The Dallas Morning News: J.C. Penney is melding its online and in-store presence with something it calls a "smart fixture," a device that hasn't been given a permanent name. The door-frame-sized black structure has a neon light perimeter. Its 52-inch touchscreen runs an application that allows shoppers to scan an item to learn about the item's features, colors, sizes and even washing instructions, and that information can be e-mailed. Future smart fixtures will have credit-card readers attached, making them shopping kiosks controlled remotely from Penney's headquarters. Multiple fixtures may be clustered into self-service checkouts that can be monitored by one associate, similar to how supermarkets do it.
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