This year, 2012, is the 50th anniversary of the space-age animated sitcom, The Jetsons.
For those young enough to be blissfully ignorant of Hanna-Barbera’s sister sitcom to The Flintsones, it centred on the exploits of an average family living in the mid-21st century. It was known for its fantastic and whimsical inventions, and while we’re not all whizzing around in flying cars or jetpacks just yet, many of the gadgets in The Jetsons are part of our lives half a century later.
The Jetsons predicted the robot vacuum cleaner (the Roomba by iRobot), and moving walkways (everywhere in airports and some shopping centres), but from a retail perspective, it was more prescient in the way it featured video screens.
Way before Skype or Facetime, the Jetsons communicated via video rather than telephone. In today’s Jetsons retail world, shoppers think nothing of snapping a pic of a product on their mobile phones, or taking a quick video grab, and sharing it on social media to help assess their selection.
The Jetsons also predicted the Internet. George Jetson got his news via a “televiewer” rather than a newspaper, and performed his job at the touch of a button (as Life Magazine noted, this was pretty much a computer mouse). If one thing has transformed retail, it’s the Internet and online shopping, no matter which screen it’s delivered via – desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile phone.
When relaxing, The Jetsons watched large screen, flat-panel TVs, which anticipated the flood of electronic entertainment devices that have been a big driver of retail sales over the last few years. (They didn’t predict deflation however, which is a major problem for electronics retailers in the second decade of the 21st century!)
In our use of screens in retail today, we’ve gone beyond even what the writers of The Jetsons could dream up. Digital signage is the norm (sometimes executed larger than life, like the massive screens in Times Square New York City). “Endless aisles” (in-store internet to access the rest of a retailer’s inventory) are everywhere. And virtual mirrors (like the ones in OPSM’s Eye Hub) are helping customers try on and compare sunglasses or apparel.
Fifty years after The Jetsons aired, and half a century before the show is set, we’re living in their world. The future is now. We’ve arrived at the intersection of retail and technology, and it will continue to be a massive driver of our business… in ways we’ve yet to imagine.
The closing credits of The Jetsons featured George being stuck on an out of control treadmill suspended in space. (Get your nostalgia fix below).
As he flies around the treadmill, George calls out “Jane, stop this crazy thing”. For retailers in 2012, this “crazy thing” is not stopping – it’s only accelerating.
Jon Bird is CEO of specialist retail marketing agency IdeaWorks. Email: jon.bird@ideaworks.com.au Blog: www.newretailblog.com Twitter: @thetweetailer
