>> Welcome to Microsoft Unboxed.
[MUSIC].
Every week we're diving into great stories
about Microsoft technology and the people behind them.
My name's Colleen O'Brien.
I'm one of your co-hosts and I'm here with
my friend and colleague, Sonia Dara.
>> Hello.
>> You're going to tell me a story that I've never heard
before and I'm going to share one with you.
This week's topic is Tech in Retail.
>> What has been your latest shopping spree?
>> To be honest, I use technology for all of my shopping.
I don't even go to the grocery store anymore.
>> Grocery store even?
>> I use an app to get my groceries delivered and it's great
because you can do your meal planning and it's not
dependent on what's there in the grocery store.
>> It takes like 45 minutes to get to the closest grocery store.
>> It is a 30 flight hike to get to the grocery store.
>> I've shifted more to
online shopping trying to still get out of fast fashion.
For those who don't know, fast fashion is
one of the biggest culprits for.
>> Textile waste.
>> Textile waste. Trying to get more into like
things that will last a little bit longer and so,
I could buy three sizes,
and what I don't like I return.
>> It's called the Slow Clothes Movement.
>> Slow Clothes Movement.
>> What makes technology really great here is
that you can spend a long time researching,
making sure you're getting the right thing.
>> Sustainable, materials, textiles.
>> Right.
>> But there are still some things like jean shopping.
I'm going to just go do it in person.
>> Do you have to try on some jeans but,
spoiler alert, I have some information for you.
>> Sweet. For a six foot tall girl?
>> Yeah. They're not discriminating with their technology.
My technology and retail story is about Gap Inc.
and how they're doubling down on
both their online experience and their in person experience.
Gap is a customer of ours which is
why we're so up to speed on all of
these technology investments and one of
the products that they're leveraging is Azure.
They're consolidating all of
their legacy systems and migrating hundreds of apps over to
Azure because they want to take
advantage of the elasticity of the Cloud Platform.
Picture this. It's Black Friday,
you want to take advantage of this really great deal.
But because so many people are hitting the same website at once,
you can't get the item because they're
migrating their systems to Azure.
Azure has this elasticity to make
sure when their web traffic spikes on,
say, a Black Friday,
>> Yeah.
>> That their website will be available for everyone who
wants access to that deal at the same time.
>> So you don't have to like camp out for like four days now
to shove in front of people for Black Friday?
>> Absolutely not. Stay in your snuggie,
make a turkey sandwich,
just hop online and you will get those deals.
>> How do you know I have a snuggie?
>> Doesn't everyone?
>> A gravity blanket snuggie?
>> Gravity snuggie?
I'm sure they're developing that.
>> We have the idea here first.
Don't take it.
>> If you do happen to get out of bed on Black Friday,
you will probably be pleasantly surprised by a lot of
the technology investments that brick and
mortar stores like Gap are making.
The first thing that was really exciting to me to read
about are these tech-enabled fitting room.
>> That actually reminds me,
there's a company we've partnered up with for
the Manchester fiasco called Finery.
If you've seen Clueless, which of course everyone.
If you haven't watched Clueless yet like after this episode.
>> Stop this video.
>> No. After this video, go watch clueless.
But you know how she goes through and
it digitizes her closet essentially.
Finery is doing that where it essentially scanning basically
all your receipts that you have from
previous purchases to actually
help you understand what's currently in your wardrobe.
It saves you time, it saves you money
so you don't have to go out and buy
new stuff that you actually might already have.
So then it also gives you inspiration for new fashion ideas,
things that you can use to complement what you already have,
and it's just a really cool technology
based upon something existing in the closet.
Maybe that's what Gap's going to do.
>> Yeah. They're also thinking about AI-Assisted Styling.
So like if you wear these pants,
what shirt should you wear with it?
They're going to do geo-targeted offers through mobile.
So maybe you walk into a store and it's like,
"Hey, we see that you're here.
We see that you're a loyal Gap customer.
Here is a coupon".
>> Or a reward system for coming in person
and putting on real lady pants and not.
>> Real lady pants?
>> But when you're trying to put on
real-world pants and not like pajamas.
>> I call them my housepants.
>> I guess mine are housepants, too
>> Like as soon as you get home,
you put on your housepants?
>> Do you leave your house with your housepants still on?
>> I try not to,
but they sneak out every once in a while.
>> For that hike off to the grocery store, apparently not.
>> Just to take the compost out.
>> That's so Seattle. Maybe you'll get new housepants.
