Apparently a number of independent contractors from both the IT
and engineering sectors have already experienced s-commerce and are
extremely enthusiastic about it. ‘It's a real revelation,’
according to Martin Blake, a test engineer from Sussex ‘You just
walk into a range of glass and brick buildings, known as shops, and
choose from the items that are available for sale.’
Mr Blake was particular impressed when he visited a clothes shop
which he discovered while browsing in Brighton. ‘I could actually
try on a jacket to see if it fitted me. Then I was able to visualize
the way I would look wearing the jacket.’ Apparently this
visualization is made possible by two-dimensional viewing system, or
‘mirror’.
Shops have been grouped together into horizontally integrated
shopping portals, known as ‘high streets’ and are popular with the
new generation of cash-rich, time-poor consumers. Often located in
densely populated areas, they are convenient for users.
Users without the time or the technology to download large Flash
graphics of trainers, waiting five days for delivery and hoping they
will fit are increasingly being targeted. Richard Fahrab, a systems
analyst raved, ‘I can actually complete the transaction in real
time and walk away with the goods.’
Consumers are expected to benefit from huge supply-chain
efficiencies predicted to come from concentrating distribution into
a series of high volume outlets in urban centres, typically close to
where people live and work. Shops also reduce consumer frustration
caused by having to return unsuitable goods, and delivery notes
indicating that goods are available for collection from a depot
across town. One IT contractor put it more bluntly: ‘Going to the
shops is a real relief for me – I already spend all day in front of
my bloody screen’.
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technology