High-Tech Shopping In a Window Wonderland

PreacherTom writes "Elaborate holiday window fronts are nothing new to the Miracle Mile of Chicago's Michigan Avenue, home to many of the world's most famous stores. However, retailers are debuting new technology to take things to the next level this year. On Nov. 20, Ralph Lauren installed a 67-in. touch-screen display that allows passersby to purchase any item from the company's RLX line of high-performance ski-wear. They can then retrieve available items from inside the store, or have the clothes shipped from a central warehouse ... skipping the line at the register completely. Ralph Lauren is far from alone: this is just one example of how stores are targeting the tech-savvy consumer."

Comments

Re:More self checkout lines

[tttonyyy]

Around here, it seems a lot of people are afraid to use self checkout lines, where you scan and bag the items yourself. So, they all line up at the cashiers, meanwhile, I can get through the self checkout in record time.

...unless something goes wrong, in which case it takes ten times as long. Or if you're buying alcohol (which requires age verification), for example.

While I don't doubt your premise that some people are afraid to use them, there are circumstances where people might not choose to use them as well. Sounds like risk assessment to me.

Enjoy it while it lasts

[brunes69]

In a few weeks, when people start noticing the self-checkouts, they will quickly become one of **THE SLOWEST** lines in the store. This is because

• You have Joe struggling to find the barcode on the box
• You have Joe scanning and buying 15 things even though the limit is only 1-5 items
• You have the stupid machine pausing after every scan saying "Please place the item into the bag" or somesuch
• You have items recorded with incorrect weights so even when you do put it promptly in the bag the system complains and asks you to wait for a cashier

All this headache - and do they give you any kind of a discount for doing a cashier's work? No. So the store is saving the cashier salary, and not passing it onto you.

I gave up on self-checkouts long ago. Maybe in a technology generation or two they will be better (I really like the IBM commercial where the RFID scanner scans all the items instantly and presents the total - hopefully it will zap the tag too).

But for now they suck ass and are a waste of time. If you have more than two items, or have to wait even behind *ONE MORE* person than the normal checkout line, the normal checkout line will be faster.

Re:Enjoy it while it lasts

[kent_eh]

All this headache - and do they give you any kind of a discount for doing a cashier's work? No. So the store is saving the cashier salary, and not passing it onto you.

That's my main reason for not using them.
I don't see any great gain for me.

And in the larger economic picture, it means less people employed, which means less people with money available to spend at MY business.

It's not small business that's moving to self-serv checkouts, it's the big "the only thing that matters is max_profit" companies that are trying to see how much profit they can squeeze out of everything without causing a mass customer revolt.

Re:More self checkout lines

[Ephemeriis]

Around here, it seems a lot of people are afraid to use self checkout lines, where you scan and bag the items yourself. So, they all line up at the cashiers, meanwhile, I can get through the self checkout in record time.

You're lucky. Around here it seems that most of the people using the self checkout lines are the folks who should be farthest from them.

They go to the self checkout line which is market very clearly as "20 items or less" with two or three shopping carts piled high with items. Then they start randomly passing things over the scanner with absolutely no attention to where the barcode is located on the item or what piece of information the machine may be asking for. They look around in bewilderment when the machine asks them to remove something from the scale, or to scan something again, or to type in the produce code on a banana or apple.

Ultimately some employee has to come over and void out the entire transaction and then ring them up again. At that point it is no longer self checkout but rather a cashier checking you out at a self checkout machine. And all the while I'm standing there with a single box of cereal and cash in my hand...a transaction that would take less than a minute if it weren't for the folks in front of me.