An artist’s rendering of an automated service island that allows a customer to screen test virtual hair colors, clothing, and cosmetics.

By ANNE EISENBERG


Sales clerks still ask customers,“May I help you?”on the floors of many department stores, but some shoppers may soon choose to be served instead by a computer kiosk with clever software.

The new kiosks aren’t the stodgy kind that have long dispensed boarding passes and train tickets. Instead, they have sleek lines and large touch screens - as well as software that can recognize customers, know what they’ve bought in the past, point out bargains and even let them try out virtual clothing, hair colors and cosmetics onscreen.

Many of these kiosks will serve as automated checkout counters, but will offer much more personalized information than those now in use. Others, like those for cosmetics departments, will let customers create the looks they want.

Intel has built three prototypes of kiosks that may find a place on the floors of department stores. But customers who walk up to them won’t see the usual sales counter with its bar-code reader, cash drawer and credit-card pad - and they won’t necessarily see a sales associate.

Instead, they will find a tall screen at eye level and another screen embedded in the counter. When they flash a card - perhaps one similar to those now offered by many drugstores and grocery chains - the kiosk recognizes them.“Greetings, Mr. Smith,”it might say, before presenting the latest specials and promotions for products, including ones that might go well with what Mr. Smith is already buying.

Scan in a blazer by passing its price tag across a screen, and it may then recommend several styles of pants and shirts to go with it, along with prices and possible discounts.

The kiosks can give customers a depth of detail - whether product specifications or customer reviews - comparable to what they can find in shopping on the Internet, said Joe Jensen, general manager of the embedded- computing division of Intel in Chandler, Arizona.

“The prototypes are a vehicle for showing the direction we see retailers needing to move,”he said, as brickand- mortar stores lose ground to Web sites.

Jeff Roster, a research vice president at Gartner, the market research firm, said the self-service kiosks would eventually become ubiquitous in retailing.

“Our studies show that what shoppers want is information without a hassle,”Mr. Roster said, information that kiosks can provide if retailers build appropriate software applications.

The Intel system, modular and customizable, was created by Frog Design, a firm in San Francisco.

Customers can pay with cash or a credit card. In the future, they’ll even be able to pay with cellphones that can be waved, recognized and billed by the computer, said Mark Rolston, chief creative officer.

One new application, the Virtual Mirror kiosk, was created by I.B.M. and its business partner EZface, to let customers experiment virtually with beauty aids like new cosmetics or hair coloring. The kiosk has a camera to capture the shopper’s image and a scanner to record the product the shopper wants to try.

Microsoft is working on kiosks too, said Tim Gruver, director of technology and strategy for Microsoft worldwide distribution and services. Customers are building prototypes, he said, including one for a 260-centimeter wall screen that will run with Microsoft’s coming Windows 7. Users will be able to manipulate images on the screen - to expand a display of electronics or clothing, for instance - the way people now do with images on iPhones.

“These kiosks won’t be dull ones,”he said.“We like to think of them as a different sort of self-service experience.”