technology is growing daily. Think of your customer taking a picture of their kitchen and then with a few swipes adding a new floor, cabinets, appliances and lighting, totally customizing the scene. And because this technology can also provide exact measurements, the customer can decide how much tile is required, the size of the cabi- nets that they can have, the size of the appliances, and get an accurate cost estimate for that makeover. This is not science fiction; it is being done today by many retail- ers for components of it, and it will not take long until all of this ability becomes integrated into one simple app. Remember, one of the things the new consumer has learned to love is DIFM (Do It For Me), and there are thousands of apps and companies doing just that. Conversational Commerce Conversational Commerce, (think Alexa and Google Voice) is just in its infancy and yet it is quickly moving from the home to the auto to the mobile phone and to every part of our lives. People love to talk to their devices even more than just typing or swiping. As these helpers get more sophisticated, consumers will rely more and more on them to assist them in day to day living. They will ask Google or Alexa to show them what a new bathroom would look like, give a price and schedule an installer to make it happen. Voice is becoming the next frontier for acquiring products and services. These artificial intelligence devices will become smarter and smarter and more integrated into our everyday lives and that means how we buy things. The Internet of Things The Internet of Things (IoT) is simply adding smart technology to devices that can then be controlled or programmed to behave a certain way. Imagine your refrigerator with the ability to schedule a service visit when it knows that a part is failing, or a heated floor in the bathroom that turns on when you tell the shower to start and brings the floor to a preset temperature based on ambient temperature and the pref- erence of the individual taking the shower. The shower will also be the desired temperature for the indi- vidual based on the family mem- ber’s preference. The IoT device is imbedded in the water lines and in the floor heat controls. There is no end to how the IoT will change the way we live and interact with our environment. Try telling a 16-year- old today that there was a time that you had to get up and twist a dial to turn on a TV, and that to change the channel you had to get out of your chair, walk to the TV and turn the dial. This behavior seems almost quaint today. Just think about most of what we now do that will also seem quaint in 10 years! The three technologies that I described are here today; they are BUSINESS TIP ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 34 TileLetter | March 2019