk to be restocked by third-party courier services such as UPS, eliminating the logistical and financial complications that come with a dedicated workforce for filling machines.
Depending on the size of the product being sold, each cartridge can hold dozens of units, and can be remotely managed through an Internet connection. CEO Steve Pytka, a former CEO of Norwood-based vending system software provider Streamware Inc., said the system has borrowed the cartridge idea from the laser printer industry, and created a “cartridge-filled vending machine.” In addition, because the product is sealed in a cartridge by the manufacturer, employee theft (known as “shrinkage” in the retail industry) is also limited, an attractive benefit for high-priced retailers. “Shipping and filling machines with individual product is fine for potato chips and soda, but not for $400 iPods,” he said.
Vigix has already rolled out pilot units in Mexico City, selling prepaid mobile phones from Motorola Inc. Now it is in the process of raising angel funding to take its system to new vendors and locations. It is already backed by Boston’s Launchpad Venture Group, Westborough’s Boynton Angels and Wellesley’s Walnut Venture Associates, which have put in about $300,000 of an anticipated $750,000 round of seed funding.
Officials at Vigix hope they can jump on the demand for self-service sales channels, a phenomenon that is growing quickly as consumers become more accustomed to such options in new areas. “In each new self-service option — from ATMs to self-serve gas to kiosk check-in at the airport — the adoption time is shorter,” said Alvarez.
The growth can be seen in other local companies, such as Burlington-based iRobot Inc., which launched the first kiosk-based sales channel for its home cleaning robots this past November, and Stratham, NH-based NextChoice Inc., which is offering self-service options for restaurants.
According to a survey published earlier this year by self-service equipment giant NCR Corp. of Ohio, 86 percent of North American consumers are more likely to do business with companies that offer self-service — whether via the Internet, a mobile device, a kiosk or an ATM. More significantly, that is an increase of 12 percent over those who gave the same response in the company’s 2007 study.
RSS Feeds
Comments (1)
Please Login/Register to post comments.