New Way of Shopping: An Instant Fit?

Imagine yourself walking into your favorite clothing store. An employee greets you by name and leads you to clothes that are your size and fit your style. Without even trying on the clothes you grab your new style and head out. All of this happening within minutes of entering the store makes it seem like you were some big celeb coming to do some serious spending. Sounds a little far-fetched, but this kind of thing may be the norm in the near future.

It may be that I'm just a marketing dork and find these things interesting, but we were discussing a new development in the clothing industry in my marketing on the internet class. Companies are always seeking ways to connect with the customer in a one to one basis and this new device may be the most revolutionizing change in shopping in recent years.

Some clothing researchers are experimenting with a new scanning device that would have all the customer's measures in a database and could also recognize past purchases and offer the customer similar items to what they typically buy. First the customer would have to put on a body diagram suit, which are those black tight outfits with all the sensors on them similar to what is used for mapping movements for video games. Typically the customer could get the body diagram at the store itself or at some other designated area. Once the diagram is complete, the customer's stats are loaded on to a barcoded scan card that you could put on your key chain. The card could be scanned at different locations across the store where screen displays would be present to give the customer the desired information.

The advantages of this system are numerous. For guys this is genius. How many guys just simply do not like to shop? Well I think a fair number fall into that category. With the scan card a guy simply has to find clothes that he likes, scan his personal card, and the device could give a percentage of how close of a fit the clothes are without even trying them on in the dressing room. For ladies, the card could also come in handy. Women like to try on clothes to check out how they look and probably would not change with the scan card. It will help when its a familiar store to the female customer and could then cut time by finding clothes or shoes that she likes going off of the fitting percentage of the scan card. The system is appealing to families with kids as shopping with kids usually amounts to lots of time wasted and difficulties when shopping. The advantage comes when the whole family could get a diagram and scan card. Well mom or dad, whoever does the shopping, could simply take all the cards and pick up clothes based on their kids' fitting percentage. One argument might be that kids grow out of their sizes and it would be a hassle to keep going back and getting a diagram. The system could have growth rates of estimated new sizes for each individual kid. Therefore when the card is scanned for kid's sizes, the display could show the fit percentage at the present and the time period until the child outgrows the clothes.

This system could save the consumer considerable time in our fast paced society. People are always looking for quicker ways to do things and are usually willing to pay lots of money for that benefit. Although the promise is there, problems with the system would be expected. In fact, stores would be reluctant to use the system if it were too costly or ineffective. So despite the possible negatives, the system still could be a huge success and could revolutionize the way we shop.