>> That's the dream.
>> Whether you prefer to stay home in
your housepants and do some online shopping,
or you're wearing your housepants out.
>> In public.
>> In public, retail companies are making
these really interesting and awesome investments
to make the experience even better.
>> I'm going to talk about a startup that is helping
these brick and mortar stores get people out of
their housepants into their stores.
The startup is called Dogspot.
Dogspot is actually using technology to build doghouses.
>> Okay.
>> Outside of brick and mortar stores
to help keep your dogs safe while you go shop.
There's a lot of stores that don't allow little puppies
in and you have to tie them up outside and so,
maybe it's really bad weather,
maybe it's super hot and you have to leave them in
the car and you're worried about the windows,
someone can steal your dog.
Apparently, dog theft is on the rise like
terrible people out there that will actually steal a dog.
There are these dog houses outside of the stores.
They're temperature controlled.
>> Okay.
>> And the front door is shatter proof glass.
>> Okay, got it.
>> So the dog can still see out but he can breathe,
it has air conditioning. It's all.
>> It has air conditioning?
>> Yes.
>> I don't even have air conditioning in my home.
I might like to try one out.
>> I know, especially in the summer when it's like super.
>> There's no air conditioning in Seattle.
>> Whole point is you don't want your dog
sitting out in freezing rain or anything.
>> Great.
>> So they call it Smart Sidewalk Sanctuaries.
How's that for alliteration and a tongue twister.
>> I love it.
>> Smart Sidewalk Sanctuaries.
>> Originally funded through Microsoft for Startups.
So you download the app,
you get access to it for up to 90 minutes.
You can monitor your dog on your phone,
it has a camera inside.
So you can see how your dog's
doing, it's self-cleaning afterwards.
They'll have some people come and [inaudible] little accidents.
One of the coolest things for
the brick and mortar stores that are sponsoring this.
They noticed 48 percent of users switched where they actually
shop because of where these Dogspots were available.
>> As a former dog owner,
I would always do research like,
is the place that I'm about to go dog-friendly?
If not, where can I find a dog-friendly version of this?
>> Exactly, and then 40 percent have
gone to a store because there was a Dogspot there.
>> That's amazing.
>> So it's like they're walking across the street,
they see a Dogspot, they're like, "Oh, that's interesting."
They might not even have a dog but they will go to a store.
It's cool technology to place in that
makes it so much easier for people to take
off their housepants and get into
a store and make sure their dog's safe at the same time.
>> Yeah, it's like a little attraction for people to visit now.
>> Yeah, a little Smart Sidewalk Sanctuary.
>> Whether it's this incredible innovation that's
happening at brick and mortar shops
like Dogspot or these more intelligent dressing rooms,
there are such amazing advancements that are happening
at this intersection of retail and technology.
How about we move into Outside the Box, Colleen?
>> Great transition. You're going to have
30 seconds to answer this question.
Are you ready for it?
>> No.
>> What is the craziest fashion trend you ever rocked?
>> It has to be from the 90's.
>> Of course.
>> And it was the butterfly clips,.
>> Love those.
>> The bell bottoms.
The biggest culprit was the t-shirts that you
wore on top of a long-sleeved white shirt underneath.
>> Oh yeah. Doubling up.
>> That's like I'm limited, too. Yeah, doubled
up and overalls, too.
It was super gross.
>> They're like fashion overalls now.
>> Now. But back then it was just kind of
unfortunate and I had like a bowl cut to go along with it.
It was just a bad combo. It was bad.
>> All right. Time's up.
>> All right.
>> I'm ready.
>> What was your favorite item of clothing as a kid?
>> Remember before leggings,
there were the stretch pants.
These were like leggings but
just stretchy pants and then they have the stirrups at the bottom?
>> Oh yeah.
>> I had a pair of black and white striped ones that I wore
with everything even if it didn't really match what I was wearing.
>> Like put dresses on top?
>> Oh yeah. Anything and everything.
>> That's funny that we both got
clothing related things and there's
so many questions in here but we both got
clothing things for our retail episode.
>> The universe does the lining.
>> The box knows all.
[MUSIC].
>> If you want to submit questions for Outside the Box,
do so at the e-mail address below or comment on this video.
>> Make sure you subscribe to this show.
So click on the button.
We'll have a new episode every Thursday,
so make sure you tune in. Thanks for coming today.
>> Over and out.
>> Thanks for coming today.
Thanks for tuning in today.
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