Ralph Lauren puts the shop in window shopping
The purveyor of preppie apparel, accessories, fragrances and eyewear has installed a 67-inch touch screen on a display window at its Madison Avenue store in New York City that lets customers standing outside the store shop by touching images projected onto the glass.
“Retail is very much an impulse transaction. You’re on Madison Avenue, you’re on Fifth Avenue, you walk by you want to buy it now,” says Paul Zaengle, Ralph Lauren’s vice president of interactive technology. “You may think, ‘I’ll go home and order it,’ but then you may forget. So we want to capture the customers that want to shop now.”
The display was inspired by a scene in the futuristic Steven Spielberg “Minority Report,” in which the character portrayed by Tom Cruise prevents crime by pulling up information on a glass screen using a wave of his hand.
Ralph Lauren is an official sponsor of this month’s U.S. Open, and the New York-based retailer is using the interactive window technology to promote its U.S. Open branded tennis apparel. The display also offers tennis tips and information on famous feuds in the tournament’s history.
Consumers can shop at the display around the clock. If they decide to buy, a credit card swiped through a reader mounted on the window pays for the transaction. Shoppers can either pick up their purchases inside or have them delivered.
To allay worries shoppers may have about making a transaction on the street, the company installed a security camera that watches over the display. Security guards -– outfitted in Polo gear, naturally -– patrol the area. Consumers still reluctant to pull out their plastic can use the interactive display to virtually fill a shopping cart and have their wish list e-mailed to them for purchase from a PC at home.
About the Author:
Matt Younger is Webmaster of Ralph Lauren Polo Store and North Face Outlet
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