Saturday, April 27, 2013

Shopping for diapers or condoms?


A strong litmus test for shoppers: Do you enjoy the small walk from one escalator to another while shopping in a store? If yes, you are the ‘I don’t wanna miss anything’ kind of shopper. If no, you are the ‘I need to finish my shopping list’ kind of shopper. Shopper you are, in any case.

However, identifying these little subtleties in consumer behavior can be of great value to retailers. And that’s why stores are extensively using video analytics to unlock information on customer patterns, trends and behaviors. 

Let’s say a store positions diapers next to condoms. Through video analytics, retailers can identify consumer behavior in terms of how long customers take to decide before making their purchase, whether they make the purchase with/without kids, the speed with which they walk through each section, their gender and their age.

Not only that, based on the volume of traffic entering the store, retailers can be alerted of the need to open additional tills proactively before queues start to form. Also, by counting the number of people in each part of the store, video analytics can locate ‘hot zones’ – those with the most customer activity – to help maximise in-store promotional campaigns, and identify ‘cold zones’ to determine how store layout changes can improve customer traffic flow.

So next time you visit your local store that suddenly has positioned diet products next to swim wear, there is a good chance that they know you are trying to lose weight for your vacation to Ibiza this summer!




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