I expect to eventually see big retail outlets where there is only stock for trying things out. No buying at the store but you could complete your online order while at the store and have it same day/ next day.
You'd go in the store and look at the merchandise, all of it in glass cases. You'd use a little golf pencil to mark the order sheet they gave you at the door for what you wanted.
When you were done shopping, you'd give your form to the guy at the register. They'd ring you up and someone in the back of the store would collect all the stuff you just bought from the warehouse racks and bring it out for you.
I was amazed something like that existed in the 90s. I have a hard time envisioning that we'd see something like that again. I mean that's how grocery stores worked once, but the market changed with self-service.
I'll occasionally "window shop" at stores, but I only do that if I know the prices are really different. If it's a $10 difference and I'm already in the store, why wait for someone to ship it to me, even if it arrives later that day?
In the UK there is a big chain called Argos which still does this, right down to the employees fetching the goods. This might be related to the fact that big-box retail space in the UK is much harder to come by.
Oh yes. When I lived in a small town we had a Sears catalog store. You went in and ordered your stuff there and then picked it up at the same place (this is pre-UPS). There weren't enough people living in our tiny burg for anybody to operate a full-blown department store, but the catalog store only had a couple employees and allowed us to pick up and handle a reasonable selection of the things we could then order through the catalog. I think the staff would help you measure yourself so you'd get the right size when you ordered clothing.
It left the store shelves looking a lot less cluttered than they would have otherwise been, and I suspect also protected against shoplifting.
Always liked that store, actually. They sold all sorts of stuff.