Smart Shopping and warming shopping - That's shopping that's personal and impersonal at the same time

I've mentioned that I am without my camera at the moment and while I was visiting Tesco's today  I took my phone out to take a snap or two - I found my phone camera was brought to life by a bar-code  which struck me as interesting.

Offers products and big data

How would it be if when I did this with a Smart-Phone it came back and told me that this item was cheaper at Asda or advised that it contained additives that someone in family was allergic to, could it help with those blessed coupons?

There have been occasions where we've been shopping with some voucher that only kicks in after a certain amount of money has been spent and we've actually tried to keep a running total - I suppose this is not much of a challenge to do in the cloud.

This really is quite a battlefield  when I was at BT we were working with some big customers whop were looking at 'in store' and 'in mall' TV type services and some of these could go as far as suggesting when you bought some beers a few crisps would go nicely with them - it might be a nudge but nudges can be pretty effectivce when the right amoubnt of suggestion is used in the correct situation  - I would think Google Glass might have some application around these transactions too.

And personalising

Not all buying is about value, speed and efficiency undoubtedly there's emotion playing a big part too.
I got a nice surprise today as I received (by first class post) my signed insert for the recently acquired The News by Alain de Botton, it's perhaps a little unexpected that a personalisation of what is very much a mass produced  item can change the nature of the transaction between the producer and consumer. The item has become more valuable (personally and in money terms) and the nature of the purchase feels more human, we are all of course at the very least (or most) human and this feels like a small but tangible example of this.

To be stuck in.