Retailers acquire a foot fetish
milwaukee — The next phase in data collection is right under your feet. Milwaukee-based startup Scanalytics is helping businesses explore consumer behaviour with floor sensors that track people’s movements.
The sensors can also be used in office buildings to reduce energy costs and in nursing homes to determine when someone falls. But retailers make up the majority of Scanalytics’ customers, highlighting one of several efforts brick-and- mortar stores are undertaking to better understand consumer habits and catch up with Amazon.
Physical stores have been at a disadvantage because they “don’t have that granular level of understanding as to where users are entering, what they’re doing, what shelves are not doing well, which aisles are not being visited,” said Brian Sathianathan, co-founder of Iterate.ai, a company that helps businesses find and test technologies from startups worldwide.
Sunglass Hut and fragrance maker Jo Malone use laser and motion sensors to tell when a product is picked up but not bought, and make recommendations for similar items on an interactive display. Companies such as Toronto-based Vendlytics and San Francisco-based Prism use artificial intelligence with video cameras to analyse body motions. That can allow stores to deliver customised coupons to shoppers in real time on a digital shelf or on their cellphones, said Jon Nordmark, CEO of Iterate.ai.