We ALMOST sell flux capacitors

Today is October 21, 2015 - the day Marty McFly and Dr Emmett Brown found themselves in Back to the Future II. A vision was laid before us of flying cars, hoverboards and, er, public fax machines.

We never thought that the future would arrive so quickly, and be so different - and yet so similar - to how it was imagined. Of course, so much that we thought would change has stayed the same; flying cars, a staple on the wish-list of every futurist since HG Wells, has yet again failed to materialise. Perhaps we should finally mothball that one?

Anyway, we thought it would be fun to look at the things Rapid sells today that the movie accurately predicted, and look at the ones that got away:

Quadcopters

In Back to the Future II, robotic drones are seen walking dogs. Unmanned aerial vehicles have been common in a number of fields for several years, from the military to retail, although dog-walking is an application yet to be utilised. We sell a range of quadcopters for hobbyist use, some with integrated cameras, GPS and video glasses for that extra futuristic touch. 

Webcams 

Video calling was not a new idea in 1989, when Robert Zemeckis' movie was released. Stanley Kubrick had featured it in 2001: A Space Odyssey, made in 1968, but neither Kubrick nor Zemeckis envisioned the technology taking place on handheld screens or portable personal computers, as it does in the real 2015. Webcams that clip to laptops make it possible to Skype, not to mention making your own TV shows!

Wearable technology

While self-lacing shoes remain only at the development stage at Nike, other forms of wearable tech have become commonplace. The goggles and headsets worn at the McFly dinner table are uncannily similar to Google Glass and the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. Wrist-mounted fitness monitors help runners and health fanatics keep a check on their heart rate, blood pressure and calorific burn, while kits like this one introduce people to incorporating sensors into textiles.

While the technology existed in 1989, how Zemeckis would have loved to have foreseen the incredible advances in 3D printing. The way the cost of 3D printers has plummeted in recent years, and the wide-ranging real world applications of the technology, could mean the 3D printer becoming as ubiquitous a household appliance as a TV or microwave.

And of course there is The Big One: the internet. However, no one can accuse Zemeckis of the cinematic equivalent of rejecting The Beatles - the World Wide Web having only been invented by Tim Berners-Lee the same year as the film was released. A world without email, social media and the Internet of Things now seems as ridiculous as one WITH a flying DeLorean.

And while we do not sell flux capacitors, we do sell flux core solder - and a comprehensive range of capacitors.

Be Our Guest

We all love buying online, but you would probably agree that sometimes the checkout and registration process on websites can be a bit tiresome - more Basil Fawlty than faultless. As part of the most recent update to our desktop and mobile websites, we have introduced a number of features that will help things run a little smoother.

Single page checkout

Firstly, we have streamlined the whole of the checkout process. Every stage of the process - Basket, Delivery Details, Review Order, Payment - is now on the same screen. This makes the checkout a much smoother, more intuitive and hopefully quicker process for customers:

We will, we will, stock you!

We know it's frustrating to search for something on our website and see products returned with different stock statuses - some 'In stock', others 'Stocked in our European warehouse', some even 'Discontinued'. Customers can now filter search results to distinguish between products normally stocked in the UK and those stocked overseas with longer lead times. Please note that this is not a filter to only see ‘In stock items’ - although we are working on functionality that excludes products being listed that are out of stock.

Guest checkout

If you're reading this, then you're probably a registered customer of ours, perhaps even with a credit account.

But not everyone wants to create an online account or remember a password. They just want to place an order on our website, leave, then come back again another day and do the same thing. That is why we have recently introduced a guest checkout, giving customers the opportunity to place an order without registering.

If customers have items in their basket, they will have the option of either signing in or using the guest checkout: 

The only details you will be asked to enter are your email address, name and delivery address. Once you place your order you will be given the option of registering, or activating an offline account which your business may hold at Rapid. The email address you enter has to be one that is not already associated with a registered account at Rapid - otherwise you will be prompted to sign in to that account.

Obviously there are a number of advantages to registering - such as being able to save your baskets, view your order history, see the status of your current order, access your invoices, add different delivery addresses, create personalised order codes and the opportunity to apply for credit facilities. If customers want to benefit from the full experience of being a Rapid customer, we still suggest that they sign up. 

On our mobile website - m.rapidonline.com - unregistered customers have the ability to view the status of their order - but that is all.

Please let us know what you think of the changes we have made.

http://www.rapidonline.com/