Question

After reading the following article: Discuss what you think about it from both a personal (shopper) and professional (IT management) point of view. Is this something that would work at your company?

Brookstone to launch 3-D online store

Kinset software to provide look and feel of a real store, retailer says

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By Linda Rosencrance

Computerworld | NOV 16, 2007 12:00 AM PST

If you're dreading making the trek to crowded malls this holiday season, but you're not a big fan of the static Internet shopping experience, Brookstone Inc. is offering a compromise - a 3-D virtual store that it say looks just like its physical stores.

The 3-D store, set to launch before Thanksgiving, will give shoppers an in-store, interactive experience right from their own homes.

Brookstone is using Boston-based Kinset Inc.'s 3-D Store technology to create what it calls an online 3-D store that provides the same look and feel as its physical stores, said Greg Sweeney, vice president and general manager of direct marketing at Brookstone in Merrimack, N.H.

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"Kinset approached us with the idea of taking 3-D technology and applying it to retailing on the Internet because as a multichannel retailer, one of the things we really pride ourselves on is the in-store interactive experience," Sweeney said. "And this felt like a great technology to bring the Internet experience, which tends to be two-dimensional and a little too task-oriented, to more of an experiential Internet shopping experience. Our hope is it brings a little more discovery and a little more fun to the experience."

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"Powerful personal computers and fast broadband Web connectivity allowed us to build the first software technology that can present realistic online stores in 3-D," said John Butler, CEO of Kinset, in a statement.

By using Kinset software, retailers can build virtual stores that look like real store floor plans, Butler said, and can track and analyze shoppers' activity. Determining whether a shopper takes a left or right when entering the virtual store can also help retailers better plan the layouts of their virtual stores, Butler said. The software also allows retailers to make small changes to the site almost immediately.

In Brookstone's 3-D virtual store, shoppers will be able to browse through virtual aisles looking for products such as games, electronics, furniture, and home and bath accessories. Sweeney said the ability to gather customer data provided by the Kinset software is important to Brookstone.

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Currently, Brookstone is the only retailer using Kinset's technology, but consumer electronics retailer Tweeter is also in talks to launch its own 3-D virtual store, said Mark Stearns, director of e-commerce for Canton, Mass.-based Tweeter.

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Butler said he is also talking to other retailers and expects more to sign on for the 2008 holiday season.

Answer 1

From IT perspective,virtual stores require considerable amount of investment.Though the initial set up is expensive,it can benefit a lot in terms of revenue and customer's convenience in the long run.The cost of maintenance of virtual stores decreases once the basic testing environment set up is done.The factors such as weather conditions,stock availability effects the business in case of real time shopping,but with virtual reality of shopping the business comes into power of control of such factors,Hence 3D stores assures business continuity.Though it is a big system ,it is impossible to test all the scenarios which leaves a small room for error and loss for the business.

From customer's point of view,Real time shopping is a time consuming activity and in world of virtual reality,this activity is a matter of seconds,hence saving a lot of time and energy for customers.Virtual shopping also helps in overcoming language barrier for customers speaking different languages.Though it brings a lot of convenience,it has few drawbacks for example,it deteriorates human connections as it doesn't offer that much interaction and since it is a vast software which makes it impossible to test all the scenarios,a functionality may go on and off which may prove frustrating for the customers.

The idealogy of virtual shopping is something that very company would want to implement as it offers a great growth in the long run.It all depends on the capabilty of the company to take up the initial setup cost and skilled resources for monitoring and maintaining the software to ensure business continuity.