May 17, 2004
Shoppers cruise store aisles via video phones
Burdines-Macy's and Sprint have teamed up for a pilot program that marries the convenience of online shopping with the service of a personal shopper, according to the Seattle Times.
"Five personal shoppers at Burdines-Macy's stores in Florida have been outfitted with Sprint video phones. The personal shopper locates merchandise to meet clients' needs and sends them a video clip via e-mail.
The customer can view the clips on a computer and make a purchase without ever going to the store. They don't even have to live in Florida where the pilot stores are located".
This reminds of the "Webcamers", personal shoppers fitted with webcams on their helmets and whizzing through Parisian department store Le Printemps on rollers. Allowing Internetters to view merchandise on the shelves and make a purchase. This was in 1999. I wonder what ever happend to that?
Anyway, Sprint, which offered the phones on a trial basis, hopes this helps businesses realize that video and camera phones are more than just fun accessories for personal use.
In a related article posted earlier, Sprint outlined some examples of how people are using - or could use - their videophones.
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