In 1984 Rival Automotive's Automated Retail Information Systems (ARIS) approached AutoZone with a proposal to install point of sale kiosks with touch-sensitive screens in all AutoZone stores.

Inventory Maintenance

The system would allow Autozone employees to have direct access to their online inventory.

Customer Self -Service

The touch-sensitive graphic kiosk would also let AutoZone's customers browse for parts.

 

We modeled interactive search mechanisms, visual browsing strategies and online ordering. We used early camera-capture technology to record images of the parts in a highly-compressed vector-graphic format.

The high quality of our graphic images was particularly important to this particular business, as we understood that many customers were more likely to identify the parts they needed visually rather than by name.

Wireframes, DemoSite

Our prototype model showed how AutoZone could deliver accurate graphic product images efficiently over conventional telephone lines (The top modem speed at that time was only 9600 Baud).

Point-of-Sale Information Retrieval & Retail

Business Application Model, Touch-sensitive screen, standalone kiosk, NAPLPS vector graphics, branding and stylesheet.

Note: The pages displayed here were designed using the limited 16-color palette then standard for most PC's.