Check out this great example of the online & in-store worlds merging. C&A use mini screens on clothing hangers to display real time Facebook ‘likes’ for products. The hope is that this online endorsement encourages purchase in the ‘real world’ store. Not sure about this product…. well thousands of online shoppers can’t be wrong now can they ?

This is a fantastic example demonstrating one company’s attempt to merge the on and off line worlds. They realised the importance of peer review was missing at a critical point in the customer journey- then thought laterally about how to bring that to life at point of purchase.

I like this because it is slightly clunky – it is really the portents of things to come as technology becomes more sophisticated. It means in the ‘ future shop’ we won’t have to rely on our devices,  or even on Beacons and iBeacons to alert us to coupons, peer reviews and so on, the products will do it themselves. The internet of things has massive implications for shopping and purchases too, as this embryonic example shows. I hope it works for C&A because it will get retailers thinking outside the box.  At The Ideas Machine we think about this stuff a lot. Mapping customer journeys and then thinking about how technologies present opportunities to improve the critical points is a simple, effective way to make your customer experience sing.  Well done C&A!

Retail innovation at it’s best. Bringing the on and offline customer experience closer. Love it! Watch the Mashable video review here.

Likes come to life