For me having passport photographs taken is always a slightly harrowing and irksome process that is only made easier by the fact that I can usually lock myself away in a booth and undergo the process in relative peace, away from the spying eyes of the public.
So imagine my dismay recently when I realised that there is no such booth in my local mall, and the replacement course of action involved a shop assistant with dubious photographic skills.
On top of this, the long and drawn out process that I then had to undergo, was made all the worse by his persistence of blithely disregarded photo after photo, in a bid (I'm convinced) to prolong my agony.
The point however was that this ordeal made me think that this practice was unnecessarily inefficient, and brought to mind many other areas of the retail sector here that appear to be moving away from the more normal 'Do It Yourself' style operation found in other markets.
The obvious example is the 'Photo-Me' booth that I was desperately in need of last week,
Apart from their obvious throwback to school canteens and diners in the US from the 1950s and '60s, vending machines have become a reliable source of product merchandise around the globe and are now offering customers so much more than a simple chocolate bar.
Recent introductions in the UK and Australia have seen train stations and shopping malls quickly taking delivery of vending machines that dispense umbrellas. They have a compact design and sell advertising space at the same time, allowing for timely purchases next to exits and as a result, essentially pay for themselves.
Additionally another new market introduction has seen a very quick take up of a quick fix solution for ladies hair straightening, via a 'pay as you use' vending machine that has been installed in gyms, health clubs, restaurants and shopping malls.
Similarly 'on-trend' convenience buying was recently made easier by a Japanese trainer manufacturer, who has placed trainer vending machines in fashion hot-spots throughout global cities.
Lastly are the now ubiquitous style 'Do It Yourself' photographic printing shops, where, electronically you choose the style, size, quality and quantity yourself, before paying.
Missing a trick
The point here is that, with the lack of a vending machine and kiosk orientated retail culture in the Middle East, are we missing a trick or simply providing the level of sophistication necessary for a diverse but still relatively immature retail sector?
I actually think that we're missing an opportunity to make our collective lives easier and also to help retail shop staff offer us a more focussed and attentive experience.
Kiosks and vending machines can serve not only as marketing tools, but also as an easier solution for paying bills, a source for details about products that are in the store, and they can also make customers more aware of items that the store sells but may not be in stock.
For large stores such as department stores they also enable us to make special orders, check prices and choose gifts from a list, such as a wedding list.
More importantly vending machines can also be seen as brand showcases and in terms of inventiveness, can offer an indicator towards the level of sophistication in a market.
Without them I feel that we aren't realising the full potential of the retail sector in the Middle East and are also missing out on a chance to develop not only new selling mediums but also advertising and marketing ones too.
The writer is Head of GRMC Retail Services, Dubai.
