Is the high-street ready for in-store customer analysis?
Ian Cairns, Sales Director of TalkTalk Business, discusses AI-powered data collection in retail, and how it is changing the game for high-street stores.
Customer behaviour monitoring isn’t a new concept for the retail sector. Shoppers are already monitored extensively online, and people are often happy to consent to cookies to browse under the watchful eye of tracking technology. Some might argue that behaviour tracking has become so common online that it’s expected.
When it comes to shopping in a physical store, however, many consumers expect a much higher level of privacy. Knowing that a camera is tracking their every move across a store, or monitoring the time spent lingering by a specific item can feel much more intrusive to consumers than a computer system tracking their clicks, though the data collected may be very similar. There are also important issues of access and security to consider. An increase in data requires reliable network solutions that provide the accessibility retailers need, as well as the security to keep this data from the hands of cybercriminals.
According to TalkTalk Business’ own research, in collaboration with Don’t Be Shy, 97% of Senior IT Decision Makers (ITDM’s) working in the retail industry believe that automated retail – from sensors that monitor store temperature and humidity to till-free shopping – will become the norm. Interestingly, only 30% of frontline workers agree. Whether this reflects a lack of understanding around the potential benefits that new technologies can bring, or a hesitancy caused by potential cybersecurity risks, it’s important to recognise that smart technologies are becoming increasingly commonplace across the high street.
So, what does in-store customer analysis look like, and how is it changing the in-store experience for workers and retailers alike?
3D LiDAR – unlocking a new dimension of data
One of the most popular tracking technologies currently being used in the retail sector is 3D LiDAR. Born out of the autonomous vehicle industry, LiDAR technology offers a wide range of exciting opportunities for forward-thinking retailers.
LiDAR works by using a laser to generate pulses of light and measuring the time it takes for that light to be reflected back to the device. This allows retailers to create accurate 3D maps of their stores and the people moving within them. As a result, retailers can track which aisles are visited most, the shelves attract the most attention and what paths customers take throughout the store. LiDAR, therefore, can provide retailers with the raw data needed to identify high and low traffic areas, as well as perform complex analysis of customer behaviour.
Compared to traditional video surveillance, 3D LiDAR provides data that is easier to analyse, more accurate and more secure. The data itself is anonymous and 100% GDPR-compliant, making LiDAR a reassuring addition to security-concerned retailers and customers alike. With LiDAR, retailers can maintain data privacy and compliance whilst also providing the benefits of technological innovation to customers and employees.
A till-free experience
The same 3D LiDAR technology used for in-store monitoring is also key to retail automation , which includes till-free shopping. When paired with video surveillance and weighted shelves, LiDAR allows retailers to track which items are chosen by the customer as they shop, as well as which products are picked up, only to be put down later. Then, when the customer leaves the store, the items in their basket are automatically debited from their preferred payment account and a receipt is sent to their phone.
Customer observation – collecting data from eye movement
New technology is also allowing innovative retailers to collect valuable data from customer’s eyes.
3D eye-tracking technology, paired with a depth-sensing camera, helps retailers understand what customers are interested in, and gather unbiased shelf-attention analytics. The technology can track how long it took customers to focus on a specific product, the number of times they looked at it, and how long they spent gazing.
Each tiny eye movement tells a story about the customer’s perception of the product. This can help retailers configure their stores in the most effective way, such as making key products more visible or organising shelves to increase attention around offers or discounts.
3D eye-tracking technology can also remotely record visual attention from as far as 1.3m (4.3ft) away in a non-intrusive manner. No glasses, no VR headset, no calibration. The customer can shop as normal, unaware of the vast amounts of behaviour data they’re generating.
With great power comes great responsibility
This influx of innovative tracking technology is significantly increasing the amount of data retailers can collect on in-store behaviour – from seemingly anonymous footfall counts to customer payment details. And, if the enthusiasm from IT Decision Makers is any indication, high-tech in-store monitoring through LiDAR cameras and sensors will eventually become commonplace. As a result, retailers will capture ever more data to enable hyper-targeted, predictive analytics.
But behaviour tracking, both online and in-store, raises the important issues of data access and security. Any data collected by technology, and the insights it provides, is only useful if retailers are able to access it. As businesses become more dependent on the insights provided by AI, it’s vital that the supporting infrastructure and platform resilience is in place to enable optimal use.
And, with so much data being collected, the consequences of even a fraction of it being compromised by cyber-criminals could be severe, making robust security a necessity for any network solution. Embracing solutions such as Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) can help retail businesses to extend their networking and security capabilities. Providing a cloud architecture model which allows network and security to function as a single service, unified SASE solutions provide rich visability, proactive insights and comprehensive control over policy, access and identity. This allows businesses to make sure that any customer data remains safe and secure.
Ensuring a secure and flexible future
If ITDMs are as keen to step into the future of retail, they need to get prepared. On a cloud-based software-defined network, retailers can optimise their stores securely, elevating customer and employee experience with smart technologies whilst simultaneously ensuring that any data collected remains secure. This is a crucial foundation for implementing new technologies in a way that is efficient and does not compromise the customers’ trust.
The retail sector is well on its way towards digital transformation, and businesses in the industry need to ensure they have the right tools in place to embrace it.
