Eyeing that box of cereal on the end cap? Or maybe you’re craving a pint of ice cream? A camera could be watching you. But it’s not there to see if you’re stealing.
These cameras just want to get to know you and what you’re buying. The idea is to collect data about who buys what—so stores can target you (and everyone else) with real-time ads on in-store video screens. The companies developing these data-driven tech tools say they’ll help brick-and-mortar retailers compete with online rivals like Amazon.
Online merchants already have troves of information on their customers and buying habits. Software constantly parses that data and makes suggestions for additional products to buy. If a customer buys a dog brush for example, she is almost instantly bombarded onscreen with suggested products: collars, leashes, bowls, treats, pet shampoos… That’s marketing technology doing its job!
But with store cameras as tiny as these are—sometimes just a lens the size of a penny, placed above the door handle of a store cooler—“The creepy factor here is definitely a 10 out of 10,” says Pam Dixon. She is executive director of the nonprofit World Privacy Forum.
One camera-embedded “smartshelf” on display at the National Retail Federation trade show in New York tries to detect a buyer’s mood. As you view those toaster pastries, are you exuding “happiness” or “discontent”? In response, a video screen nearby may begin to scroll for your benefit more breakfast options.
Those screens might show up in more places than just grocery stores. The makers envision them in subways and at bus stops. If a camera sees a man with a scruffy beard, the corresponding screen begins to promote razors. Say a woman at a drive-thru orders three burgers. A screen in her line of sight instantly begins to advertise the “family meal deal special.”
For now, the cameras and corresponding screens are in just a handful of stores.
Kroger, which has 2,800 supermarkets, is testing cameras embedded in a price sign in two stores outside Cincinnati and Seattle. Kroger says the cameras guess a shopper’s age and gender. But the information is anonymous and the data is not stored. If the tests work out well, the company says it could expand it into other locations.
Advocates of the technology say it could benefit shoppers by showing them discounts and sales tailored just to them. Others say it might discriminate—directing wealthier-looking patrons toward more expensive fare.
(A Walgreen’s in Chicago tests out smartshelves, which digitally display food items for sale behind the glass. But watch out! Cameras embedded in those shelves are looking back at you! AP Photo)
