Last night I had a weird dream. I am always having weird
dreams but this one felt so real that it was not until I opened my eyes that I realized
it was a dream. Science fictions and time traveling were never my things but
in my dream I took a deep dive into the ocean off a cliff and when I came up to
breathe everything changed. I was in the future; rather, I was me 17 years from
now.*** The year is 2030. And I have a daughter who looks eerily like the girl me. “Mom”, she shouts from the kitchen, “Did you buy the gift I am giving to Tara yet?” I look up from reading my newspaper, only to realize it was right on my Google glass sitting on my nose. No, I hadn’t bought any gift. Nothing I remember of. “When do you need it?” I hear myself calling back. “In an hour mom! What’s wrong with you?” As I panic and fumble with my car keys, my daughter comes stomping at me bewildered. “Where are you going? You need to buy the gift!” “I am going to buy it only.” She looks at me as if she is seeing me for the first time, “give me your UBI”, she says. “UBI?” ‘UBI - Unique Buyer ID!’, prints my Google glass in front of my eyes, ‘Everyone above 18 is issued a UBI. It’s a consolidated record of you as a buyer. The UBI card can be used as identity proof. Loss of UBI card must be immediately reported to police.’ Head swarming with new information I fish my purse and bring out a card that looks like credit card. This card has all the information I am told. She uses it on her Google glass to buy a birthday card and a Disney diary. “You are buying it online? You said needed it now?” I feel obligated to ask. “Mom! You are behaving so weird today! Don’t you know once you give your pincode, you can choose from the nearby stores you want to buy from? They will deliver from a shop ten minutes away from us.” The Go-Local trend. Big malls will be replaced by smaller diverse stores located across all regions. It will be possible to buy from the nearest store through a centralized online store and also to help locate the nearest store. This will go beyond the current system of grocery shopping and encompass all types of merchandise. Of course this will require stores to make sure that they are never out of stock. My daughter and I are outside taking a stroll when she spots another girl wearing a flowery blue dress. “Isn’t the dress beautiful? I want it mama, please, please.” She says. Now isn’t that typical of my daughter? She reminds so strongly of myself. I realize now, how bad my mother must have felt when I placed such nonsense requests! How am I supposed to buy her the exact same dress? Where will I find it? I try to stop the other girl’s mother to ask where she bought the dress from. But my daughter surprises me yet again. She scans the dress using her mobile and immediately all the information about the dress including the stores in which it is available, the price and other color choices come up. When we visit the nearest store in which the dress is available, the store is ready with many other recommendations for my daughter.
All products will carry an
electronic chip in them. Any mobile device will be able to scan it and then tag
it against your UBI. You will then be able to buy it on the fly or visit a
store nearby to browse through it physically. The stores will also be able to
formulate personalized recommendations for you based on the items you tagged. If
you do not wish to visit a physical store, you can still browse through the
virtual shop – it’s racks filled with dresses/items you have tagged and the
recommendations made for you.
While, at the store, my daughter tries through the
dresses, I try on pairs after pairs of jeans. But none seem to fit me the way I
want. Frustrated, as I am about to give up, my daughter comes looking
exasperated. “Really, mom, what’s wrong with you today?” she takes out her
mobile and a 3-d scanner in it measures me. And voila, I have recommendations
about the brand and type of jeans I should be trying in the store. Within two
minutes I have a pair of perfectly fitting jeans.
There will be 3D scanners
in each mobile device which will be capable of measuring your body shape and
size and the data will be uploaded in your UBI. When you tag a dress, it will
be tagged in your size and recommendations also will be made in your size. Thus
all your dresses will be custom made for you.
Back home, we have nothing to eat. My fridge is empty! My
daughter casts a nasty look at me and taps something on my Google glass. And
instantly I am transported into a virtual shop where a virtual me browses
through the store. It feels no less than a real shop. I, well my avatar, can
walk through the aisles and take items after items off the racks and examine
their ingredients and expiry dates just like the real store experience. My
delight knows no bound. I buy a lot of things. And before I can recover from
the retail revolution shock, the doorbell rings and my merchandise is here.
The virtual stores will have
the inventory in real time. The real brick and mortar models of the stores will
be replicated in the virtual model of the store. The online buyer will have an
avatar of her own and the virtual experience will be no different than the real
one.
I have received a promotion in my job. But it means I also
have to move from of the town to a different one. My worry knows no bound. How am
I supposed to transfer all the household goods? Where will I get a buyer if I decide
to sell some stuff? And how will I start to settle in the new town? My daughter
comes to my rescue again. By now I am used to it. She 3D scans the articles we
have decided to sell and tags them with the price we want for them. She also
looks for similar second hand items in the town we will be moving to and within
an hour we have our old house emptied and new house furnished.
The second hand articles shopping
will be revolutionized. Advertisements for such goods will be more professional
and with option of comparing the actual price of the items. The 3D scanner will
be able to produce the best possible imagery of the item to be sold. More and
more retailers will be creating space in their stores to sell affordable second
hand items as people will move around more.
Ecstatic, I reach for my husband to tell him that I am
never leaving 2030. But everything fades. I try to reach out for my daughter’s
hand, but it slips. I drown.
***
When I opened my eyes, I was still in my bed. My husband
slept peacefully beside me. It was still only 14th September, 2013.
And I realized I was only dreaming about a fantastic future where life was so
easy with such fantastic shopping experiences.
I wonder now, is it possible to find a time machine? Something
I can hop on while in my full senses and take a sneak peak of what future has
in store? Will it really be as fascinating as my dream? Because if it is, I can’t
wait for it to come.
Love,
This post has been written as part of the Future of Shopping contest hosted by IndiBlogger in association with EBay. Please visit bit.ly/eBayCheck_Extention for more information.
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Riot of Random
