Mall of the future? A vision by eBay gathering in store data!

This giant touchscreen, created by eBay, is the focal point of this new digital storefront. eBay converted two large panels of the glass into a touchscreen that lets shoppers browse virtually through a selection of products and then make a purchase. Minkoff stood inside the empty store, which currently isn’t rented out, observing the back end of the setup. People on the other side would stop and tap on the screen, their hands creating small, moving shadows on the translucent wall.

We’re going to take this technology and the idea of using glass and move it out of the mall — on the bus, train, at the airport. Anywhere people are waiting, congregating, or milling about.” –Steve Yankovich, eBay’s vice president of innovation and new ventures

“It used to be that years ago, before online, you were inspired by coming to the mall. You couldn’t discover anything beforehand because the Internet didn’t exist,” he said. To mimic that kind of Internet discovery, Westfield is piloting searchable mall directories in Australia and Europe. These digital directories don’t just show where stores are, they can go into detail, letting a shopper know where a specific type of product is available throughout the mall. In December, Westfield is rolling out infrared-enabled sensors in the parking lot, so people can reserve specific parking spaces through their phone before they arrive. While McKenzie admits that he doesn’t know if any of these things will keep shoppers coming in, he’s excited to try. And, though he said it’s not about online or offline anymore, he’s thinking about what a mall can do outside of the digital box. “What advantages do we have?” he said. “What can we do that Amazon can’t do?”

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57613959-93/mall-of-the-future-ebays-new-storefronts-can-gather-your-data/