Do Not Want This Future of Shopping

On the same day Google announced that its Shopping Express was available to all Bay Area residents, eBay Enterprise Marketing Solutions head of strategy John Sheldon was telling a roomful of clients that there will soon come a time when customers won’t be ordering stuff from eBay anymore. Instead, they’ll let their phones do it.

Sheldon believes the “internet of things” is creating a data-saturated environment that will soon envelope commerce. In a chat with WIRED, he describes a few hypothetical examples that sound like they’re already within reach. Imagine setting up a rule in Nike+, he says, to have the app order you a new pair of shoes after you run 300 miles. Or picture a bicycle helmet with a sensor that “knows” when a crash has happened, which prompts an app to order a new one.

I know that this is suppose to sound like the future, but if this is the future of shopping, I don’t want it. What if I want a different pair of shoes after 300 miles, or what if I don’t have the money to spend on a new pair of shoes? Technology, automation, and money are things that can work well together (like automating your savings or paying your bills), but this is one form of shopping that I’ll be opting out of in the future.

Photo: Google

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