Oh, the Possibilities (OPINION)

Forty years ago in an Ohio supermarket, the first barcode scanner was used, and the retail industry was drastically changed.

I’m sure the innovation seemed oh so futuristic at the time. Of course it’s just another technology we take for granted today.

What will the next 40 years bring? A Fayetteville intellectual property lawyer says one thing is true: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. clearly recognizes that developing its own innovations is the path to success.

Meredith Lowry, a partner at Smith Hurst PLC, and law clerk Brinkley Cook-Campbell, recently published the report “Save Money, Live Better, Protect Innovations: A Glimpse at Walmart’s New Inventions.”

It examines patents that have been granted to and filed for by Walmart in the last several months, and explains what the retailer may be doing with them.

Strategies involve using data to drive e-commerce, making shopping a more fun activity for children and addressing customer dissatisfaction.

Some of the possibilities are wild. In May, Walmart applied for a patent relating to systems and methods for improving customer service. A system could potentially use biometric data to measure a customer’s level of dissatisfaction.

Once at a certain level or there are a certain number of angry customers, additional employees may be sent to an area to assist customers.

The system, by the way, uses video cameras to monitor customers waiting in a checkout line — cameras with the ability to measure blood pressure and heart rate, which may then be used to identify angry or impatient customers.

In June, the company applied for a patent on a system to notify associates of cleanup jobs. The system would analyze images captured from cameras within the store and notifying an employee through a mobile device that there’s a spill in a certain area of the store.

Those may seem far-fetched, but gives you an idea of the possibilities.

If you’re curious about other technology possibilities Walmart may be working on, check out Lowry and Cook-Campbell’s insight at smithhurst.com.