Personal Shopping and Mobile Payments Combine with Zebra Technologies’ PS20

Personal shopping was, for a long time, thought to be solely the domain of the rich and powerful. Now, with mobile payments advancing and delivery becoming table stakes rather than a competitive distinguisher, a personal shopper is becoming much more accessible. Zebra Technologies recently tipped us off about a substantial new development with its PS20, a new Android-based device that puts the personal shopper almost in the palm of your hand.

With the Zebra PS20, store associates and managers alike get access to a range of new apps and similar technology that help make the whole personal shopper concept so efficient that it too can become table stakes in the retail game.

It includes a barcode reader, a microphone, and can even work hands-free with a set of proximity sensors. It’s actually the first Zebra personal shopping system (PSS) that can support Visible Light Communication technology for faster location of items.

Zebra Technologies general manager for enterprise mobile computing Joe White noted As one of the first major players to enter the personal shopping technology space, Zebra continues to improve its solutions to help retailers address rapidly rising competitive pressures to deliver exceptional, efficient shopping experiences. The next-generation, Android-based PS20 has evolved to meet the needs of shoppers, staff and management alike, giving retailers a performance edge to support today’s consumers in the on-demand economy.”

This is actually good news for retailers, who have long been trying to find a way to more effectively compete with the online market. By reducing shopping down to this kind of speed and efficiency-and hopefully tying in mobile payments alternatives with it-shopping for the end user becomes as easy as online shopping, with none of the wait for shipping to conclude.

With a tool like Zebra’s on hand, the only real downside that brick-and-mortar retailers have to contend with is a limited selection of merchandise, and that potentially could be addressed by keeping other stores in the area or at least a warehouse. Regardless, this is certainly going to improve the brick-and-mortar experience for customers, adding in that personalization touch that could get some away from the online shopping market altogether.