How Traditional Stores Are Using Technology to Track Customers

NEW YORK, United States — Brick-and-mortar retailers are utilizing totally different monitoring applied sciences to raised perceive their prospects and sustain with e-commerce big Amazon. Here’s a sampling of the totally different monitoring strategies accessible to shops:

Ground Sensors

Paper-thin tiles developed by Milwaukee-based Scanalytics measure foot compressions to research folks’s actions over time so shops know what merchandise shows draw prospects’ consideration and for a way lengthy. That permits companies to check what sells, know when to schedule workers for busy instances, and what retailer structure is only. The expertise may nonetheless be too expensive for smaller retailers, nonetheless.

Clever Video Cameras

Corporations reminiscent of Toronto-based Vendlytics and San Francisco-based Prism use synthetic intelligence with video cameras to research physique motions. That may enable shops to ship personalized coupons to buyers in real-time on a digital shelf or on their cellphones on an app.

Movement Sensors

Sunglass Hut and perfume maker Jo Malone are utilizing laser and movement sensors from Perch Interactive to inform when a product is picked up however not purchased. The expertise may make suggestions for comparable objects on an interactive show.

Wi-Fi Beacons

Wi-Fi beacons can monitor buyer actions — so long as they connect with the shop’s web. As a result of not everybody opts in, shops have a smaller pattern measurement to research. One other downside is that it isn’t doable to inform whether or not a buyer is inches or ft from a product.