Take A Look At What You'll Eat

By Scott Leibs

hat do supermarkets have that Web sites don't? Checkout lines, parking hassles, and annoying music, certainly. But also free samples, new displays, and a host of other features that keep consumers abreast of the latest products and services.

That's a problem for Streamline and other online grocery suppliers. "You get to try new things and learn new things by walking the aisles," says Rob Levinson, a high-tech PR account rep who lives in Dover, Mass., and is a Streamline customer. "Streamline serves our replenishment needs fine, but if I make a side trip to the store, I may take a look at what's new."

Web developers are keenly aware of this. They're working hard to make sure that the online shopping experience grows richer without losing an y of its convenience. Computer vendors see a role for themselves, perhaps none more so than Intel. The microchip company is pushing a concept dubbed visual connected PCs, an ungrammatical buzz phrase that aims to make the "screen to screen" interaction between businesses and their customers as visually rewarding as possible.

That means not only fast connection speeds (largely out of Intel's hands) but also powerful microprocessors and software tools that facilitate various aspects of multimedia and graphical presentation. Streamline was one of a handful of companies that worked with Intel to demonstrate several potential uses of the visual connected PC.

What that can mean for the home grocery shopper is the ability to, for example, get a 360-degree and/or 3-D image of any product he or she may buy. "In 18 to 24 months, there will be no technological barriers to visual presentation of products online," says Timothy DeMello, Streamline's CEO. "When that happens, consumer acceptance will take off." Tom Jones, Streamline's CIO, adds that a typical customer might buy 75 to 100 items a week. "So how they interface, and what they see, is critical," Jones says.

Does a customer need to see a 360-degree view of, say, a box of detergent? Many observers say no. But Ron Whittier, an Intel senior VP and director of the company's content group, argues, "No one really knows what consumers want or need, so we may have to spend millions of instructions per second and throw horsepower even at representations of objects that are fairly mundane."

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