• At the Infosys campus in Bangalore and at major business exhibitions and retail stores in parts of US and Europe, an innovation called the Magic Mirror made its first appearance over the past year.

• In January this year, at the Wipro campus in Chennai, and at a major retail sector exhibition in the US, an intelligent, next-generation, robotic retail shopping assistant made its appearance.

As retail giants around the world look to transform shopping experiences from the mundane to the fantastic, India’s IT giants, largely confined to the IT services sector until now, are contributing innovations to turn shopping science fiction into reality. Using radio frequency identification (RFID), wireless, mobile phone and information technology, India’s IT giants are looking to gain sizable ground in a fast emerging market for front-end retail technologies.

The Magic Mirror for instance, can be typically mounted on a wall in the changing room of the apparel section of a retail store. Short of telling you who is the fairest one of all, the mirror on the wall can provide you details of the shirt or top you picked to try on in the trial room, alternatives in the same or other sizes; the best trouser or skirt, socks or shoe match for your pick.

The Magic Mirror even sends out messages to shop assistants to bring you additional or alternate products of your choice—without you stepping out of the trial room. The mirror, having received rave reviews in the US, is one among a set of innovations created at Infosys applying the not-so-new radio frequency identification technology.

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