Microsoft Wants Stores to use Kinect to Recognize Shoppers

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Minority Report is coming true because of Kinect! …Is not just a headline from when the Kinect originally debuted wacky hand-waving controls back in 2010, but is a real thing that’s happening again as Microsoft wants retail stores to electronically recognize customers using the gaming peripheral which most gamers don’t really want.

Despite being largely responsible for hampering the Xbox One’s performance as a required pack-in that no one really asked for until Microsoft axed it from the bundle, it’s a really neat little piece of technology. It’s found new life in the non-gaming tech world before, and this new proposal shows no signs of that trend slowing down.

In a blog post for the company, Tracel Issel, general manager of Worldwide Retail, Consumer Goods, Hospitality and Travel at Microsoft, wrote:

"With the help of a Kinect sensor, AVAretail’s SmartShelf technology allows every interaction of a shelf in a store to be monitored and recorded in real-time, providing insight into which products are most selected and picked up by customers. Another form of technology, Path Tracker, gives retailers real-time detection and analysis of a customer’s shopping path. This provides counts of people in the store, areas visited, dwell time and shopping path, acting as a heat map of where customers are spending the most time in the store.

The NEC Biometric interface with Kinect Camera system provides demographic and face recognition services to a Kinect enabled application. Retailers can use this information for analysis and for providing the customer with a more personal selling experience. MediaCart will change the shopping cart as we know it. Adding a location-aware tablet to the cart allows a retailer to present a personal and relevant shopping experience to its customer. This allows context sensitive ads and promotions when in front of various products along with a barcode scanning capability for price lookups and basket totals."

It’s not quite a Minority Report retina scan, but face recognition technology used in the same manner is about equally futuristic/creepy. Although, I’m on board if stores have customizable options so I can make my virtual personal shopper shame me into not blowing a disproportionate amount of my income on video games, beer, and Funko Pops.

AVA retail - Innovation in Retail Store

As a retail merchant, you’ve probably wondered to yourself, “How can I better market to my consumer?” As a consumer, each time you retrieve your mail from your mailbox, one may think to self, “Why do I keep getting these discount codes, coupons, etc. for items I NEVER purchase!?” AVAretail LLC has a fresh, innovative product that will help alleviate this issue for all involved: AVA retail.

AVA retail is a complex marketing software that integrates the shoppers travel through the store and the items they view. Providing the ability to price-match in the store and gain the sale, while keeping shopper view/purchase history on your company database for effective suggestive sales and market new release items on an individual basis. Companies can also engage their shoppers on their phone with the Shopper App, giving them the ability to watch trailers of products they are considering purchasing and send them to their friends for feedback.

Heating mapping throughout the store allows the company to do a multitude of tasks. Track the shopper path, gain insight as to where the shopper is “dwelling” in real time, and allows the company to better establish their product placement. With this implement, companies can also gage which areas throughout the store are gaining the most traffic, during what time of the week and day. Creating the opportunity to staff their stores and departments appropriately. AVA retail software then compiles all the data and gives you a deeper insight as to what is going on in your store down to the minute. It also tells you which associates are being the most effective with the shoppers.

Also, with regard to associate success, AVA retail also has an add-on feature for retail associates. The Associate App is designed so that the employee can see in real time which products the shopper(s), currently in store, have been viewing. It will also tell them how long each individual shopper has been browsing, which areas they are frequenting, the products viewed allow them to successfully engage with the consumer. Instead of taking multiple shots in the dark, trying to figure out what exactly the customer is looking for, your associate will have it all conveniently located in the palm of their hand.

All in all, this is a fully interactive, engaging technology that is going to provide vital information for not only the consumer, but will also play a vital role in the retail industry.