Marrying Technology and the Right Application

In a recent class we talked about the pervasiveness of technology and the implementation of RFID technology. While I understand it may seem from my previous ranting that I am a complete technophobe, I do see the benefit of technology in certain applications. It is primarily the fact that companies follow the herd and decide to adopt technology without careful evaluation and consideration of its fit with their business that truly offends me.

For instance, Prada has adopted RFID technology in its flagship store in NYC to provide a “truly unique” shopping experience for its patrons. Whether or not this is valuable to the consumer or the sales associate is debatable. While my classmates didn’t agree, I believed that a sales associate at Prada should know the styles and inventory it carries. If you have ever been in a high end designer’s store, you know that they carry very few items. They may have two or three suits a season. This is not a volume business. Prices for these clothes are outrageously expensive and part of the price you pay is in the impeccable service you expect from the sales staff. You don’t run into a Prada to just pick out a T-shirt. If I am going to pay $3000 for a suit and a sales associate gets 10% commission, then I expect them to anticipate my needs. Just the same way that I expect waiters at expensive restaurants to fill my water glass without prompting and to not interrupt a conversation to tell me the specials and to always take my plate from the left side. So, when Prada implemented RFID technology that allowed consumers to see the other colors available for a specific article of clothing that they were trying on or to find out coordinating pieces to go with a skirt, I felt like Prada was burdening the customer with the responsibilities of the sales associate all under the guise of technology. If I wanted to talk to a computer, I would order my clothes online. Prada explains that this new technology freed up their sales associated so they could provide more attention to each shopper, but I just don’t see it. Principally because most of these high end stores don’t have that many serious shoppers and they don’t have that much merchandise. Now sales associates could look up your past purchases and see that you purchased three pairs of shoes in the last month and recommend a new pair of shoes for you. Well, what if I don't want any shoes. It's not like I don't already have 3 new pairs!

So instead of continually berating Prada for what I deem as a poor use of technology, I tried to envision a shopping environment where this technology would truly be valuable.

And it hit me - bridal dresses. Bridal shopping is like no other shopping experience. What other shopping experience exists where the customer comes in 9-12 months in advance to purchase the product? What other clothing purchase do you make where you spend thousands of dollars and are expected to visualize what the garment will look like when it fits and what it will look like in white versus the grayish color the sample has turned into?

You can’t just wander into a bridal store and browse. You must make an appointment well in advance that lasts between an hour and 90 minutes. You have to endure instant familiarity with a sales associate, who helps you in and out of dresses as you nonchalantly chat while standing half-naked in a dressing room. Samples never fit and require bulky clips to gather excess material in the back. The samples also get dirty and grayish after multiple try-ons, so it’s hard to even tell what shade of white the actual dress would be.

Brides will spend thousands of dollars on a dress they wear for less than 24 hours. Once engaged, brides-to-be feel a sense of entitlement to be pampered and catered to by everyone they meet because “it is soooooo stressful planning MY wedding.” I pity the poor sales associates that deal with these self-centered, idealistic shoppers on a daily basis, so why not give these workers some help. Why not allow brides to view the complete assortment of colors that a dress comes in without even having to leave the dressing room? Say the bride was interested in all dresses with an empire waist, using the RFID technology she could see a full catalog of designer selections offered by that particular bridal salon. This would enable the sales associate to best utilize the 60-90 minutes she has and increase the likelihood of finding the “perfect” dress for the customer.

RFID technology is a power tool that is completely under utilized in a situation like Prada when they have barely 100 SKUs, but in a bridal salon where they have 1000s of dresses alone -- all seemingly identical from the racks -- this could be a tremendous asset. Instead of running back and forth between racks of dresses, the sales associate now can truly make this a luxurious experience by serving champagne and fruit to its bridal “guests”. This technology would provide greater privacy for the woman, who doesn’t want the sales associate in the fitting room with her discussing additional options. Lastly this technology would be helpful for customers, who didn’t come with a clear idea of what they liked or wanted. The area in which a bridal salon could utilize this technology and Prada couldn't is in the ability to cross reference past customer’s purchases. Like Amazon does, if you knew that a customer liked a specific dress you could select other dresses to show her based on past customers that tried on similar dresses. This too would help whittle down the numerous choices to something much more manageable.

Not all technology is bad. However, if it is to be really valuable it must be applied in the right setting: RFID and Bridal Salons, the perfect union.