When Big Brother meets retail
Friday, March 1 2002
Published on AllBusiness.com
It was bound to happen eventually. Big Brother has arrived in retail, and he's here to help you watch all your customers all the time. The 21st century twist to the story is that you can also use him to make day-to-day decisions on your store layouts.
A new system called Brickstream says it uses "discreet in-store video technology and patented 'image understanding' software to automate the collection of customer activity in the store—where customers go and what they do." The anticipated benefit is that you will be able to observe and analyze every detail of customers' interactions with your store layouts.
For instance, you can gather information on customers entering or leaving an area; high or low traffic areas; velocity of traffic in an area; paths through the store; and traffic patterns by day or week. Finally, the impact of a new store layout or remodel can be assessed in real time.
Brickstream isn't the only Big Brother option out there. ShopperTrak RCT has a traffic counter called Orbit, and some other high-tech options are in the works. For instance, IBM is said to be developing a system that uses heat sensors embedded in the ceiling, and a German firm is working on a radar-based system.
If the name Paco Underhill comes to mind when reading this, you won't be surprised to learn that his company, Envirosell, is a strategic partner with Brickstream. When I spoke to Underhill about these Big Brother systems recently, he shared some of his thoughts on their usefulness and practicality.
Among the uses he sees for the systems: analyzing categories or departments that aren't doing well, dealing with front-of-store issues such as lines at the register, measuring POP effectiveness, and, of course, evaluating new store formats.
As you struggle to maximize sales results in your stores, there's no doubt that today's complex market forces you to go beyond basic, time-tested merchandising techniques or the old retailer's instincts. This technology offers much promise, particularly in dealing with multiple markets. Before computerization, it simply wasn't possible to accurately predict customers' future behavior based on complete data about their past actions on a store-by-store basis.
The issue, Underhill says, is how do you turn all that data into intelligence and, finally, into wisdom? How do you go from knowledge to action? And how do you make it work on an ongoing basis?
"Retail is awash in data," Underhill says. "I'm concerned about how we're going to turn it all into something that actually means something. Another challenge is cost: information costs money. Where is the money going to come from?"
Underhill suggests that retailers initially might consider using the technology in their test stores, or perhaps in a test area, such as a POP display. If you plan to use it to monitor register lines or other ongoing activities, you might use it on a quick "dip-stick" basis, checking the data weekly or monthly.
The challenge of moving from data to action is a tough one, as is finding a way to pay for that information. Could the improvement in sales make it all worthwhile? I'm sure there's at least one retailer ready to take on the challenge. Will that be you?
For additional information on Brickstream, visit www.
brickstream.com. For more information on ShopperTrak, visit www.shoppertrak.com. Share your thoughts on the subject by e-mailing me at kschaffner@ddimagazine.com.
A new system called Brickstream says it uses "discreet in-store video technology and patented 'image understanding' software to automate the collection of customer activity in the store—where customers go and what they do." The anticipated benefit is that you will be able to observe and analyze every detail of customers' interactions with your store layouts.
For instance, you can gather information on customers entering or leaving an area; high or low traffic areas; velocity of traffic in an area; paths through the store; and traffic patterns by day or week. Finally, the impact of a new store layout or remodel can be assessed in real time.
Brickstream isn't the only Big Brother option out there. ShopperTrak RCT has a traffic counter called Orbit, and some other high-tech options are in the works. For instance, IBM is said to be developing a system that uses heat sensors embedded in the ceiling, and a German firm is working on a radar-based system.
If the name Paco Underhill comes to mind when reading this, you won't be surprised to learn that his company, Envirosell, is a strategic partner with Brickstream. When I spoke to Underhill about these Big Brother systems recently, he shared some of his thoughts on their usefulness and practicality.
Among the uses he sees for the systems: analyzing categories or departments that aren't doing well, dealing with front-of-store issues such as lines at the register, measuring POP effectiveness, and, of course, evaluating new store formats.
As you struggle to maximize sales results in your stores, there's no doubt that today's complex market forces you to go beyond basic, time-tested merchandising techniques or the old retailer's instincts. This technology offers much promise, particularly in dealing with multiple markets. Before computerization, it simply wasn't possible to accurately predict customers' future behavior based on complete data about their past actions on a store-by-store basis.
The issue, Underhill says, is how do you turn all that data into intelligence and, finally, into wisdom? How do you go from knowledge to action? And how do you make it work on an ongoing basis?
"Retail is awash in data," Underhill says. "I'm concerned about how we're going to turn it all into something that actually means something. Another challenge is cost: information costs money. Where is the money going to come from?"
Underhill suggests that retailers initially might consider using the technology in their test stores, or perhaps in a test area, such as a POP display. If you plan to use it to monitor register lines or other ongoing activities, you might use it on a quick "dip-stick" basis, checking the data weekly or monthly.
The challenge of moving from data to action is a tough one, as is finding a way to pay for that information. Could the improvement in sales make it all worthwhile? I'm sure there's at least one retailer ready to take on the challenge. Will that be you?
For additional information on Brickstream, visit www.
brickstream.com. For more information on ShopperTrak, visit www.shoppertrak.com. Share your thoughts on the subject by e-mailing me at kschaffner@ddimagazine.com.