Idea for a physical shop

[Toxonaut]

I don't know whether this is realistic but recently while going shopping in a supermarket I had the following idea:
Why instead of paying at the end of your shopping everything in bulk, pay individually for each item. I imagine a store containing racks with small transparent (acrylic) glass cubes (maybe half a food width), each containing an item to sell (e.g. a harddrive, or an apple). The cubes are locked with a lock that has a bitcoin address and shows a QR Code. Upon payment to the individual box, the lock opens and the customer can remove the item inside.

Obviously re-stocking would be a problem, but if the shop is big enough there could be enough boxes with the same item leaving enough time for refilling. Maybe one person responsible for refilling would be enough to run the store as you don't need any cashier at all.

Does this sound realistic ?

[haploid23]

Sounds like a lot of hassle to have everything locked up individually. It's quicker an more convenient for the shoppers, and the cashiers to scan all items and pay all at once. Also the cost to implement locking up each item individually would be A LOT, and custom containers are not cheap, given how many size and shapes a store would need to have.

[turvarya]

I think you can achive that way easier, than with a box for every item. You could Show an example item, and when you pay for it, it could be prepared for you with all the other items at the Exit.
But I don't think, this is really a good use of BTC. Do you really want to pay for every item individually? Sounds like a lot of work even if it just scanning and pressing "send".

When I think, about it, there could be this box at the Exit, which can be unlocked by paying for it.

[haploid23]

I think you can achive that way easier, than with a box for every item. You could Show an example item, and when you pay for it, it could be prepared for you with all the other items at the Exit.
But I don't think, this is really a good use of BTC. Do you really want to pay for every item individually? Sounds like a lot of work even if it just scanning and pressing "send".

When I think, about it, there could be this box at the Exit, which can be unlocked by paying for it.

This wouldn't be a good idea either. If you're just picking up one of those "example items", then at the end someone else has to go around the store or the backroom storage to hunt down all your items. This is a lot of service required. Imagine the cost of hiring an army of employees to run around to gather items for the customer.

[medUSA]

instead of paying at the end of your shopping everything in bulk, pay individually for each item...
each containing an item to sell (e.g. a harddrive, or an apple)...
Upon payment to the individual box, the lock opens and the customer can remove the item inside.

We have those now, it's called a vending machine

What you described could be achieved by having rows and rows of vending machines in a supermarket, and it won't be a supermarket anymore. Besides, I do not want to shop there.

[turvarya]

I think you can achive that way easier, than with a box for every item. You could Show an example item, and when you pay for it, it could be prepared for you with all the other items at the Exit.
But I don't think, this is really a good use of BTC. Do you really want to pay for every item individually? Sounds like a lot of work even if it just scanning and pressing "send".

When I think, about it, there could be this box at the Exit, which can be unlocked by paying for it.

This wouldn't be a good idea either. If you're just picking up one of those "example items", then at the end someone else has to go around the store or the backroom storage to hunt down all your items. This is a lot of service required. Imagine the cost of hiring an army of employees to run around to gather items for the customer.

I was more thinking about some Kind of full-automatic System, not about People running around in the storeroom collecting your things.
And you are not picking up example items, you just scan them, so they get prepared.

[CaptainBeck]

In the UK alot of stores come with a hand scanner, so you can scan the item as you put it in your trolley and pay at the end. Sometimes they check to make sure you have scanned the correct stuff. Its nice and easy, and lets you pack as you go.

http://www.tesco.com/scan-as-you-shop/

[Bibop]

That is making something simple to be complicated for any side.
what is the purpose by doing this?

[evoked22]

ahahah I imagined a full automated vending machine but a HUGE one!

Walk up to it and choose one by one

[turvarya]

That is making something simple to be complicated for any side.
what is the purpose by doing this?

1. using Bitcoins for something
2. preventing Queues at the cashier
3. save Money on personnel costs

[CaptainBeck]

That is making something simple to be complicated for any side.
what is the purpose by doing this?

1. using Bitcoins for something
2. preventing Queues at the cashier
3. save Money on personnel costs

But you'll have queues while people wait for their milk, then their bread, then what if they dont want that bread now?

[turvarya]

That is making something simple to be complicated for any side.
what is the purpose by doing this?

1. using Bitcoins for something
2. preventing Queues at the cashier
3. save Money on personnel costs

But you'll have queues while people wait for their milk, then their bread, then what if they dont want that bread now?

That depends on how fast this boxes are refilled. If you use manpower for that, it won't work. If you just have one box for popular items, it won't work.
I still think, my idea would work best, with just boxes with your items at the exit.

But I wouldn't buy fruit or fresh meat in such shops.

[Toxonaut]

Ok thanks guys for the input. I see the limitations of this idea. Maybe it could work with small, more expensive items with not much demand (expensive hardware, jewellery).
Where I live we do have shops with checkout counters with scanners. This is probably faster than the bitcoin boxes i proposed, but the automatic counters always have personnel standing nearby helping newbies and checking for fraud, rendering the idea a bit pointless.

