I'm not your average male shopper. I'll go to the department store and try on a bunch of clothes before I decide on what I want to wear. I'll try on 5 different pairs of jeans before I choose one. I want to get the one that fits me best and looks good. So I picked up a couple of items, and as you can imagine, that took away a good chunk of my day. It isn't exactly fun standing in a dressing room with all sorts of pins and needles on the floor.
Some of my friends prefer to shop online. They'll order the clothes online, wait for them to come, try them and on, and send back anything that isn't going to work out with them. However, that process could end up being even more time consuming than actually going to the store to pick it up. I could just imagine them killing half a month on waiting for clothes. There has to be a better way, right?
So I pondered what's out there. There are some stores that will put different outfits over a picture of you. You can kinda see how it looks, but you can't really get a whole perspective. I mean, you try on clothes with more than just mirror. The sides and back are just as important. This way just doesn't seem too effective to me.
What I see happening is a store like Macy's having a place in their physical store that will measure up a 3-D model of you exactly. Imagine having a bunch of cameras and laser beams measuring you up like something out of a science fiction movie. I see this happening sooner than we know it. Look at how far we've come with the Kinect. It can do incredible things, and every day we're impressed more and more by it.
So they would take that 3-D model of you, and apply it to an account you have on their site. You can update your build the next time you go shopping at that store, or maybe with some game console device like the Kinect. Who really knows the scope of power that device wields? So you're online with a 3-D model and it will fit the clothes on you on exactly how it will fit. It could find better clothes that fit you better from different brands. There's just an unlimited wealth of possibilities with this scenario. I'd get into this more in depth, but I'd be boring everyone to death.
Well how does this apply to Web 3.0 you ask?
I'm glad you asked!
So if you recall, Web 3.0 is primarily based off social media. What could happen is that there will be software out there to compare your body with other people on the web with similar or exact builds. Advertisers could make recommendations to you based on what everyone else is purchasing. They can take all sorts of things into consideration. Weight, height, skin color, muscle build, length of appendages, etc...
Let me play out a scenario:
A random guy who has the same build/body type as you buys a bunch of clothes. He rates them positively. You logon to a website to buy some clothes. They have your user profile and they compare it with this guy who just bought clothes with the high rating. They'll automatically make recommendations to you when you login. Let's say you're not interested in what that guy bought, but you're interested in Polo T-shirts. So you click on the polo t-shirts section and each t-shirt you click, it will go onto this 3-D virutal body of yourself. You'll be able to rotate it. You can check to see how it fits on body parts you might want to display or hide. You'll be able to see yourself in a whole different scope with this method.
Nonetheless, when you finally select the polo you want to buy, you may have a friend who actually bought that polo and you'll know that information because everything seems to be shared more and more on social media. So there, the purchasing decision to buy is enticed by your friend because he has the same shirt. It might be deterred as well because they have the same shirt and you want to be different. Whatever it may be, it's influencing your decision.
Anyway, getting back on track:
So clearly we can see how your shopping for clothes has become much more simplified because there is more information to influence your decision. After you build up a profile on one of these things, advertisers can start advertising clothing that you would be interested in buying because it would look great on you. Not only that, but they can also advertise to your friends the same shirt. Why stop at your friends? How about all people with that same build because you gave it a positive rating.
So as you can see what I'm saying, the dynamic of shopping will and have to change. As it gets easier to make decisions on purchasing clothing, you'll see less returns than these Pre-Internet ways. With that in mind, we can see a higher ROI (return on investment) for retail companies advertising.
Tell me your thoughts people.
