The Future of Shopping: A Virtual Shoe Wall, Interactive Store Windows

Shopping is going high-tech. German footwear maker Adidas plans to begin installing touch-sensitive shopping walls in shops starting next year. Also shown at the CeBIT show: An interactive shop window that uses a Microsoft Kinect to monitor shoppers' reactions.

 

 

Is Smart Shopping the Latest “Smart” thing to improve your life?

 If there are 2 truths I think we can all agree with, it would be:

• We all want to spend less time doing the things we don’t want to do
• We all want to get more enjoyment out of the things we enjoy doing

However, when it comes to Stores – there’s 2 truths that they can probably agree on:

• They want you to spend as much in their as possible
• They want to provide you support as cheaply as possible

Now, I’m not suggesting that Macy’s needs to rip out their escalators and replace them with a water slide. Or that Adidas needs to add a Tea Cup Ride to their stores. But there are some very cool – and reasonably economical – ways in which retailers can really start to bring the shopping experience of their customers to a whole new level. The transition to Smart Shopping can benefit stores and customers alike and this week in New York City, the National Retail Federation is holding their annual big show & Intel is there showing some pretty impressive things (although I may be slightly biased). Here are some pictures of the different demos we are showing:

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Don’t fault them – they are a business – and the purpose of all businesses, at least at some level, is to make money. If they can provide you with a more enjoyable & rewarding experience in the process of making money, then so much the better because it is human nature to try to spend as much time as possible doing the things we enjoy doing (see the 1st two truths above). All this being said, retailers are realizing that the universal truths of people & the universal truths of stores, so not have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, in as much as reasonably possible, the more overlap they can drive, the better it is for them.

If you think about it, this is not dissimilar to what Disney does with its amusement parks. Back when I was lived in Orlando in the early 1990s for Nuclear Power Training, I heard a rumor that Disney World, on a daily basis, made so much money in cash that they could not cost effectively count it all. Instead, they just put the day’s haul in a very large scale & would weigh it. Then they would put some random sampling of the money in a smaller scale. By counting that smaller amount of money & weighing it, they could figure out that there was $XYZ per pound (whatever it worked out to be) and then just apply that ratio to the heavier amount to figure out how much money they earned. Now, I’m sure with modern counting machines, and the prevalent use of credit cards, that this is no longer and issue (if it were ever true and not just an urban legend). But, even if it is not actually true, it is believable, because, as amazing as it sounds, people not only pay money to get INTO the amusement park, but then they spend a ton of money while they are in the park, buying clothes, food, and other souvenirs. In reality, the “Disney way” is actually the pinnacle after which all retailers should strive.

Now, I’m not suggesting that Macy’s needs to rip out their escalators and replace them with a water slide. Or that Adidas needs to add a Tea Cup Ride to their stores. But there are some very cool – and reasonably economical – ways in which retailers can really start to bring the shopping experience of their customers to a whole new level. The transition to Smart Shopping can benefit stores and customers alike and this week in New York City, the National Retail Federation is holding their annual big show & Intel is there showing some pretty impressive things (although I may be slightly biased). Here are some pictures of the different demos we are showing: