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Shops and retailers are taking over where street cameras left off, watching shoppers' every move.
According to a 2015 survey of 150 retail executives from IT services firm Computer Services Corporation, a quarter of all British shops and 59% of fashion retailers use facial recognition software. Such technology is vital as offline stores attempt to keep up with online retailers, said Duncan Mann, chief operating officer at retail analysis firm Hoxton Analytics. "Online retailers gather all kinds of information about shoppers and physical stores also want to understand how people behave in a shop," he said. But, he admits: "A lot of these technologies are kind of invasive."
Hoxton has come up with a novel way of measuring footfall - literally by filming people's shoes. Sherlock Holmes-like, its system can deduce a remarkable amount of information such as age, gender and social class of shoppers from their footwear. "We have cameras at about 50cm off the ground and it points down so it is less invasive than facial recognition," he explains. It is surprisingly accurate. It spots the correct gender 80% of the time, better than some facial recognition technologies, according to Mr Mann.
Looks like this tech will arrive just after Amazon has put them all out of business.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 26 2017, @11:26AM
In a way, its kinda funny how many hoops some businesses will jump through, how many ads they will try to force onto us, only to make terrible first impressions by presentation of "businesstalk" at first contact. Squirrely businesstalk that makes their company look like a gold-digger at a social.
Things like putting a large number on the screen.. like 3 payments of $33!
And wait! There's more! Buy NOW and we will send a second one FREE! That's right! You get TWO of these marvelous things for just three easy payments of 33 dollars!
Just as my excitement begins to build over getting one, I already have a figure of $99 in mind, accurate to the penny.
But the head does not stop there. It continues yammering. "Just pay additional fee"... as if its nothing. How much? Undefined!
Now, just how many times has that head hocked up "just pay additional fee"? How many additional fees, taxes, shipping, whatever are we talking? Head won't say. It wants me to call. I'll be damned to waste my time to call somebody who has already started this relationship off trying to trick me. By this time, I am simply pissed. I maybe make a note to look them up on the internet and yelp them, but by that time, the excitement of purchase has subsided, and reason has returned. Really, now, do I really want to initiate contact with that motormouth again? Will it be truthful with me or just present me with another spiel of businesstalk?
Wasn't it Nancy Pelosi who commented on having to pass the healthcare act so as to find out what was in it?
Am I going to have to buy one to find out how much it costs? Not only that, I can see the way they are talking and flashing stuff on and off the screen, I feel I have just been invited to a shell game. Savings! Savings! Savings! Twirl the cups! Quick! Which cup has the Savings! followed by Sucker! We got your money and you ain't getting it back - we did our thing and sent you something in a box. Are you gonna sue us? We are a Business! We have money! Your money! His money! Everyone's money!
I'm afraid after my mind gets in that rut, forget doing business.
Years of preparing a product for development and marketing. 60 seconds to have a television ad-head completely having the customer believe its a scammy shell-game.