[chiph]

With their analytics, they could probably make a good guess as to what people living in a 5-mile radius of the store are likely to purchase.

Which could make for some interesting juxtapositions on the shelves. Kitty litter next to Blu-ray movies, etc. But if it sells, it sells.

[xur17]

I could also see it acting as a showroom for certain products that people want to be able to look at, handle, etc.

[VLM]

Locally malls have transitioned from "sells everything" in the 80s to about 95% womens clothing, the food court, and that radio shack that just wont die. Being in the mall MIGHT be useful if amazon wants to expand its sales of womens clothes.

I am not, as far as I know, a woman, but I could find it incredibly useful to go "somewhere" and get 3-D scanned / measured and then have a giant clustered database translate my exact physical measurements into this mfgrs idea of a "M" vs this mfgrs idea of a "L" or whatever. Not to mention shoes, where I'm about a 10.75 so 50/50 odds if a 11 fits me better than a 10.5, and some kind of "big data" might help. Money saved in return shipping alone might make it financially worthwhile for amazon to run a "scanning booth" store.

[jdhawk]

There was a German company that tried this using a webcam and a Compact Disc (for size reference).

http://site.upcload.com/

I still think the best solution is to measure the normal tailors measurements with a tape, upload them, and then have manufacturers upload the exact measurements of their clothing in corresponding areas.

Crowdsourcing would allow people to mention wash shrinkage, and tolerance delta's for items.

Be cool to say I'm X size, and this is my favorite shirt. Show me more that are of similar measurements.

brb, going to start coding.

[ahlatimer]

Some companies are already doing that. True Fit is the one I've seen when shopping for an Arc'teryx jacket. I think I've seen it elsewhere, but I couldn't tell you where.

It wasn't particularly accurate, in my experience. It told me to get a medium when a small actually fit better, but it also didn't have my favorite shirt in its database, so I had to go with something that had a decent but worse fit as a comparison.

[ozi]

Also, returns. How cool would it be if you could just run the product down the street to return it instead of having to ship it back?

[vhost-]

I actually get cat food and water fountain filters as a subscription through Amazon and they always offer me kitty litter on the home page. They just don't have the kind I use.

[hga]

On the other hand, I'm sure they've made you think a time or two about buying your brand of kitty litter from them....

[seanp2k2]

Have we learned nothing from pets.com and the expense of shipping heavy pet products? :)

[morgante]

> Have we learned nothing from pets.com and the expense of shipping heavy pet products? :)

It gets shipped even if you buy it in a retail store.

Pets.com was a great idea poorly executed about a decade too early.

[jessaustin]

There's a difference between shipping on a pallet in the same semi trailer as 51 other pallets and shipping in a cardboard box from a fulfillment center.

Who's doing pets.com's modern equivalent now?

[morgante]

> There's a difference between shipping on a pallet in the same semi trailer as 51 other pallets and shipping in a cardboard box from a fulfillment center.

True, but Amazon (amongst others) is increasingly making the economics of delivery more feasible.

> Who's doing pets.com's modern equivalent now?

Amazon is: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=lp_2975359011_ex_n_1?rh=n%3A2619...

So is Wag.com (a subsidiary of theirs): http://www.wag.com/

[VLM]

"shipping on a pallet"

I LOLed at that because my monthly subscribe n save is due later this week and over the years the delivery is getting physically bigger to the point of almost requiring palletized delivery, like the cardboard box is getting so big and heavy my wife has problems moving it. I have hit the UPS shipping limits in the past. Its not just food, I get stuff like dishwasher detergent on a schedule, shaving cream, bath soap, laundry detergent, trash bags... I don't buy much at brick and mortar stores anymore except for fresh/frozen and emergencies. Who has time to stand in a food store once a month for five minutes selecting a box of kitchen trash bags at a price higher than amazon would charge, times about 20 other items?