Providing An Enhanced Shopping Experience
Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for enhancing a shopping experience that include: determining, by a self-checkout terminal, that a shopper invoked a help event; selecting, by the self-checkout terminal in dependence upon the help event, a shopper assistant to assist the shopper; and providing, by the self-checkout terminal to the shopper, distinguishing information identifying the shopper assistant.
1 . A method of providing an enhanced shopping experience, the method comprising:
determining, by a self-checkout terminal, that a shopper invoked a help event;
selecting, by the self-checkout terminal in dependence upon the help event, a shopper assistant to assist the shopper; and
providing, by the self-checkout terminal to the shopper, distinguishing information identifying the shopper assistant.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the help event further comprises an intervention event during a self-checkout session invoked by the self-checkout terminal.
3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the help event further comprises an assist request event during a self-checkout session invoked by the shopper.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein providing, by the self-checkout terminal to the shopper, distinguishing information identifying the shopper assistant further comprises displaying, on a display at the self-checkout terminal, an image of the shopper assistant.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein providing, by the self-checkout terminal to the shopper, distinguishing information identifying the shopper assistant further comprises displaying, on a display at the self-checkout terminal, an identifier of the shopper assistant.
6 . The method of claim 1 further comprising notifying the shopper assistant of the help event.
7 . The method of claim 1 further comprising notifying security of the help event.
8 . A self-checkout terminal for providing an enhanced shopping experience, the apparatus comprising a computer processor, a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions for:
determining, by the self-checkout terminal, that a shopper invoked a help event;
selecting, by the self-checkout terminal in dependence upon the help event, a shopper assistant to assist the shopper; and
providing, by the self-checkout terminal to the shopper, distinguishing information identifying the shopper assistant.
9 . The self-checkout terminal of claim 8 wherein the help event further comprises an intervention event during a self-checkout session invoked by the self-checkout terminal.
10 . The self-checkout terminal of claim 8 wherein the help event further comprises an assist request event during a self-checkout session invoked by the shopper.
11 . The self-checkout terminal of claim 8 wherein providing, by the self-checkout terminal to the shopper, distinguishing information identifying the shopper assistant further comprises displaying, on a display at the self-checkout terminal, an image of the shopper assistant.
12 . The self-checkout terminal of claim 8 , wherein providing, by the self-checkout terminal to the shopper, distinguishing information identifying the shopper assistant further comprises displaying, on a display at the self-checkout terminal, an identifier of the shopper assistant.
13 . The self-checkout terminal of claim 8 , further comprising computer program instructions for notifying the shopper assistant of the help event.
14 . The self-checkout terminal of claim 8 , further comprising computer program instructions for notifying security of the help event.
15 . A computer program product for providing an enhanced shopping experience, the computer program product disposed upon a computer readable storage medium, the computer program product comprising computer program instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to carry out the steps of:
determining, by a self-checkout terminal, that a shopper invoked a help event;
selecting, by the self-checkout terminal in dependence upon the help event, a shopper assistant to assist the shopper; and
providing, by the self-checkout terminal to the shopper, distinguishing information identifying the shopper assistant.
16 . The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the help event further comprises an intervention event during a self-checkout session invoked by the self-checkout terminal.
17 . The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the help event further comprises an assist request event during a self-checkout session invoked by the shopper.
18 . The computer program product of claim 15 wherein providing, by the self-checkout terminal to the shopper, distinguishing information identifying the shopper assistant further comprises displaying, on a display at the self-checkout terminal, an image of the shopper assistant and an identifier of the shopper assistant.
19 . The computer program product of claim 15 further comprising computer program instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to carry out the step of notifying the shopper assistant of the help event.
20 . The computer program product of claim 15 further comprising computer program instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to carry out the step of notifying security of the help event.