As he entered the department, his smartphone identified him to the information system in the demonstration arena. He was automatically given a place in queue for help. As his turn came up, the demonstrator used half a minute to read through Jan Eirik’s preferences: what kind of other housekeeping machines he owned or had got presented, his education and his own description of his skills and interests, and last: what kind of products Jan Eirik had search information about lately. Searches that he had permitted to be linked to his profile file. This way the demonstrator could adapt to the right technical and practical level when he was supposed to demonstrate what Jan Eirik would ask to get demonstrated. He walked over to Jan Eirik smiling.
The demonstration arenas were an offer to the customers after the ordinary retailers failed to meet the competition from the internet stores. Between 2015 and 2020 several big chains had to pull in because of a more or less complete sales break down. The did simply not realize early enough what they had to offer the customer to use them instead of the internet; superb knowledge of the products and the skills to read the customers need and thereby offer the customer their best deal. People just got tired of going to the stores just finding a teenager with less knowledge of the products they sold than they self. Different comparison product tests published in the internet turned normally out to be more reliable than what they were told at the stores. And when it almost always was possible to find an internet provider with lower prices than the stores, it was no future for the stores. But what failed in this new world was the possibility of having a “hands on” evaluation of the products. Software did most often not need it, 30 days trials did the work, but for sport equipment and other “hard ware” the need of the possibility to take a closer look at the equipment was there; a need not possible to fulfill through examine friends stuff.
Then the brother and sister Joe and Elena Kolodez came up with the idea about the demonstration arenas. Or said another way, they were the first ones able to wrap the idea into a working business model. They managed to collect enough producers or importers willing to pay for a common arena where their products could be demonstrated to anyone who wanted to; together with the competitors’ products. The producers made the training programs for the demonstrators, in their own interest as good as they could be. And the sail itself was made through the competing internet resellers as before eliminating the need of stock at the demonstration areas.
“Hello Jan Eirik, my name is Nicolay Hansen. What can I do for you?” the demonstrator asked. “I saw in your profile that the new Clean House Automated’s Sterile Home has been of your interest lately. Would you like to have a look at that one?”
Jan Eirik confirmed that this was the purpose of the visit, and Nicolay took him to the part of the department where these machines were located. As the demonstrator told Jan Eirik the details about how the machine worked, he simultaneously spread a mix of all kinds of dirt into a house model of a kitchen and living room. The mix was dust of different kinds, pollution particles as to be found in the city’s air, evaporated fat as from cooking, soil, and different liquids as milk, red wine, and sugar lemonade. Afterwards he throw some toys, single socks and other clothes into the living room, and placed a Pad tablet and some other stuff on both the kitchen and living room tables.
He then started the house keeping machine and the both of them watched how it took care of the pollutions and cleaned up the other mess.
“Any questions?” the demonstrator asked. “Yes” Jan Eirik answered, “is there any other products I could buy instead of this one? Does any other machine offer the same functionality?” “No, I am afraid not” the demonstrator answered. He made a short summary of the different other state of the art house keeping machines, what they were able to, their pros and cons and so on.
After some further discussions Jan Eirik made up his mind and decided to buy the machine. They went over to a screen integrated into one of the walls. The demonstrator called up the offers from the internet suppliers offering the machine. He compared the prices with the rating of the suppliers. One of them had actually the nerve to make a special offer of this brand new machine, something Jan Eirik though was because it was relatively young company which needed to attract customers. After a few moments considerations he decided to take the change, and placed his order there.