In the era where Internet of Things (IoT) is a commonly used term, more and more things get connected with each other. The upcoming release of Levi’s in collaboration with Google, the Jacquard Trucker Jacket, shows the newest developments in that field.

In the sleeve of the Levi’s jacket, a small tag combined with touch sensitive fabric is included. The ‘Jacquard Tag’ connects the jacket to your phone. It’s connected via Bluetooth and communicates with the Jacquard app. By personalizing your settings in the app, you can let the tag function exactly as you like, choosing the abilities and gestures you want. The featured abilities enable you to take photos, answer calls, and play music right from your sleeve. Jacquard also provides the user with alarms – like when you left your phone somewhere – by using vibrations and light (Google, 2019).

In 2017 an earlier version of this jacket was already on the market. This time, the jackets are going to be less expensive, more widely available and will look much more like the original versions of the Levi’s jacket. Also, the tag is not going to be weaved into the cuff anymore and is much smaller (The Verge, 2019). The jacket can still do the same as the older version, but with new features. One single gesture can now trigger a photo, the “My Day” feature will tell you your daily schedule, and “Ask Assistant” can be used for commands of your choice including the weather forecast or jokes. Especially “Ask Assistant” gives Jacquard a whole new level of functionality (9to5google, 2019).

This all sounds very exciting but leaves us with some questions too. When we already have a lot of gadgets with similar functions like Bluetooth headphones, are these features really going to attract a lot of buyers? What new problem are they trying to solve that is not already solved?

“Google” (2019) Accessed on 2 October 2019 on https://atap.google.com/jacquard/collaborations/levi-trucker/

“The Verge” (2019) Accessed on 2 October 2019 on https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/30/20888909/google-levi-project-jacquard-available-trucker-sherpa-jackets-price-design

“9to5google” (2019) Accessed on 2 October 2019 on https://9to5google.com/2019/09/30/levis-trucker-jacket-jacquard/

Do you remember when supermarkets still had in-store butchers and bakers? Over time a lot of supermarkets are evolving, adding and subtracting characteristics. Whereas in-store butchers and bakers are no longer a certainty when visiting a supermarket, “to-go” items, fresh products and meals under the name ‘deli’, and superfoods are included in the usual assortment now. And whereas people would get all their groceries for a whole week and would get their more than packed shopping carts in a long queue, this process is now disrupted by online orders, self-serve scanning and checkout-less shopping. This makes us wonder, what else will change to grocery shopping as we know it now? Will supermarkets in a physical form even exist in the future?

Big experiments like Amazon Go, a supermarket without shopping carts and cashiers, are already happening. But according to Brewer et al. (2018) “retailers shouldn’t rush to rip out their registers just yet. Retail is littered with promising technologies introduced with great fanfare that didn’t become mainstream because they didn’t sufficiently benefit either the retailer or the customer.” Retail industry experts interviewed by the Guardian all agree that the way physical stores operate and serve their customers will change, implementing several new technologies that will make shopping more convenient and personal. What they do not see happening, is physical stores disappearing forever (the Guardian, 2017).

What can we expect for the nearby future? The overarching theme will be personalization. By using artificial intelligence and augmented reality supermarkets will be able to track and target shoppers, trying to tempt them with specials. This means you can get a push notification on your phone with an offer for your favorite yoghurt, when you are walking through the diary aisle. When augmented reality will be implemented, the (personal) offers would pop up on your phone camera screen as you are walking through the supermarket (The new daily, 2019).

Brewer, D., Faigen, G., & Harrison, N. (2018). Why amazon’s grocery store may not be the future of retail. Harvard Business School Cases, Feb 01, 2018, P1
“The Guardian” (2017) Accessed on 25 September 2019 on https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2017/jan/25/what-store-future-look-like-retail-technology
“The new daily” (2019) Accessed on 25 September 2019 on https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/tech/2019/06/20/supermarket-future-changes-technology/