Gadgetory

somewhere in the mall of the future a store may know exactly how I feel about a product just by the expressions I make while shopping love it or hate it this technology is a possibility in the retail store of tomorrow Google showcased its facial detection software at the largest convention for the retail industry it's the NRF Big Show in New York City here retailers scan the show floor to learn how technology can be used to win over more customers and when an edge over Amazon Google which has mastered the art of tracking you in the online space offered ways to track data on you in the physical store space detecting emotions with hidden cameras may be a far-fetched way of finding out if you really like those new pair jeans but there are plenty of ways to also track the flow of customers in a store and how long they stay in a certain area of course it takes more than data to get a customer to step foot inside a store in an age of instant gratification and online one-hour delivery retailers are looking into instant customization how about just order your own sweater in a store get a coffee 45 minutes later BAM you have your own custom sweater princes and a designer sweater from eileen fisher no less until display the shima seiki it knits out a seamless custom sweater tailored to your fit no wasted inventory and customers get exactly what they want in under an hour you can find the shoe with the perfect fit with a ten second scan of your feet the True Fit scanner which also partnered with Intel measures the shape of your feet and also the circumference of your calves that's handy when hunting for tall boots well why would you need your foot scan in a store when you could just try on the shoes in person the idea is that now the store can recommend which shoes will best fit your feet and they have data on you as a customer for recommendations in the future what about finding the perfect fit when you're shopping online augmented reality can provide some confidence Google's project tango technology is incorporated into phone apps like this one from wayfair to show you what a piece of furniture will look like in your room or a fiddle fit in your space it requires a smartphone with a special depth sensing camera and only Lenovo makes one now so you may be sitting around a while before you can use it on your favorite smartphone or seen it I'm Bridget Carey