Last Updated on August 2, 2026 by Craig Allen Keefner
Retail Kiosk Opportunities & Customer Flow
Visitors to retail stores, museums, hospitals, and banks all have an “experience” and “path” that influences how and what they see during their visit. They have a traffic flow, a decision making process, and path that can be identified, quantified, and displayed. The experience is not only “in person” but is often initiated at home (via a website interaction), on the bus or in the car (via a mobile application interaction), or out on the street (via a digital signage interaction).
Mapping these experiences visually often displays the many opportunities for consumer touch points to occur. Above is an image displaying the Exploratorium Visitor Experience Map shown in a MozCon presentation earlier this month. Specifically mapping visitor flow within a retail store can also provide valuable information for kiosk placement. While stores often use this information to improve product placement and traffic flow, they can also add informational and purchasing kiosks to stores (using traffic flow research) to optimize staff, improve communication, and increase customer satisfaction.
Properly placed kiosks can increase sales while improving the customer’s experience. In order to accomplish this, kiosk applications need to be as user friendly as the store, and they need to be accessible, using kiosk software to make sure that the kiosk is locked down to the appropriate functions. Nothing is more frustrating than an out of order kiosk or a kiosk application that does not serve the customer needs. Of course, if a customer can’t find – or isn’t aware of – the kiosk, it’s the same experience for them as no kiosk at all.
At the end of the day, understanding customer behavior and the paths they take to get to a purchase or experience can be imperative to reaching them with product placement, checkout flow, and informational and transactional kiosks. Use your customer flow research to better inform your electronic interactions with customers, for better results and a more satisfying retail experience.
Read more about Retail Design and Customer Flow:
Retail Traffic Flow, Art or Science?
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