For my money, one of the best publications for staying abreast of new and future technologies is The Economist. I especially enjoy its quarterly “Technology Report.” The latest edition had a fascinating article entitled ”Watching as you shop,” which I highly recommend.
What struck me was how agressively some retailers are employing today’s latest technologies in their effort to better serve customers, increase sales and, of course, gain a competitive advantage.
For starters, the article discussed how Tesco is employing ”Smartlane Technology” which is developed by Irisys. In its simpliest form, the technology uses sensors to count the number of people entering a store in order to help retailers determine how many employees it then needs to staff the checkout registers. The goal is to make sure that no customer is standing in line.
And if you’re wondering how the system is able to discern whether three people represent three unique customers as opposed, say, to a mother with two children, the system uses infrared cameras to calculate the approximity to which people are standing next to one another and it then uses this information to assess the odds that they are a separate shopper or a group. (Presumably children hover closer to their mom than do strangers).
Another good example of retailers “jumping the curve” is those who are employing complex algorithms to better discern the unique shopping habits of people. For instance, did you know that people who stroll down the salty-snack aisle are more likely to make a purchase than are those who stroll down the diary aisle? Another interesting finding is that parents who are accompanied by their kids don’t buy more candy, but they do buy more seasonal items.
One implication is that stores might increase profits by placing seasonal items closer to the checkout register. Not only might this bolster sales, but because the retailer has removed candy from the child’s tempting eye, they might also win the favor of parents who resent the practice because it requires them to tell little Susie that she can’t have a Snicker Bar. (Or, in my case, I have to tell my kids “no” three or four times before they get the message.)Of course, such findings might require retailers to “unlearn” some of their behaviors—such as placing candy near the checkout counter—but that is the price of living in today’s “exponential economy.”
Other useful examples in the article described how retailers are using Brickstream’s BehaviorIQ cameras and Recordant’s digital-audio recorders to learn more about their customers. In the case of the latter technology, one retailer was able to document a 300% increase in the sale of a particular object just by having employees recommend the product.
And that, in a nutshell, is the benefit of “jumping the curve.”
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Jack Uldrich is a writer, futurist, public speaker and host of jumpthecurve.net. He is the author of seven books, including Jump the Curve and The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. He is also a frequent speaker on future technology and future trends, nanotechnology, innovation, change management and executive leadership to a variety of businesses, industries and non-profit organizations and trade associations.
