Retail Rant
After spending far too much time aimlessly wandering the aisles of Home Depot last night, I got one of those “lightbulb” ideas. Wouldn't it be a great if you had a voice-activated handheld device to easily locate what you needed? To find a smoke detector, for example, you would talk into the device, which would then say “smoke detectors are located in aisle nine”. You would then walk to aisle nine and quickly complete your shopping. This “brilliant” use of technology could reduce costs because you wouldn't need as many employees on the floor, and it would improve customer service/satisfaction. To use the shopping helper device, customers would have to leave a credit card of driver's license. I figure this device would be great for any big box-retailer such as Costco, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart and Best Buy. The big obstacle would be loading the data to make the devices work but that's for IT guys to figure out.
March 22nd, 2005 at 4:06 pm
or as a starter, they could have a kiosk where one can look it up; they couldeven list items that are on sale in or around that aisle.
Aswath
March 22nd, 2005 at 8:58 pm
Mark - good idea! I have a few of these “Eureka” moments sometimes, too.
Here's a futuristic variation on the theme: partnering w/ a wireless operator that offers LBS (if this service can get granular to that level at some point in the future). The user could then get an SMS push from any store that he/she is in (the SP makes money from both subscribers and stores that sign up for the service, although the cost of the SMS push can be partially subsidized by the store… i.e. it can be “free”, with customers paying 1/2 of the cost via slightly marked up prices, and the store covering the other 1/2;-).
March 22nd, 2005 at 9:39 pm
Maybe someone could come up with a wireless device that, when you whistle, tells you where your keys are.
March 23rd, 2005 at 2:00 am
We've built this for a national retailer and we are hoping it will be deployed soon. My company, Gold Systems (http://www.goldsys.com) develops all sorts of speech recognition applications though then tend to be more call center focused. This particular application will use the phones that are already installed throughout the store. You'll pick up the phone and be greated by our application - if we can't help you we hand you off to a person quickly who can get you the help you need. Sorry though, it isn't Home Depot, but if they'd like to get in on it, I'd be happy to talk to them. I'd love to add them to our customer list!
Terry Gold