The consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co. Inc., in partnership with Tio Networks Inc., has deployed self-service bill-payment kiosks in stores in four cities as part of a test to determine whether they encourage foot traffic.
The test, which began three months ago, is intended to find whether the Richfield, Minn., retailer's customers are comfortable using kiosks to pay mobile phone, cable and utility bills, said John Lewis, Tio's manager of business development.
The touch-screen kiosks let users gain access to their account information from billers by typing in their Social Security number, cellular telephone number or Best Buy store-account identification number. Once the consumer pays a bill, the kiosk prints a receipt or sends it to the customer's e-mail address.
Best Buy has deployed 35 kiosks in 35 of its stores in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Miami and Phoenix, Lewis said. Tio, a Burnaby, Canada, network company, supplied the kiosks.
Consumers can pay their bills using cash or a PIN-debit card, and Tio posts the payment immediately to the biller's account, Lewis said. Best Buy charges customers $3 to $5 per transaction. U.S. Bancorp's Elan Financial Services processes the payments for Tio.
Self-service bill-payment kiosks tend to appeal to people who pay their bills using cash, often at the last minute, Lewis said. "In this economy, consumers pay their bills much closer to the due dates," he said.
