‘Heralding the Game Changer of Shopping’, declared the 3D invite lying on my desk as I walked in to the office. It got me intrigued and excited at the same time. As a Special Correspondent covering the latest in emerging technologies and gadgets, I get invited to the most glitzy and futuristic product launch shows on Planet Earth. The best part about my job is being able to combine my passion for technology and writing. No two days are the same and even after five years, every event gets my adrenaline pumped up as if it was the first time. I swear though, this one looked different from all others.
The last few years had introduced innovative concepts in retail that were already far ahead of their times. With every invention it seemed that the pinnacle had been achieved and there couldn’t be anything better that would come up, at least for the next few years. But the very next week I would get an invite for yet another revolutionary product.
As I reached the venue, I could see large cutouts of a strangely futuristic yet smart looking headgear adorning the venue. Hmm this looks interesting! The press briefing was an hour before the actual product launch. We were handed our personalized helmets as samples to test and blog about. As I held the glitzy device in my hands, I had an intuition that this would become the next big thing in shopping. There was a certain ‘Star-Trek’ kind-of feel to it. My joy was doubled when they announced that these prototypes were ours to keep – as a welcome gift! My secret desire of becoming a cyborg could partly come true now.
The company representative started doling out instructions and with each sentence; my eyes and mouth were opening wider with disbelief. I had to pinch myself several times to ensure this wasn’t a dream! The gadget, aptly named ‘Personal Shopping Assistant Device’ (PSAD) was a culmination of innovations that would make Albert Einstein want to reincarnate.
As soon as I put on the ultra-light helmet, it started mapping my brain waves and initiated the process of extracting my shopping wish-list from my subconscious mind. All the products that I had secretly aspired to own in the last one year were systematically cataloged. It even extracted the stuff I used to day-dream about! Along with that, their current pricing, ongoing deals and compatible accessories were culled out from all popular online stores. The heads-up display on the visor in front of my eyes showed information beautifully and I could either scroll through it with a flick of my finger or by blinking my eye or even through head gestures! Groovy!
The PSAD then asked me to create an account and sign in to a list of online stores in its repository. My purchase history, shipping address and wish list from all stores was consolidated and neatly compiled in separate tabs for future reference. This was getting too exciting to digest in such a short time! The final step in the process asked me to set up my preferred payment methods by adding my credit card and/or bank account. To add multiple layers of security, my retina scans and fingerprints were stored in the database. It even had an option to add voice recognition as an additional layer of authentication. I was impressed beyond belief!
The representative had perhaps budgeted for this extended moment of collective disbelief and was benevolently smiling from the sidelines. He came on the dais and showed us the convergence aspect of the device. The headgear was designed to pair and work simultaneously with multiple devices such as smart phones, tablet, laptop and also a TV! There were a host of connectivity options like WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC and even WiMax. Like a small kid in a candy store, my excitement ran amok and I quickly paired with my iPad and Android phone. As part of the pairing, the PSAD automatically installed relevant apps on my devices so that my entire user account was mirrored and synced instantly across all my gadgets for offline reference and remote usage!
And then came the moment of truth. As we all sat prepped in that room, looking like astronauts ready to launch into outer space, the slide on ‘How to Shop’ came on the projector. Boy oh boy, this was drool worthy and how!
The product was pitched as a ‘Bespoke, personality integrated, always online, wearable technology shopping assistant’. It boasted a shopping experience that would involve all five senses and yet I wouldn’t be required to even stand up from my chair. I decided to take it for a spin and test its capabilities. To verify the claims, I thought of products that would encompass touch, smell, sight, taste and hearing. I also made a mental note of trying out different payment methods with each order to fully test the device.
‘FLAC tracks from Armin Van Buuren’s latest album’, I murmured to begin the game. A list of last five of his albums was displayed in front of me and I selected one of them. 10 seconds of each track were played through the in-built speakers to give me a sample audition. I was already smiling with joy! At the payment and download page, I had to just say ‘I confirm’ and the voice recognition engine proceeded to charge the purchase to my card. The album began downloading to my synced tablet. Neat!
‘That was easy’ I thought as I ordered the second item, a ‘10 inch thin crust Pepperoni pizza’. The PSAD quickly pulled up details of nearest pizza outlets based on my GPS location and appetizing images started floating on the display. I was wondering which one to order, when the option of simulated tasting came up! This awesome device was using a technique called synesthesia, which produces an impression relating to one sense by stimulation of another sense. Through my eyes I could ‘taste’ the different pizzas and order. This was truly looking like a science fiction movie! I finalized my order and chose to go with the traditional method of cash-on-delivery for this one.
Next I proceeded to satisfy my olfactory craving. As soon as I uttered ‘Bvlgari Aqva Eau de Toilette’, the helmet seemed to fill up with the sensuous aroma of my favorite perfume. I couldn’t figure out where or how the fragrance was coming from. But it surely was the best way that I’ve experienced a perfume. I chose to buy the cologne through a retina scan confirmation. At the payment page, I just looked at the scanner and the PSAD verified my purchase!
I thought while we I’m at it; why not check out the latest iPhone, just to see how the PSAD would innovate on the tried and tested method of buying a smart phone. And boy, was I impressed! At my voice command, the device asked me to activate the touch simulation functionality by tapping a button on the screen. From there on, it was the pure magic of simulated reality, similar to what Minority Report showcased. On the virtual table, I was handed an iPhone to play with. I searched for its comparatives and out came the latest BlackBerry, Nexus, Ubuntu Edge and Lumia phones. It was literally like holding the phones in my hand, swiping through their features, getting a feel of different OS, checking out the functionality et al. The only (and the biggest) difference was that these were not physical phones that I was playing with! Convinced with my original selection, I laid my palm over the iPhone. PSAD verified my fingerprint scans and confirmed the purchase. It really was that simple!
To culminate my sensory shopping experience, I uttered ‘Dockers casual shirt collection, Size 42, long sleeve’. Pat came up search results showing different styles, trending designs and shirts on discount. I selected a few shirts and the device faithfully displayed how these would look – on a virtual 3D model of ME! Satisfied with the result, I confirmed my selection with the traditional touch based input.
With my shopping experience complete, I took off the device with a look of extreme glee on my face. This was certainly a very heady day for the enthusiastic shopper and tech geek in me. Things were moving so fast that I was still reeling under the effect of this futuristic technology. I could see the next few weeks being spent in extended company of this nifty gadget. I gave my thumbs up to the creators and proceeded to write my story for the website.
It was easy to see the ideology behind this product. The creators must have desired to make our shopping experience more enjoyable. It was evident in the innovations throughout the value chain of shopping – browsing through the catalog, experiential product selection, ease and speed of payment, bringing the web to the customer and what not. The Personal Shopping Assistant Device was aimed at providing a uniquely relaxing and supremely engrossing shopping ecosystem.
Welcome to AD 2030. Shopping in today’s world has been freed from shackles of time, medium and geographic boundaries. A few years back, we were all dreaming and hoping to have a future exactly like this. Now I can confidently say that dreams do come true.
(This post is my submission for ‘The Future of Shopping’ contest hosted by Ebay and Indiblogger. Do check out the awesome ‘Ebay Check’ Chrome extension. Image courtesy: Google)