As sales increase across the cannabis industry, so too do the challenges of maintaining high-quality customer service. To keep customers coming back, convenience and engagement are two pillars of a positive in-store experience. Frank Mayer and Associates Inc. wants to help with that.
The company, located in Grafton, Wisc., and founded in 1931, is getting into the cannabis retail space with hopes to revitalize the shopping experience.
For decades, the company has transformed ideas into realities across major U.S. industries, implementing large-scale merchandising and interactive kiosk campaigns for well-known national brands and retailers. Frank Mayer’s Approach self-service kiosks were born from long-standing and unique insight into the kiosk industry.
Frank Mayer’s Approach self-service kiosks attend to common “pain points” in the retail environment,” Dave Loyda, Marketing Manager at Frank Mayer and Associates Inc., says. These include issues like long wait times and missed customer service opportunities—hurdles that need to be jumped, no matter the industry. In cannabis, retailers have a chance to course-correct in the early days of this market. Whether you’re running a business in Colorado or newer medical cannabis states like Oklahoma, the same principles drive success.
“As we explored the specific challenges of cannabis dispensaries further,” Loyda says, “we recognized there was a big opportunity for dispensaries to solve familiar problems using interactive self-service kiosks.”
Frank Mayer’s kiosk set-up is straightforward, and the equipment will blend seamlessly into any retail operation. The company’s line of kiosks includes 32-inch and 22-inch freestanding units along with a countertop unit, tablet and wall unit. “The line marries smart design with different sizes, offering an array of customization options, brand personalization and ADA accessibility,” Loyda says. “Good kiosk software is an essential component of the overall solution. Along with our software partner ADUSA Inc., who provides Self-Ordering software, we offer a complete turnkey solution.”
From there, the ADA-accessible Approach kiosks allow repeat customers or patients to quickly place their favorite order (across all product categories), print a ticket and pay at the counter without waiting for an associate to finish with a new buyer. In that way, the kiosks allow budtenders and dispensary staff to focus on the stream of new customers while delivering speedy service to longtime loyal customers who already know what they’re planning to purchase. The kiosks put the customers in charge of the retail experience.
The kiosks can even serve double duty as an educational resource, depending on how a dispensary operator sets them up in-store. In this way, many questions can still be answered at each kiosk.
“Subsequently,” Loyda says, “employees are then free to concentrate on offering impeccable service to those with questions or quickly help someone ready to check out.”
In many ways, Frank Mayer’s techniques borrow from the best practices of quick-service restaurants (QSRs). “Overall, the goal is to enhance or improve the guest experience and increase sales,” Loyda says. “Like QSR, customers do not want to have to wait in line. They want speed and accuracy in placing their orders. Additionally, just like in the restaurant world, redistribution of labor offers a customer service advantage. Kiosks provide that opportunity to free-up budtenders to provide a higher-level of service that will give retailers a significant advantage in a competitive market.”
Across nearly every segment of the U.S. cannabis industry, sales are growing. Dispensaries’ customers bases are expanding, and high-volume days are the norm. With those sales come long lines and a need for agile customer service. As dispensary management teams identify particular goals, Frank Mayer’s team can integrate the Approach self-service kiosks’ interactivity into a shop’s point-of-sale software, loyalty programs, customer order histories and overall sense of in-store traffic flow.
“The market continues to expand exponentially,” Loyda says. “As more states legalize cannabis for medical and recreational use, opportunities for in-store merchandising and interactive kiosks will continue to grow right along with it. As this retail industry moves rapidly forward, competition will increase, thus making it even more important for dispensaries to deliver a superior customer experience to attract new customers and create a loyal following.”
For more information, visit http://www.frankmayer.com/cannabis-dispensary-kiosk or contact [email protected] or (855) 294-2875.
