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.