Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509150020
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: G-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Nonexistent, really. If you need a uniform, you command the computer; a new ensemble magically appears. If you need shoes, you press a button or two. Need a new oxygen suit? Tell the computer.
Of course, that's all the stuff of overactive imaginations, at least for the time being. But a steadily growing acceptance of computers as retail sales tools is no fantasy, and it's evident in the Roanoke Valley.
Just a few weeks ago, women's apparel retailer Frances Kahn joined the computer-assisted shopping trend when it introduced an in-store terminal that showcases apparel from Ballinger-Gold, a manufacturer of better women's knitwear and sportswear.
"It gives the customer the chance to go beyond what we have in the store," said owner Russell Lester. The store stocks about a third of the Ballinger-Gold apparel line; with the computer, he can show customers everything the manufacturer produces - in all available colors - without an unreasonable investment in inventory.
For now, the computer is set up only for browsing - customers can flip through 29 on-screen "pages" of sweaters and dresses and read product descriptions, just as in a traditional catalog. But within the next six weeks or so, Lester hopes to have the computer ready to accept orders.
Computer-aided shopping is old hat in some retail businesses, according to retail consultant Marie Beninati of CSC Consulting in New York. Computers of varying degrees of sophistication can be found in stores across the nation, she said: American Greetings Create-a-Card computers in discount and grocery stores, computerized do-it-yourself guides in Home Depots, electronic bridal registries in Crate-and-Barrel stores, electronic car catalogs in BMW dealerships.
In-store computers have become especially popular among furniture retailers, whose inventory is both bulky and expensive. Ken and Sherry Kweller, owners of the Ethan Allen Home Interiors in Roanoke, last spring installed a computer system that lets customers see, on-screen, how any of the upholstery choices would look on any of the furniture frames, all with the click of a mouse.
Beninati sees a natural expansion into the retail apparel sector, where computer kiosks in malls and department stores could locate merchandise by size, color, store and price. Shoppers could punch in a Donna Karan black cocktail dress in size 8, she said, and find out exactly where it was being sold, and for how much.
Some of this technology already exists on the Internet, where customers in certain World Wide Web shopping malls can request specific items - like a man's blue dress shirt - and the computer will search all stores in the mall.
But Doris Kincade, an assistant professor in Virginia Tech's department of clothing and textiles, has studied computers in retailing and said that no one - not even technology gurus - knows just where electronic apparel sales are headed.
"There are people who think it will go to the point where we won't have clothes in the store anymore," Kincade said. In these futuristic malls, she said, there would be no piles of sales clothing, no overbearing salespeople, no dressing rooms - just banks of computer screens.
Some even more forward-thinking analysts predict virtual-reality shopping, Kincade said: Shoppers would put on helmets and gloves - the same kind used in virtual-reality games - and "try on" clothes in their own homes. They could even reach out and "feel" the fabric.
Computer technology is evolving quickly enough that much of this could become reality in just a few years. But Kincade doubts that it would catch on very quickly, simply because it would be extravagantly expensive, both for retailers and consumers.
"How many of us are going to be able to own a whole virtual reality set at home?'' she asked.
Virtual-reality shopping and computer-based malls remain fantasy ideas. In the real world, the biggest growth area of computer-assisted selling remains the Internet, where companies such as Spiegel have been advertising their wares to thousands of potential buyers. While security of data transmitted over the Internet - particularly credit card numbers - remains an issue, many retailers already have secure data systems and others are in the process of installing them.
But even if computer equipment drops in price, and even if full Internet security is established, mall shopping isn't necessarily going to disappear, Kincade said.
Apparel shopping in particular is an extremely personal activity, something that many people may not want to trust to a computer, she said.
"Apparel is so much tied with our sense of socially who we are and psychologically how we feel about ourselves," Kincade said. No one is entirely sure just how well a computer, even one with sophisticated virtual-reality capabilities, could predict exactly how a blouse would fit a real person, or how the color would look against her skin tone.
"And what about people who really like to shop?'' Kincade asked. "We don't know whether this will appeal to them at all."
Dick Schoech, a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington who has studied the effects of technology on society, said shopping - the traditional battle-mall-crowds-and-bag-a-bargain shopping - isn't just about acquiring goods.
"It's a social activity," he said. Many people don't shop just because they need something - they shop to shop. These people may actually experience some kind of a high when they uncover a huge bargain in the middle of an expensive store, he said; are they going to forgo this in favor of virtual shopping or computer-mall shopping? No in-depth research has been done, Schoech said, largely because technology changes so quickly that studies would be obsolete by the time they were published.
Despite the increasing popularity of Internet shopping, don't expect to see a Frances Kahn Web page. Lester said he wants to maintain the personal touch found in a store, where customers can feel the fabric - for real, not virtually - and get help from salespeople. But he will continue to expand the services offered through the in-store computer.
"I know many of our customers are afraid of computers," Lester said. "But we're interested not only in what's happening this week, but next week and next year."
"The shoppers of the future have been exposed to more technology than any other prior generation," Beninati said, "and are well on the road toward the information superhighway."
by CNB