The timeless shopping experience found in augmented reality

Intel’s VP and General Manager, Gordon Graylish, began the Retail’s BIG Show Members Only Luncheon by exploring the four components to a shopping experience: browsing, engaging, investigating and accomplishing. And while the retail industry has changed since the time of ancient marketplaces, those four behaviors have not.

Consumers today will still inspect the stitching in a fabric just like they did thousands of years ago. And while these components will continue to stay the same, some things will change. For example, today’s savvy customers use ever improving smartphones to research, check peer reviews and compare prices.

But what about tomorrow’s consumer? And not the futuristic consumer of 2025, I’m just talking about 2011′s consumer. That’s where MIT MediaLab’s Professor Pattie Maes, stepped in to share their latest research and developments. Their augmented reality (AR) technologies have the capability of radically changing the shopping experience on all channels.

She pointed to tools already in use for mobile shoppers: navigation from companies like Fastmall and Layar, coupons from companies like Cellfire, and marker-based search with sites like Shopsavvy and Stripeylines. Even these, Maes says have limitations that are no longer necessary. Being on a mobile devices means a smaller screen and not being hand-free. It requires opening apps, typing in terms, and searching for the specific tool you want.

Limitations like these are what MIT MediaLabs has been working to address. Their solution is a piece of technology never shared before at a conference. It’s called the LuminAR bulb.

Recognizing that in-store and online retail experiences each have strengths, MIT MediaLabs asked themselves, “can we combine the best of both?” Online shopping offers a personalized experience, interactions through social networking and reviews, detailed information and expertise. In-store shoppers get immediate fulfillment – they get to see, feel, and try a product for themselves, and they get an immersive experience that lets them see the store around them.

LuminAR bulb provides elements of both these worlds.

The simpliest way to describe it is a light bulb on steriods. You plug it in to a desk lamp or ceiling light. It requires no additional power. Within that lightblub are powerful tools: a camera, projector, wifi, a processor and more. Maes walked the audience through a number of examples of where this tool could support the retail process. Imagine you are looking for a new camera. You show the LuminAR one of the cameras you are considering. In response it displays right on the counter (or wall or product box) reviews, specs, comparative prices. You see where LuminAR has displayed a button on the counter calling for human experience and tap it. Suddenly you find yourself video conferencing with an expert. You buy the camera and take it home. The LuminAR you have in a desk lamp can continue to provide information, and more shopping opportunities. It can recognize your camera and display the user manual on a nearby wall. It can notify you that a new accessory is available to purchase and it might even tell you where to find a coupon to use.

It sounds like a scene from Star Trek or the Jetsons, but Maes shared videos demonstrating all of the above capabilities. In partnership with Intel, MIT MediaLabs even has a live version set up in the EXPO Hall.

An AR tool like this seems revolutionary; and on top of that, it does nothing to disrupt the four shopping experience components initially shared by Graylish.

Those activities – browsing, engaging, investigating and accomplishing – seem to be the only thing about retail that don’t change.