Picture this. A woman is strolling by her favourite cafe when an interactive sign out the front recognises her and offers 20% off if she adds a sandwich to her usual latte purchase.
Coffee and snack in hand, she proceeds to a nearby clothing store, where the sales assistant greets her by name, despite the fact they’ve never met. He recommends a few newly arrived items her purchase history indicates she’ll like, but instead of lugging armfuls of clothes to the change rooms, she simply turns to a digital mirror nearby, where she changes her reflected self’s outfit with a simple hand gesture. When she settles on an item, she pays instantly and painlessly with her phone.
Though it seems heavily tinged with science fiction, this technology exists and is already in limited use. And it is just the tiniest tip of how networked sensors and smart devices will combine to disruptively reset how we live and do business.
It also highlights a counterintuitive but powerful facet of the next wave of digital technology; whereas the first iteration of digital commerce removed the personal element from our transactions and allowed us to comfortably buy anything from groceries to airline tickets while wearing pyjamas on our couches, the second iteration will use digital technology to boost that personal element, attuning our shopping experience to our individual preferences.
The key to this is the coming shift in how we think of and use networks. Today, we all have access to a powerful network—the internet—but access it mainly through devices like phones and laptops.