I would love to be able to offer a virtual tour of our store online. That way, if a customer wants to know where a specific product is located even before she leaves the house and heads to the store, our website would be able to take her to it virtually. Think of it like Google Earth 3D, only for inside the store.

-James Phetteplace, Information systems manager at Willy Street Co-op in Madison, Wis.

It would be great if our customers could price-check and recommend products in-store. We carry more than 6,500 SKUs, 2,800 of which have come from shopper recommendations, so to receive that information without them having to ask would be amazing. Typically, when one person requests something, 10 others want it, too, but would never ask.

-BJ Bollier, Co-owner of Vita-Mart in Payson, Ariz.

I would love electronic shelf tags that could be updated directly from the point-of-sale system. These would attach permanently to the shelves and show all of the info that our present tags provide. This would save a lot of time and money—and prices could be manipulated at a moment’s notice to maximize supply and demand.

-Aaron Gottschalk, General manager of Wildberries Marketplace in Arcata, Calif.

Sometimes a popular item goes out of stock and customers get upset because they hadn’t known we were running low. We’d love some sort of technology that would automatically send an email or text to all customers who opt in whenever we have 10 or fewer of a product remaining. Then they would know to stop in soon if they want this item. This would definitely help us offer better service.

-Alexa McGriff, Marketing director at Ozark Natural Foods in Fayetteville, Ark.