Popularity drives up profits at Burbank airport ‘bus’ kiosk

The little pink makeup boutique in Bob Hope Airport’s Terminal A, near Gate A2, is decorated to look like a vintage bus — and even though it doesn’t move, according to a recent airport staff report, it’s chugging along financially at a decent clip.

When the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority approved a lease agreement in February to install the “Glam Up & Away” automated kiosk, which sells products by the San Francisco-based Benefit Cosmetics brand, it was expected to bring in around $6,000 a month in gross sales, with 9% of that shared with the airport. It’s averaging $8,000 a month.

“For the three most recently reported months, April through June, the average ... monthly sales has actually been over $9,400,” said David Freedman, director of business, property and administrative services for the airport authority. “So far the kiosk has exceeded expectations and has been a top performer.”

In light of those results, San Francisco-based ZoomSystems Inc., which operates the unmanned “ZoomShops” — essentially high-tech vending machines for high-end products — at nearly 2,000 locations around the world, decided to add a second kiosk selling Amazon-branded Kindle tablets and accessories.

Buying from the kiosk will be essentially the same as purchasing from the Amazon website, said Bobby Penn, head of marketing at ZoomSystems. Austin’s Bergstrom International Airport already has a similar kiosk.

The product is a good fit for airports, he said, given the down-time passengers spend waiting in the terminal and the fact that the Kindle products are designed to deliver Amazon content, such as e-books and streaming movies and TV shows, on-the-go.

“It’s just the convenience factor,” Penn said.

Representatives of the airport’s news and gift concessionaire, HG Burbank JV, which began operating the several manned shops throughout the terminal building earlier this summer, told airport staff it did not believe the new kiosk would have a negative impact on their business, Freedman said.

“They have no objections ... as there’s no real product overlap,” he said.

The authority unanimously approved a three-year agreement, with up to five one-year extension options, for space near Gate A2. Under the agreement, ZoomSystems will pay the authority $250 a month or 9% of gross sales, whichever is greater.

Penn said the automated kiosks allow airports to maximize their revenue and take advantage of long stretches of essentially empty hallways. They also allow brands to circumvent the typical competition of being on crowded shelves among a sea of competitors, opening a “new channel” to target customers more effectively. Plus, Penn added, “you’ve got a captive audience.”

Airport spokeswoman Lucy Burghdorf said during a tour of the terminal building earlier this summer that customers frequently ask for more variety in the concession options.

“Airports have become malls now,” she said, referring to the shopping and dining options available at many of the nation’s airports, though she said some parts of the Burbank terminal are too “cramped” to add much else.

The ZoomSystems machines, the largest of which has a footprint of 100 square feet, are a space-efficient option that provide some of the highest sales per-square-foot in retail, according to the company, which has partnered with brands such as Macy’s, Best Buy, Proactiv and, as of last month, actress-turned-entrepreneur Jessica Alba’s Honest Co. line of nontoxic products.

The machines look “fun and sexy,” Penn said, drawing customer’s interest.

“I know it’s hard to describe a machine in those terms,” he said, but he added, “it’s not just a candy machine.”