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RFID Tags For The Rich
Greedo writes "While reading this piece about designing 'experiences' in the Globe and Mail, I came across this interesting tidbit: If you're a frequent Prada shopper (and who on /. isn't?), the loyalty card in your wallet or purse contains a RFID tag that announces your arrival in the store. When you encounter a saleswoman, her handheld computer brings up your tastes, buying history, vital statistics and personalized suggestions from in-stock and coming inventory; the handhelds also place orders and book change rooms. Every item for sale bears an RFID tag. The RFID tags are courtesy of IDEO, and their website has a nice write-up of all the RFID-powered stuff at Prada, including the changeroom! I'm guessing this isn't coming to Wal*Mart's changerooms when they implement RFID. (Another write-up can be found here.)"
Yet another attempt to add the personal touch to the cold world of business.
I'm not trying to flamebait, just make an observation. The days of going to your friendly local are over, and now the store assistants don't even need to think or recognise, they simply wrap digital information in comforting words and give you a nice smile.
Some people seem to think anything RFID has to be bad. This proves that doesn't have to be the case. These folks are open about the use of the RFIDs and they use it to provide real value to the customer. There's nothing wrong with that at all.
Compare/contrast to Wal-Mart which isn't open about the use of RFIDs and doesn't give the customer anything of value when they're installed. Since the customer knows nothing about the RFIDs, they don't have real choice in whether they want "to participate" in potentially privacy invading information gathering. Prada, by being open about the tags, alows the customer to simply shop somewhere else if they don't like them.
TW
...part of me says, who cares?
Yes yes, I see the privacy concerns. But on the other hand, people in stores currently aren't exactly trying to remember who you are and what you like. If they have a palm whatever to give them a better understanding of your tastes, they can be far more helpful in less time.
Getting past the personal buying history, however, those dressing rooms are certainly okay in my book. I like the idea of tags in the clothing displaying information on a screen, and come on... that "magic mirror" would make trying on clothing so much more enjoyable an experience. (At least, for those of us who actually care enough to put some effort in the way we dress.)
The frequent Prada shopper does not just shop in one city. They will expect the same level of 'courteous' service in New York, Paris, Los Angeles, and perhaps Milan; these RFID tags will give it to them.
It's not all that bad of an idea. I suspect that these shoppers will not be plagued with advertisements or other spam; they are rich, after all, and not the average dime-a-dozen consumer. The advertisers will be desperate not to offend them.
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Together, we will drive the rats from the tundra.
I think the very wealthy send personal shoppers to stores and accept/reject the new clothing in their own homes.
And that's for ready-to-wear. For tailored stuff (and who isn't rich and wearing custom tailored suits?), the tailor or his sizing rep comes to your house and measures you, shows fabric samples, and then comes back with finished clothes for final fitting.
Actually going to a store and having to disrobe in a changing room, interact with other people and have strangers around you isn't what people with real money do. There may be some stores that are far from home or impractical for personal shoppers, so in that case, you pack up your entourage, rent a few suites at the Plaza and have stuff brought to your room.
As was I. All of the scenes from MR that showed advertisments blaring out to passerby, recommending personalized buying suggestions and hurling sales pitches pell mell filled me with horror. After the movie was over, I looked over at my wife and said, "When that happens, we're moving to a fucking log cabin on the Blue Ridge."
Of course, said cabin would be complete with a cutting edge solar/microhydroelectric power system, sattelite Internet Access, etc. My wife is always mystified by the fact that I can peck away at my computers day in and day out, steeping myself in technology, but when it comes to commercial enterprise I run screaming from anything that threatens to invade my mental environment. I don't see any inconsistency there, but hey, YMMV.
Don't Panic!
The connection there is real. Now people aim to replace that with a wire in a piece of plastic, just as they're replacing living wage jobs with permatemp spots or part time people working close to full time schedules. If you think the negative part of this story is RFID, which is just brand new fuel for the paranoid that'll in actual practice do more to save money than invade privacy, think again; it's about subjugating another fulfilling business practice to a cookie-cutter scheme that anybody who can fog a mirror can perform.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
Problem with that being if your CC on file is attached your VIP card, then anyone warshopping can sniff your ID and rebroadcast, grabbing up items and having them charged to your account.
I'm all for more user personalization, this is really no different from what Amazon does, except in a brick-and-mortar. As long as I can remove the RFID tag when I get home I'm good to go.
El riesgo vive siempre!
> You don't hear people complaining when their waitress remembers what they like to drink...
I would if she wrote it down and faxed it to every other store that paid her a buck for the info.
I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
Small, isolated? Try 1 block from downtown financial center. Not a high-end clothes shop, either. No sir- a deli.
I started stopping there for a egg/bacon/cheese bagel, and on the second day- the woman looked at me and said "egg bacon cheese bagel, and an OJ, right?" Third day, i got a warm greeting and I knew she still remembered. This isn't a small place- it's directly across from South Station, and opposite One Financial Center. A lot of construction-guy types from the Big Dig and area renovation go there, as do limo drivers and local/state cops. The place is almost always bustling, and I've seen other customers get the same recognition.
All of this just goes to show that if you want to be successful, it's all about establishing a relationship with the customer, and that's the job of the sales person. It can't be automated, because if the customer sniffs that- they suddenly realize they're just a sheep of hundreds and they're not impressed in the slightest beyond the gee-gaw gadgetry of it all.
Who do you think will establish more long-term relationships at a high-end clothier- the salesperson with this palm thingy who does the in-person version of "let me pull up your records", or the salesperson who turns around, recognizes an important customer, and says, "Ah, Mr. Jones! Good to see you again. How did the alterations work on your dinner jacket?"
Please help metamoderate.
You do not need to decrypt a signal that you can repeat. i.e. I can say "Bonjour" without knowing a lick of French, or even the literal meaning of that phrase.
Now, if there was some kind of challenge-response going on, it would be much harder to deal with, although not impossible, given enough "captures".
The previous sig has been removed due to
Store clerks remembered who you were and got to know you on a personal basis, and could do everything this RFID stuff enables total strangers to do for you now. But times have changed and people don't stay in the same job for 40 years and people don't shop at the same place or even live in the same city their whole lives. When that changed, people bemoaned how alienating modernity was.
Maybe this will start to change now that we have high tech eyes watching our every move.
But... it's just off-putting that someone you don't know well has all this information about you. I don't care really if my tailor of some decades of acquaintance knows some personal details about me, like my left leg is shorter than my right leg. I worry, though, when that information get collected into a big system and combined with all sorts of other information from who knows where.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!