Self-service kiosks have become increasingly prominent, as the industry will continue to grow by billions of dollars in the next few years. People have started using kiosks for many purposes in the past few years.
The global pandemic has especially made self-service kiosks more essential. These systems are considered safe and sensible, as they allow people to order and pay for items without having to contact others.
The most impressive part of the kiosk industry is that kiosks are becoming more varied and diverse. They can work for many unique transactions. You could take advantage of the self-service kiosk market by investing in one of many potential business opportunities. Here are six useful kiosk business ideas you could benefit from right now or after the pandemic ends.
- Food Pickup
One kiosk choice to explore entails food pickup kiosks. A customer can order foods online, and the person can then travel to a restaurant and use a kiosk to unlock a locker featuring whatever someone orders. The process keeps foods heated and fresh, plus it reduces the contact between customers and employees. People are choosing carry-out dining services more often than ever, so this could be an exciting kiosk option for investing.
This kiosk setup is similar to the automat. This system is a food service setup that was prominent in the mid-twentieth century. An automat is a place where prepared foods are in separate compartments. A customer can pay money to open one of these ports to take the food inside the space.
Expect this serving format to become more popular in the near future, especially as people look for food solutions that don’t entail as much human interaction as one might expect. The technology for automats already exists, so it is possible. A kiosk can link to the automat to allow the customer to peruse through foods and select the unique locker for ordering. The selected locker will open after the customer’s payment goes through.
- Cleaning Devices
People are looking for ways to ensure their items stay clean. From their phones to their eyeglasses, everyone wants to see their things are safe and germ-free.
That’s why investing in kiosks that support cleaning devices is a practical choice. Cleaning device kiosks link to systems that can clean various items. They can use ultrasonic light to kill off bacteria and gentle water jets to clean off their surfaces. The user places one’s object in a secure space, and the machine will do the rest.
One example you might find surrounding these kiosks entails eyeglass-cleaning stations. These kiosks have become increasingly common in airports. A user can utilize the machine to pay for a cleaning service. The user will then place the eyeglasses in the proper compartment and then let the unit spend a few minutes cleaning the glasses. It then triggers a drying that will clear off excess moisture, ensuring the glasses are clean and ready to wear again right away.
- Medical Tests
Another post-pandemic idea for a kiosk entails a medical testing kiosk. A customer can order a medical testing item from a stall by entering one’s payment information and selecting the specific test one wants to buy. The user can purchase an allergy test, hormone test, blood level test, or anything else of value.
A medical testing kiosk can be critical to anyone’s health. It can be more viable and convenient than visiting a pharmacy or going to a drive-through testing site. These kiosks can especially be helpful for people in urban areas where it might be tough for them to find tests in most places.
- Drink Services
Coffee shops can benefit from offering self-service kiosks. A coffee shop can introduce a machine where the customer can order a specific coffee and add other things to it as desired. The customer will pay for the coffee before it starts. The kiosk will then brew the coffee and deliver it to the customer through a dispenser with an included cup and lid.
This kiosk idea could be appealing if you can maintain it well. You’ll need to clean the mechanisms inside the kiosk on occasion. You’ll also have to refill its components to ensure you can keep on serving your customers. The kiosk would also require a consistent water connection to produce enough coffee or other drinks people order.
You could utilize one of these kiosks for any drink one wishes to order. You could create a self-serve beer or wine kiosk at a bar, for example.
- Health Monitoring
As people start to return to outside places more often, there might be some reluctance among people to enter some spots. Health monitoring kiosks could help review if the people entering a building are healthy and safe. A kiosk could monitor heat signatures and identify if a person’s body temperature is too high. A machine could also identify if someone is wearing a face mask. It could create an alert for when someone isn’t wearing a mask, producing a warning.
- Hotel Management
The last post-pandemic kiosk idea to follow entails hotel management kiosks. You could invest in kiosks that work in hotel lobbies and facilitate check-ins and check-outs. Hotels are expected to become busier as people start traveling again. Investing in kiosks in these places could be a good idea to explore.
A kiosk could allow a patron to check into one’s room. The user can pay for the hotel reservation and get one’s room key through the kiosk. The menu could also provide upsells and other offers that the customer could explore. These upsells could give the business more money if enough people install them.
All of these post-pandemic kiosk ideas show that the kiosk industry is viable and includes many ways for you to make money. Take note of all these options, and see if you can find a choice that works for what interests you the most.
