Retailers interested in next-generation marketing technology need look no further than the interactive tools at Interpublic Group's new retail center in Los Angeles. There, on display, are experimental digital technologies that can target shoppers as they browse store aisles. These include interactive dressing room mirrors, kiosks from which customer service representatives can be accessed and shopping carts equipped with digital scanners that offer personalized discounts (via the Wall Street Journal).
In the future, shoppers may find that that store window has been transformed into a giant touch screen or has been populated with interactive mannequins from which shoppers can pick outfits to be displayed. Kiosks will offer live advice on how to use a product and mirrors will allow the shopper to scan an article of clothing and then project the image onto her body. If she wants, she can change the color or send the image to her Facbook profile.
Too Futuristic
If this sounds to futuristic for 2010 or even 2020, consider the real-life applications that are available today. The Journal tells of Stop & Shop Supermarket, which is testing handheld scanners that offer customers personalized discounts.
Tava Touchpoints in Toronto has partnered with Planet-Tek Systems, to test shopper-focused ad screens in Canadian and US locations of Whole Foods Market. They are using audience-measurement technology - sensors and automated biometric face detection tools - to count shoppers who look at screens and then provide audience analytics that break down how long people look at an item, and parse the audience numbers by such things as time of day and gender.
Other stores are deploying video cameras, motion detectors and other sensors to study consumers for behavior, shopping and product preferences and other insights that will lead to more marketing opportunities and increase sales.
And while not exactly a retail application, Japan is testing a billboard in subway stations around Tokyo that can tell the difference between male and female faces - and display appropriate ads accordingly. In general advances in digital signs - including those in retail stores - have been steadily moving towards developing technology that can make judgments of the people standing before them, such as their age or what item of clothing would best suit them based on their body type.
