Technology helps stores to know customers by name – BBC Brazil

Paul Rubens Technology Reporter

• December 10, 2014

Share

Sellers could be warned of famous clients or potential for text messages

Imagine you go into a store where ever came before and is called by name by a seller you do not know.

Celebrities can be accustomed to this kind of VIP treatment, but if you’re not famous, intimacy may seem a little strange.

Nevertheless, facial recognition programs already allow sellers know about you so you put foot in a store.

Companies like Japanese technology giant NEC and facefirst, based in California, offer systems that use cameras installed at the entrance of the stores to identify the customers.

Via Facebook

When a major customer or a potential buyer is detected by the cameras, the sales team receives text messages to ensure that they will pay particular attention to the person.

“The seller may approach you, offer you a cappuccino and show the things you might be interested,” says Joel Rosenkrantz, executive director of facefirst.

But before the system begins to work, it has to be fed with images. The obvious question is: where do they come

“It’s easy to get pictures of famous people, and photos of other potential customers would come from Facebook,” says Rosenkrantz

“. If a brand has 10,000 tanned on your Facebook page, you could use profiles of all the people who enjoyed it. “

It would also be possible to get pictures of people who have accounts on the store’s site, if they sign up for Facebook or take pictures of themselves to their profiles on the site.

“You can tell your customers that if they agree to put your photos (in their account on the website), will win a discount coupon or ask if they agree that your Facebook photo to be used, “explains executive facefirst.

Cameras at the entrance of a store can identify people who likes the brand page on Facebook

The Japanese NEC defines your system as a way to “identify the presence of important visitors, whether expected or not,” but the facefirst system is currently used to recognize people making petty theft and alert security teams.

According to Rosenkrantz, use your program this way can reduce the losses in the stock by 25% or more.

custom Advertising

facial recognition programs can also be useful to identify the age and sex of the customers, even if it is not possible to identify a specific individual.

Aa food company Mondelez International, based in Chicago, is developing “smart shelves” that can display custom messages to specific audiences when people see the products on display in supermarkets.

If the system identifies a young taking a diet soda for example, could show a message saying that the drink has only one calorie.

“There are some situations that prove that the results can be extraordinary,” says Tony Stockil, executive director of sales strategy consultancy Javelin Group.

As an example, he cites a campaign in Germany where a company has created specific messages to men of a certain age in a train station, reminding them that the next day was Valentine’s Day. The result was a large number of them buying last minute gifts.

We are eyeing

Restaurant wants to turn dining experience into play, identifying regulars in application

Many brands are also experimenting with iBeacons – Bluetooth devices can detect and record the location of smartphones that have the installed application when the phone company owner visits the store or simply passes in front of her .

of smartphones owners can receive special offers or discounts that let them tempted to buy, whether in physical or online store.

Now the German company Mook Group is using a iBeacons different way in one of his restaurants.

iBeacons in Zenzakan restaurant in Frankfurt, work similarly to Foursquare, recording on the restaurant application where the client is the place.

The more often a customer visits the restaurant, the higher your “Mook status” in the application -. that can go from “client” and “beginner” to “ambitious gourmet” and “addicted knowledgeable”

“What I did was use iBeacons to transform a luxury experience in a game,” says Joel Martinez, chief technology officer of Candylabs, the internet marketing company that created the application. The data on visits are recorded only in the customer’s phone, he said.

This means that people are not recognized automatically when you enter the site. If they want to receive the benefits to which the Mook status entitles, they must “present”, showing their status in the application to the restaurant staff.

“Privacy is very important,” concludes Martinez. “We do not want customers to think that the restaurant is monitoring their movements. – Want to maintain their privacy”