IBM is developing a system called Everywhere Displays, which can project product data onto any surface in the store, from the walls to the floor. The computer system, undergoing tests by the German supermarket chain Metro Group, incorporates an overhead projector, a camera and mirrors to create an image that responds when touched, much like the screen of an ATM machine. Instead of a sensor that detects pressure, Everywhere Displays use a camera that detects motion.
Shoppers can scroll through a menu projected on the wall or floor to find a bottle of wine, for example. Information about the wine's vintage and price then pops up. Arrows form along the floor leading to the bottle. "It turns the whole store into a computer terminal," Hopping said.
Childress said that with many big-box stores now exceeding 100,000 square feet, tools that help customers find products "are becoming incredibly valuable." His firm, Envirosell, has found that after a store reaches 50,000 square feet, even frequent customers have trouble remembering where some products are, Childress said.
National electronics, home improvement and car rental chains have agreed to test a salesperson outsourcing system developed by Experticity LLC of Seattle, according to its chief executive, D.L. Baron. The customer-service system, Nextprise, uses a PC, a two-way camera and an Internet connection to allow customers to talk to outsourced workers in cities such as Manila and Bangalore, India.
The firm says the technology means stores will only have to pay for help during peak hours, Baron said, compared with a typical eight-hour shift for salespeople who might be needed for only a fraction of that time. "At 12 p.m. on a Saturday, you cannot have enough employees on the sales floor," he said. "But by 3 p.m., they are just standing there," Experticity would bill retailers by the minute for every interaction with a customer. "I can put 20 people on the sales floor for 20 minutes, if needed," he said.
It also creates a small pool of experts in different departments, such as plumbing or digital cameras, who can simultaneously "work" inside hundreds, if not thousands of stores from a single call center. To access a remote salesperson, a customer can touch the computer screen or it can be set to automatically recognize a person as he or she walks by. Customer service can also be provided in dozens of languages. The cost: generally less than $40,000 per store, Baron said.
Retail analysts warn that a live on-screen employee may be viewed as impersonal, and that Internet connection disruptions could leave a store that relies on Web-based employees short on staff.
Robert Spector, a retail historian and author of "The Nordstrom Way," said retailers who fall in love with these technologies run the risk of alienating consumers. "There needs to be a human there to help you out," he said. "That makes customers feel valued."
In fact, some new technologies are designed to ensure store staff spend more time with customers.
Vocera, a wireless, voice-activated phone system, allows retail store employees to call anyone else within the company -- an employee at another store, for example, or a product specialist at corporate headquarters -- through a light-weight badge worn on a chain around their necks.
The goal is to eliminate the need to leave the sales floor, which can result in missed sales transactions.
A department store salesperson who discovers a shortage of Ugg Boots, for example, can utter "inventory control" into the device to instantly locate the nearest pair. "The point is to stay with that customer and face them at all times" said Victoria Holl, director of marketing at Vocera Communications Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., which makes the system.
Traditional walkie-talkie systems are heavy, the broadcasts can be heard by everyone in the system and calls generally cannot be placed outside the store, she said. So far Vocera is in use at Apple Computer Inc.'s retail stores, and both Target Corp. and Best Buy Co. are testing it in their stores, Holl said.
Another technology that has moved beyond the test phase is the intelligent shopping cart, to be introduced at 20 Stop & Shop Supermarket Cos. stores over the next several months after a successful test-run at a handful of stores. The carts, which were developed by IBM and its partner, Cuesol Inc. of Quincy, Mass., are equipped with a wireless touch screen computer, which doubles as a product scanner.
Besides downloading grocery lists, the cart lets consumers place deli orders while they shop, then notifies them when the food is ready to be picked up. When products are scanned into the cart, the computer can display its price, nutritional information and recipe ideas, according to IBM. It evens keeps a running tally of how much a customer spends.
