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Startup brings expert advice — if not experts — to stores. Shoppers’ questions are answered via computer

Imagine this. You walk into Best Buy to get a question answered about high definition television sets, only to have the sales professional provide an inadequate answer. Or, you visit Home Depot on a busy Saturday morning looking for a specific type of paint brush, but can’t find anyone on the sales floor to tell you where they are located.

For shoppers who have encountered these common retail scenarios, a new technology from a tiny South Seattle startup may be right for you.

Experticity, which recently landed $1.2 million in angel financing, is testing a technology for in-store computer kiosks that would allow shoppers to touch a flat-panel screen and then get questions answered from a customer service agent — one who may be located thousands of miles away. With a broadband connection transmitting data and voice, the customer service agent could advise a shopper on the benefits of certain products, pull up pricing information on eBay or show diagrams of how products work. The system also could be designed to allow shoppers to speak with agents in Spanish, Russian or other languages.

Sound futuristic? Well, the future may be here.

By JOHN COOK
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Full Story: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/244544_experticity14.html

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