For the Bride: Kiosks from Federated

Federated Department Stores (Cincinnati) has announced that it is purchasing more than 400 NCR Web kiosks to expand its in-store gift-registry access. NCR will also provide project management and installation services.

The Federated gift registry integrates WeddingChannel.com, an Internet-based wedding planning resource, with Federated's own Gift Registry Alliance among many of its store brands, including The Bon Marche, Burdines, Goldsmith's, Lazarus, Macy's, and Rich's stores. Shoppers at one of the Federated Gift Registry Alliance stores will be able to use the kiosks to access and print copies of the couple's registry. Shoppers will then be able to purchase a gift in the store or use the kiosk to make an online purchase and have it shipped with a confirmation card in a courtesy gift box.

The interactive kiosk market will grow at 24 percent per year through 2006, according to international marketing consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. Federated was one of the first major U.S. retailers to deploy a web-based kiosk a couple of years ago, when it installed the NCR units in the Macy's New York, Herald Square store.