Abstract: A retail shopping facility having at least one public entrance, a customer service area, a product display area, and at least one point-of-sale (POS) station also has at least one scanner configured to remotely and uniquely identify a product previously purchased from the product display area as that product re-enters the retail shopping facility via the public entrance with a customer. That scanner provides corresponding identifying information regarding that returning product to a control circuit that in turn uses that information to automatically process an exchange transaction of the returning product for a substitute product in the product display area such that the exchange transaction occurs without the customer engaging either the customer service area or one of the POS stations.

Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to delivering requested merchandise to customers. In some embodiments, there is provided a system for locating customers in shopping facilities including: an electronic interface configured to receive a customer's request for a product at a shopping facility; at least one sensor configured to determine and monitor the customer's location in the shopping facility; and a control circuit configured to: identify the product requested by the customer; initiate a determination if the product is present at the shopping facility; if the product is present, provide an instruction to collect the product; determine the location of the customer in the shopping facility; monitor the location of the customer as the customer moves through the shopping facility; and instruct delivery of the collected product to the customer in the shopping facility.

Abstract: A retail shopping facility having at least one public entrance, a customer service area, a product display area, and at least one point-of-sale (POS) station also has at least one scanner configured to remotely and uniquely identify a product previously purchased from the product display area as that product re-enters the retail shopping facility via the public entrance with a customer. That scanner provides corresponding identifying information regarding that returning product to a control circuit that in turn uses that information to automatically process an exchange transaction of the returning product for a substitute product in the product display area such that the exchange transaction occurs without the customer engaging either the customer service area or one of the POS stations.

Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to communicating customized information about a product or service to customers based on the customers' values and preferences. In some embodiments, there is provided a system communicating sourcing stories about products or services to customers including: an electronic interface configured to receive input identifying a customer and input relating to a product or service; a first database communicatively coupled to the electronic interface, the first database containing data regarding the customer; a second database communicatively coupled to the electronic interface, the second database containing a plurality of sourcing stories about the product or service; and a control circuit operatively coupled to the electronic interface and the first and second databases, the control circuit configured to select one of the sourcing stories based on the customer data and to transmit the selected sourcing story to the customer.

Abstract: An apparatus comprises a virtual-reality user interface, a memory containing virtual-reality presentation information for a plurality of items available for retail sale as well as information including a plurality of partiality vectors for a particular customer, and a control circuit that operably couples to both the virtual-reality user interface and the memory. The control circuit selects a particular one of the plurality of items to present to the customer via the virtual-reality user interface as a function, at least in part, of the partiality vectors. The virtual-reality user interface can include, for example, an audio-content user interface and/or an active haptic-content user interface along with a visual interface. By one approach the control circuit presents particular ones of the plurality of items in an order of presentation that begins with a product that best accords with the customer's partiality vectors.

Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods provide a remote retail system comprising: a retail service control circuit that executes code to: identify a first customer remotely accessing a first rendered retail environment configured for the first customer; access a set of customer partiality vectors corresponding to the first customer; identify a first set of recommended products each having at least a threshold relationship between corresponding product partiality vectors and one or more of the first customer's partiality vectors; and communicate, to the customer computing system, recommendation content that dictates an organization of displayed representations of products in the first rendered retail environment specific to the first customer and causes graphical representations of the first set of recommended products to be displayed within the first rendered retail environment.