[Dr. Pepper]

Sounds pretty futuristic like something you'd see in a film.

[brian_23452]

This isn't really a bitcoin thing; one could obviously have such a machine and it could accept anything as payment, bitcoin, credit card, etc.  They already have these all over the place here, it would simply be a matter of adding bitcoin as a payment option.
Personally, I hate them.  The convenience store by me has nothing but these and they NEVER work.  They have four of them, and I have never been in the store when more then one was working correctly so there is always a huge line.  Plus there is always some dumbass who doesn't  know how to work it and holds up the whole line even more. 

[Dr. Pepper]

Are yiou just talking about self-checkout tills? I think this is a bit different than that.

[haploid23]

I think you can achive that way easier, than with a box for every item. You could Show an example item, and when you pay for it, it could be prepared for you with all the other items at the Exit.
But I don't think, this is really a good use of BTC. Do you really want to pay for every item individually? Sounds like a lot of work even if it just scanning and pressing "send".

When I think, about it, there could be this box at the Exit, which can be unlocked by paying for it.

This wouldn't be a good idea either. If you're just picking up one of those "example items", then at the end someone else has to go around the store or the backroom storage to hunt down all your items. This is a lot of service required. Imagine the cost of hiring an army of employees to run around to gather items for the customer.

I was more thinking about some Kind of full-automatic System, not about People running around in the storeroom collecting your things.
And you are not picking up example items, you just scan them, so they get prepared.

Fully automated? Do you have any idea the cost and infrastructure required to implement this idea? If this was easy and cheap, then we'd be seeing all these automated machines replace all the employees in groceries and other B&M stores by now.

[serenitys]

BTC deliveries.

I thought about this back when Google Sketchup came out...and virtual worlds. Imagine: retailers who sell packaged products (things that you don't interact with prior to purchase like shoes, clothes, food) set up virtual stores so you can go inside the 3D space, see all the items represented in 3D space, add to shopping cart, pay in btc and the stuff is sent to your door overnight or regular.

Food could be done the same way to a point if the merchant guarantees freshness, or leave food out and visit a farmer's market.

I am a fan of 3D virtual worlds and it would be insanely cool to slip on an Oculus Rift and go in the store, shop at leisure, handle it online and have it delivered. Granted it doesn't have to be 3d space, it can be accomplished with normal websites just not as cool.

I can say that since I started using Amazon (prime) I may have made 2 trips to WalMart this year. I hate walmart and hate going in huge crowded places so an online version works best. Shop, buy, wait. I'm good.

At best we would probably see innovative POS solutions to pay at the checkout with btc.

[franky1]

so you propose to have plastic security boxes per item.

well:
1: the deli counter will have lots of boxes with meat oozing into the boxes, meaning they have to be washed
2: same for the veg section many boxes. meaning that would have to have a box per banana, potato, tomato
3: the freezer section. plastic, electronics dont work well on ice

now lets get into more detail
1: a raspberry Pi per box costs more in maintenance and purchase to fill a store of boxes. then 3 peoples salaries
2: refilling each box and locking it takes more time then just dumping stock on a shelf, costing more salary in labour of shelf fillers then th couple of cashiers they would save
3: if there is no one at the cash desk/exit as it is presumed all stock is paid for then great. ill have this 50c banana oh and i get a free raspberry PI and a secure box to take home with me as there is no one to stop me
4: instead of just picking up a can of baked beans. i have to scan a qr code, open the box, take the tin of beans out and then put it into the trolley. 1 second food choice turns into a 20 second chore.. wait... also the 10minute confirm time before it unlocks
5: i then have to dump the emty box somewhere (unless point 3. i take it with me )
6: i am now at the exit and have to start bagging up my stuff in view of a security guard to make sure i dont do point 3.
7: staff then dont only have to take stacks of baskets away from the cashier desk, but a whole stack of security boxes too.


honestly id rather take my items that were never security boxed to a cashiers desk and pay in one go. an idea such as the OP proposes would work for parking meters, newspaper vending machines but individual payments in a multi-product scenario is not time efficient nor is it cheaper. (imagine the 20 items in your trolley. that's 20 TX fee's if your hoping to get to your car on time)

seems the OP has not worked in retail or hasnt put his idea into a 'working scenario' (feasibility study)

what would work is a food vending machine. where instead of typing in E7 for a bottle of pepsi. you scan the QR code that represents E7 and the vending machine monitors the 30 qr codes (1 per product type) and spins the coil to make the product fall into the collection bin at the bottom, when it receives a payment

[Ron~Popeil]

It is an interesting idea. With some tweaking and analysis you might be able to overcome the set up cost with labor savings.

They used to have restaurants in the northeastern US that were similar. My father in law ate at a lot of automats growing up in Brooklyn NY.