Go online and window-shop from home

by Adam Leyland

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Google's new ‘Street View Inside’ service allows users to opt in and wander round virtual cafes, restaurants, bookshops and more using 360-degree photographs of their interiors.

The company is even considering allowing customers to interactively click on menus and read about special offers throughout the store.

The project, which has been already trialed in the US, Paris and now London, is expected to launch early next year.

Its aim is to promote local businesses in time for the upcoming Olympic Games in 2012.

Trials

Primrose Hill Books on Regents Park Road, resides amongst dozens of other independent shops and its owner, Jessica Graham, was one of the first businesses to trial the new package.

“Technology is moving really quickly, and you have to extend your reach. Now that this application is here, it is a perfect vehicle to do that,” she says.

“You can’t expect people to just come through the door anymore. You can’t stand still and you have to change your approach to advertising all the time.”

“It will be a completely different way of doing business. You really have to embrace these kinds of innovations. My library has never been visual before, and there is something about seeing a room full of books that seduces people.”

Private residences, hospitals, law firms and big corporate chains are currently being excluded from the project.

Quoted in the Evening Standard, Google spokesperson Ed Parsons said: “We're interested in seeing how effective letting people see inside of shops is. Every supermarket looks pretty much the same, but with independent shops you're never quite sure what they'll look like.”

Not convinced

However, not everyone is convinced. Second year BA Surface Design student, Lisa Killoran does not see the point: “To be honest I'm pretty indifferent to the idea. I don’t need to know what the inside of a shop looks like.”

The innovation is spreading like wildfire across the capital, as hundreds of other establishments jump on board.

Even Primrose Hill Books’ neighbour, the local pet shop, has now got Street View Inside representing them.

Graham feels that the application will bridge a gap between customers and the shop. “A colleague of mine mentioned that she felt she knew me better after looking at the application,” she laughs.

“The interactive aspect of the Google application really resonates with the experience of going into a bookshop,” says Graham.

Although the application is still being designed, a sample of Graham’s shop has been made available, and has already drawn interest: “Someone came into the shop the other day and said 'I saw something on the interactive site that really caught my eye, what was that yellow book by the door?”