New Retail Kiosk Offers Flexibility, Safety, and Control

By Jennifer Heebner, Senior Editor -- JCK Online, 12/1/2005 2:00:00 AM

Mall kiosks may soon be getting makeovers. The tiny, merchandise-filled stands found in the aisles of shopping malls may soon be replaced with better stand-alone retail sales units. A new type of self-sustaining and flexible retail kiosk streamlines and simplifies business and adapts to different kinds of retail operations.

MBI, or Módulo Blindado Inteligente, which means “interactive high-security module” in Portuguese, is a computerized, bulletproof kiosk unit available in 10 different models for different retail sales uses, such as jewelry or accessories, tollbooth plazas, and bank-teller stations. The company behind it is MBM, or Modular Brazilian Manufacturing, the brainchild of Otávio and Paula Resende, owners of Arte Romana Jewelry, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. MBI is patented in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and the European Union.

The genius of MBI is that it combines security with sales tracking: While an employee sells merchandise at a secure bulletproof location (for both merchandise and employee, depending on the model selected), a manager remotely controls the MBI computer operations, securely tracking sales and inventory and minimizing theft.

Managers also track the movement of employees at the station and know whenever merchandise is removed from cases or shelves by way of the built-in computer system. And because the modules are also Internet-based, “there are no limits to the modifications that can be made to the units,” explained Otávio at the Feninjer trade show in São Paulo, Brazil, in August.

“For owners that want [real-time] images, audio and video, security cameras, and data and operations reports, that's all available,” he says. “Data is instantaneous and constantly updated for the retailer's analysis on the Web. Plus, there's a password hierarchy for employees to use the stations.”

At present, MBI models are available only in Brazil. For information, contact Glenn Robb at (678) 524-5098 or glenn.robb@mindspring.com, or Otávio Resende at (55-31) 9981-2266 or otavio@arteromana.com.br.