OMA/AMO Dutch architectural firm , together with San francisco based IDEO product technology and design firm have come created what a scinece fiction films of have been depicting for the last 30 years. Interactive shopping- , and it is has begun with Italian haute couturier Prada. After extensive interviews and analysis, IDEO specialists were able to incorporated into the design of the stores information architecture, interactive dressing rooms as well as other in-store devices that help with customer assistance.

Interactive dressing rooms
A simple eight-foot-square glass booth. One wall forms the door, which the customer can make opaque for privacy during changing or clear to show off a garment to someone outside the booth. Another wall incorporates a "magic mirror," a camera and display that adds a four-second delay so the customer can spin around and view all sides of the garment. The opposite wall has two interactive closets, one for hanging clothes and one with shelves. Sensors in the closets detect the electronic tags on store items and trigger a touch screen that displays the item and its related information, from availability to permutations of color, fabric, and size.

Electronic tag
The tag serves as a staff id as well as a remote control for the entire boutique. This technology allows Prada staff members to stay longer with the customer and offer more assistance. With a quick scan of the electronic tag, the shop assistant knows what is in the stockroom, what is in the branch across town and when the next shipment is coming in from Milan. Prada?s tag also allows digital representations of each garment to be called up and projected on screens throughout the store.

If a customers isn't sure if he/she would like to purchase right away, the information from electronic tag can be save on a customer card and later accessed via the Internet, to have another look at the clothes they have tried on.

It wasn't easy implementing this technology for a world wide luxury company, it required changing Pradas entire information infrastructure, not to mention a large investment. The Milan based design house has already started to tag all of the items that leave the showroom and this technology has already been implemented in the Prada stores in New York since December 2001.

Imagine what shopping will be like when this type of technology and customer service is available in all types of shops.


This article by: Celia Abernethy