P&G's Tomorrow

Under its customary several shrouds of mystery, Procter & Gamble (Cincinnati) announced that its “Store of the Future,” containing never-before-seen in-store technologies, will be unveiled this fall in an unidentified North American city.

Joining with 20 suppliers and universities, P&G said it will be using the store to test new in-store technologies. For example, the company said, it is looking at bar codes to automatically determine in-stock availability of products; and wireless products that transfer a customer's shopping list to a device on the shopping cart that will automatically scan the products. And, said P&G, some day, though not this day, virtual reality technology will allow the testing of products and in-store experiences on consumers.