Smell already exists online via TriSenx and Oakland-based DigiScents. So taste becomes a natural evolution. TriSenx will provide a machine, called the UltraSenx, which combines the codes to generically re-create flavors that are then dispensed onto a wafer similar to those served at communion. An FDA-approved extract is deposited onto a wafer, which is then ejected out of the machine for sampling. TriSenx says it is in talks to license the technology to retailers so they can mix flavors that more precisely match the taste of their products.
Fit is always the more challenging part of a sale, even in stores or catalogs with sizing charts.
The length may be off, sleeves too short or the waist just wrong. But Internet retailers are aiming to fix all of that. They're ratcheting up efforts to use technology that lets shoppers build virtual models of themselves so that they can try clothes on online. A three-dimensional you. The image is as good as looking in the mirror.