Achievements of Facial Recognition in Retail
Facial-recognition software, which has been in progress since the 1960s has finally taken off with retailers through the last couple of years, According to a report by CB Insight, during 2018 singles day in china, 60% of shoppers made payments by taking a selfie or employing a fingerprint scan
Facial recognition will unquestionably be one of the essential technologies accelerating future stores. I have listed below three main ways facial recognition technology can benefit the retail stores
AVERT THEFT AND VIOLENCE
Organised retail crime cost U.S. retailers $30 billion each year, and a lot of these expenses are transferred to consumers in the form of higher prices. Facial recognition technology aids retailers flag identified shoplifters as soon as they enter the store. If the system recognises someone who matches a documented retail criminal, it sends out an alert. Without facial recognition, retail security professionals typically react to crimes in progress. Face recognition, however, empowers security to take a proactive approach, preventing crimes before they occur.
PERSONALISED CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE
When blended with other systems, facial recognition can provide access to a wide range of data on individual shoppers. The type of data covers how often a customer visits the store, when they last made a purchase, what their frequently bought items are etc. With this data, store assistants can implement more efficient customer service and more personalised assistance to each customer.
Smart cameras powered by the AI system can be positioned all-around a store to detects how long each consumer glances at a specific product using face recognition and face analytics. With this information, the system can ascertain the average glance time of the product, and the store gets a general idea of the product appeal. The adoption of this technology is expected to assist the retailer in providing an enhanced shopping experience.
A California eatery, CaliBurger, is connecting facial recognition to its loyalty program, a safe bet since loyalty affiliates have consented to share personal data with the brand. The software, installed in ordering kiosks, identifies registered members as they approach, activates their loyalty accounts and, based on past purchases, can promote their favourite meals in a few seconds. Walmart has also patented technology that would allow cameras to capture customers’ facial expressions while at checkout, so it could measure levels of displeasure or satisfaction. These findings could enable retailers to finetune their in-store displays and enhance their real-time promotions.
FRICTIONLESS SHOPPING
Amazon has already started using facial recognition to offer frictionless shopping in their Amazon Go stores by enabling customers to make payment by scanning their faces. Since the goods are tracked with RFID chips, and people’s faces are connected to their payment methods in a database, it’s not required for customers to scan the goods manually or to present their credit cards to make the payment.
Observing that digital devices are already putting facial recognition into the direct power of people, the technology is poised to spread dramatically. The role it will play in retail depends mostly on how well the industry expresses its intentions, and how well it recognises the fact that shoppers already know what retailers are thinking. Opening their minds means telling them clearly what’s in it for them.
