New biz idea: The ShopMate 3000
With Stylist™ expansion pack for extra public humiliation.
No time to read this? Enjoy the audio version above whilst getting your steps in or doing a spot of dead-heading.
Why I hate clothes shopping
Surely it’s a job for AI?
I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that I hate clothes shopping… or more specifically I hate trying things on.
It’s such a faff, unless I have dressed specifically for the purpose of finding and buying a particular outfit, in which case I will already be wearing the right combination of shoes, tops and bottoms, which lessens the pain somewhat.
Winter is obviously the worst, as I’d be wearing the maximum amount of clothes that then need taking off, hanging up, and putting back on again.
It’s a cruel fact of life that party dress shopping also happens at this time of year.
Which got me to thinking… could we outsource this particular task to AI?
Is there a bigger ‘first world problem’ than jean shopping???
Setting the scene
Imagine a gorgeous clothes shop… the kind where the clothes don’t touch each other on the rails…
I’ve picked about four things to try on, and instead of doing the heavy lifting myself in the changing room, I hand the items, together with my Avatar Card to the assistant and take a seat on the plush sofa, normally reserved for bored partners/friends/children.
In far less time than it would take me to wrangle into Item No.1, the 3D Avatar1 would come strutting out of the changing rooms to show me what I’d look like in said item!
Bloody genius!
Perhaps the Avatar would also be dressed in other items from the same shop that went with the piece that I had chosen, which would be an amazing ‘upsell opportunity’ for the shop!
I could view how ‘I’ looked in the outfit from all angles, and see which type of shoes went best with it!
Apologies for my over-use of the humble exclamation mark… but you can tell how bloomin’ excited I am by this idea!
Avatar as Personal Shopper
Could the Avatars also have an opinion if you bought the extra Stylist™ expansion pack?
Would they come out with the second item on, having discarded the first one and tell you:
“I can’t even begin to imagine what was going through your mind with that dayglo green jumpsuit!?
Do you want to dress like a highlighter pen?
Not on my watch you don’t, we’ll be leaving that one in the changing room.”
The advantages for the shops themselves are numerous, in fact I’d love to think it’s being developed already as the cost savings could be considerable:
Reduced shoplifting. If people aren’t disappearing into the changing rooms to shove a garment in their handbag I’m sure shoplifting would reduce.
Upselling items that ‘went’ with the customer’s initial choice. (My full research on this point, is that my sister used to work in a clothes shop and she said that whatever she dressed the mannequins in would be the ‘bestselling’ outfits. People just need to be shown the great combinations and they will copy them.)
When good Avatars go bad
Just when you were beginning to get confident with this new system, can you imagine if your Avatar had a technical glitch and came out of the dressing room without ANY clothes on at all!?
And then started parading around the shop as if showing you the extended swirl on a gathered skirt, or the agility you might enjoy with a stretch denim jean!
Blimey O’Reilly!!!
Perhaps this isn’t such a fab idea?
Toodles!
K8x
PS: If you’re new here and missed ‘The Ambush 5000’ post below, please do give it a read, I’ve just re-read it and it did make me chortle. 😂
™ = Totally Meaningless
Join in the comments below:
Do you enjoy or hate clothes shopping?
Would you trust the ShopMate 3000?
Have you ever got stuck in an item of clothing and had to call for assistance?
Thank you for being here, please ❤️ (below) if you enjoyed this piece, it really helps others find it.
New biz idea: The Ambush 5000
To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
New biz idea: KittenAir
I was chatting with a cat breeder shortly after covid had died down and she was telling me that her latest litter was proving unusually tricky to find homes for. We agreed this was probably due to the glut of pets that were procured during the pandemic, which had lessened the overall demand.
Built utilising the incredible technology already developed for ABBA Voyage.
You are NOT the only one that hates clothes shopping. <raises hand> Even when someone else was doing the buying (parents when I was younger), I hated it. To this day, I still hate it. I used to buy my clothes online A LOT from all these catalogues I used to get in the mail. Nowadays, it's jeans, T-shirts, and leggings. Which I'm happy about, to say the least. I tend to go for the boho look. Leggings, maxi dresses and ang ankle-length flowy skirts. I'd totally buy into The ShopMate 3000 thing. But yeah, I could totally see it get out of hand. Unless the viewing was actually in the dressing room itself and not out in the open.
This is such a good idea that I hope someone seriously invents this. I would 100% pay extra. And I love clothes shopping! 🛍️