Realtime "Likes" displayed on retailer's clothing hangers
1–10 of 31 posts
Re: Realtime "Likes" displayed on retailer's clothing hangers
#2Amazing, I'd never thought of a hanger as a display device - much less a haptic one. Other data sources can be added for the consumer, but the data gathered by the retail store could provide some amazing insights.
Re: Realtime "Likes" displayed on retailer's clothing hangers
#3I wonder if the logic behind this is straight-faced usage ("people will find it useful when shopping") or marketing ("this sets us apart - nobody will really care, but it will grab their attention").
I hope it's the latter, because the former would seem to me to be a hilarious case of trying to compete with etailers at their game, without realising what a flawed strategy that is. But I've met plenty of people I can imagine thinking it's a good idea, so unsure.
Either way, the geek in me loves what they've physically done.
Re: Realtime "Likes" displayed on retailer's clothing hangers
#4I wonder if the logic behind this is straight-faced usage ("people will find it useful when shopping") or marketing ("this sets us apart - nobody will really care, but it will grab their attention"). I hope it's the latter, because the former would seem to me to be a hilarious case of trying to compete with etailers at their game, without realising what a flawed strategy that is. But I've met plenty of people I can i…
One of the huge advantages of online shopping is the ability to see customer feedback as you browse. Backporting that to physical stores might not let them beat etailers at their game, but it might help close the gap.
Re: Realtime "Likes" displayed on retailer's clothing hangers
#5The gamble being made here is that customers want to buy clothing that is popular.
I wonder if this might signal the exact opposite of what a shopper is looking for. Instead of clothing being an expression of unique individuality, he or she sees the huge number of people who have 'liked,' and possibly purchased the same item. Not that customers are normally fooled of course, but the volume of sales aren't usually brought to their attention so directly.
Re: Realtime "Likes" displayed on retailer's clothing hangers
#6I wonder if the logic behind this is straight-faced usage ("people will find it useful when shopping") or marketing ("this sets us apart - nobody will really care, but it will grab their attention"). I hope it's the latter, because the former would seem to me to be a hilarious case of trying to compete with etailers at their game, without realising what a flawed strategy that is. But I've met plenty of people I can i…
One of the huge advantages of online shopping is the ability to see customer feedback as you browse. Backporting that to physical stores might not let them beat etailers at their game, but it might help close the gap.
That's one way to look at it, and maybe you're right, but the other side of the coin (and the one I'm leaning towards) is that this is an area where retailers cannot beat etailers, they should be focussing their time and money on USPs, aspects that beat online shopping, not aspects where they can become slightly less behind online shopping.
On the other hand, people who are put off by the idea that thousands of other people bought the same shirt aren't so likely to shop at chains like C&A anyway.
Re: Realtime "Likes" displayed on retailer's clothing hangers
#7The gamble being made here is that customers want to buy clothing that is popular. I wonder if this might signal the exact opposite of what a shopper is looking for. Instead of clothing being an expression of unique individuality, he or she sees the huge number of people who have 'liked,' and possibly purchased the same item. Not that customers are normally fooled of course, but the volume of sales aren't usually bro…
While carefully side-stepping an obvious joke about hipsters, if this was a problem careful analysing of stats could get around it, theoretically to a point of having dummy products shown to be hugely popular while items they want to sell artificially un-popular and therefore cool in their exclusivity.
Re: Realtime "Likes" displayed on retailer's clothing hangers
#8Is there any way for the hangers to detect what clothing is currently on them (e.g. RFID)? If not, how are they going to deal with the issue when clothing inevitably ends up on the wrong hanger, if at all?
Re: Realtime "Likes" displayed on retailer's clothing hangers
#9The gamble being made here is that customers want to buy clothing that is popular. I wonder if this might signal the exact opposite of what a shopper is looking for. Instead of clothing being an expression of unique individuality, he or she sees the huge number of people who have 'liked,' and possibly purchased the same item. Not that customers are normally fooled of course, but the volume of sales aren't usually bro…
Doesn't this also help customers who want to buy clothing that is less likely to be seen on other people?
Which requires the reference to the xkcd (If you're quick with a knife, you'll find the invisible hand is made of delicious invisible meat):
Re: Realtime "Likes" displayed on retailer's clothing hangers
#10Is there any way for the hangers to detect what clothing is currently on them (e.g. RFID)? If not, how are they going to deal with the issue when clothing inevitably ends up on the wrong hanger, if at all?
The better question is, does it actually matter? If this is a marketing ploy then we can just assume that its an attention grabber. For all we know, it could be a PRNG that increments when it feels like it.