Leading retailers and other potential partners show their interest
The last two days, July 19-20, have seen a stream of leading retailers, leisure operators, educational establishments, shopping centre landlords and corporate businesses visit the Innovation Hub at FujiFilm’s impressive House Of Photography in London’s Covent Garden for the exclusive presentation experience with the brand-new Scribbler greeting card print on-demand kiosk.
As previously announced on PG Buzz, combining the state-of-the-art printing technology from FujiFilm with Scribbler’s immense greeting card design portfolio, the new machine allows cards to be selected and printed incredibly quickly using the intuitive touchscreen, with a holder for kraft envelopes on the side of the machine.
“We’re delighted by the reactions we’ve received from the last two days of individual presentations,” Tom Procter, Scribbler’s head of business development, told PG Buzz.
Together with colleagues Aisling Crossland, Andrew Webb and John Byrne, Tom joined FujiFilm’s Chris Chater and Jonathan Difford as they shared the rationale behind the invention as well as encouraged visitors to try the machine for themselves.
Taking up less than a metre square of floorspace, the Scribbler-emblazoned kiosk can offer 1,000 different designs in a mixture of the retailer’s homegrown output as well as those from publishers, and, as it’s controlled remotely, the cards can be tailored to each location.
As well as lending itself to be sited instore, be it within retailers who stock greeting cards as well as those who currently don’t, the FujiFilm and Scribbler teams also see potential for other locations.
“Travel centres, garage forecourts, offices, colleges and busy offices would all lend themselves to have a kiosk,” explained Jonathan Difford, group sales manager of FujiFilm’s Imaging Solutions.
He revealed the initial discussions with Scribbler started a couple of years ago with both parties recognising the synergy, and added: “Put simply, we have the technology, Scribbler has the content and greeting card knowledge.”
As Scribbler’s chief operations officer John Byrne said: “The kiosk enables the Scribbler brand to scale up and be present in places we would not otherwise have a presence.”
While the retailer’s online operation has seen the brand being able to offer topical designs from its digital platform, head of design Aisling Crosland pointed out: “The kiosk takes that topicality right into bricks and mortar too.”
As well as offering the same margin to retailers as is the norm in the sector, Scribbler’s logistical manager Andrew Webb highlighted: “There is no waste at all and you’ll never be out of stock of your best sellers!”
Within a retail environment, the customer will take the printed cards to the till to be scanned using the barcode while a chip’n’pin option is also being developed.
With several kiosks ready to go, and various commercial models available, it is likely to be sooner rather than later that the first ones will make their public debut.
Top: Scribbler’s Aisling Crossland at the new kiosk
