In 1962, the Simpson's department store in Toronto used an IBM computer to help customers select Christmas gifts, based on the characteristics of the recipients.1 I came across a video that shows how it worked.
The IBM 1401 computer (below) was pre-programmed with 3000 categorized gifts.2 A customer described the gift recipient: their age range, their interests, their gender (male, female, or couple), the gift category (e.g. apparel, personal, or "the man who has everything"), and the price range (ranging from $5 to "money is no object").
This information was punched onto a card by an operator (called a "girl" in the interview) using an IBM 26 keypunch, as shown below.
After running the card through the computer, a gift list with ten suggestions was printed on the IBM 1403 line printer. The list was torn off and given to the customer to help with their shopping.
The gift suggestions included a King James bible, Eskimo soapstone, a leather-covered cigarette case, Cossack boots, a Marabou-trim bed jacket, Roto-Shine electric shoe polisher ($26.95), a table lighter in the design of an antique pistol ($4.95), a soda siphon ($15.95) "a little more expensive, probably for your father or your husband", an electrified magnifying glass "to read the stock market report" ($7.95), or moccasins trimmed with seal fur ($6.95). (Gift ideas seem to have changed drastically since the 1960s.)
The interviewer suggested that this computer might take all the fun out of Christmas shopping and called it a "Santa monster", but the operator insisted that most people need some help with their shopping. It must have been an unusual experience for people to encounter a computer in person back then, but this gift computer was very popular, with 2000 people a day using it.
I announce my latest blog posts on Twitter, so follow me @kenshirriff. I also have an RSS feed. Thanks to Tim and Lisa Robinson for tracking down the newspaper clipping.
Notes and references
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The video is Christmas Shopping the IBM Way, broadcast on CBC on Dec 18, 1962. The host was Anna Cameron with guest Brian Finney. (Only the first part of the video shows the computer system; most of the video discusses the gift choices in detail.) The system was also discussed in a CBC Radio segment, Christmas Computer Selects the Perfect Gift, reported by Jim McLean and Joelle Pearson on Dec 4, 1962. The radio interview also discusses the use of the system at Gimbel's department store in New York. ↩
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The IBM 1401 computer is just barely visible in the video, so here's a photo that shows an IBM 1401 computer more clearly.
An IBM 1401 computer. The line printer (1403) is in the foreground, while IBM 729 tape drives are in the background. This computer is at the Computer History Museum.
3 comments:
> A customer described the gift recipient: ***their age range***, their interests, ---their age range---, their gender
"their age range" twice
Not related to computers but Simpson's was (I believe) absorbed by Sears who closed up shop here in Canada several years ago...however Simpson's flagship store in downtown Toronto lives on as a Hudsons Bay store.
Unfortunately the video does not seem to be available anymore.
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