Retail stores have become centers of experience. Retailers are continually incorporating innovative technologies to deliver a connected and appealing in-store experience. Facial behavioral analytics with an AI-enabled camera in digital signage allows locating the customer’s location in the store, identify the mood and attitude of the shoppers while purchasing, understand the effectiveness of a campaign leading to the development of the best personalized promotions at each shopper’s level. Furthermore, the evolution of facial recognition AI technologies has elevated shopper identification to a new level.
Face recognition is gradually entering our daily lives. This technology is currently available not only for use on social media or in entertainment but also in the corporate world. Typical companies like Street Coffee Shops are increasingly using face recognition to monitor not only their customers but also passers-by. In addition, retailers will be able to analyze the mood and facial expressions of shoppers across multiple SKUs, automate the shopping experience with less staff, and improve store security to avoid theft.
Let’s take a look at how facial recognition technology can help stores improve their performance and in-store customer experience.
1. Validate yourself using face recognition-based payments.
Customers will be more loyal if they can check out faster and wait less time. Different POS terminal setups and more employee participation are required for various payment methods such as cash, card, or QR code. Face recognition is a more convenient payment method because it does away with the need for additional hardware. People lack a clear understanding of how technology works and the possibility of precisely identifying someone due to a lack of faith. Face recognition, on the other hand, is based on recognition, which works effectively even when the face is partially obscured. On gadgets like tablets or kiosks, buyers from retail stores may quickly make face-to-face payments. It’s simple, quick, precise, and, most importantly, secure.
The face recognition payment system works like this:
a. Scan
When customers are ready to pay, they go to a self-pay kiosk, which is equipped with a tablet-like gadget. Shoppers may scan their purchases to add them to their shopping carts and pay for them. In many retail stores, a digital cart is now accessible, where selected goods from the shelf are instantly put into the cart. Shoppers show their faces to the device after adding things to the cart.
b. Authenticate
Artificial Intelligence can recognize faces from millions of user databases. The shopper’s face can be recognized from the entire database using Computer Vision-based Machine Learning algorithms.
C. Approve
Facial recognition devices will provide payment and user details for approval after successful authentication.
Retailers can either develop their private database by enrolling customers throughout the KYC process, or they can use a government-owned public database. Facial data from government databases can be accessible for authentication using various permissions and API techniques.
2. Improve the Customer Experience by Providing Personalized and Customer-Centric Offerings
Facial recognition plays a vital part in providing a customized experience by recognizing shoppers based on demographics (age, gender, region, etc.) and then offering content and offers that are relevant to them. A deep learning algorithm uses facial recognition to present varied purchasing recommendations on digital signage and shelves based on previous purchases.
Customers scan their faces while in the store using this technology, and the kiosk screen displays their loyalty program with past and favorite purchases using facial recognition technology. With a smaller workforce, the retail chain will be able to expedite the ordering process. Retailers can deliver different customized deals to customers via SMS, email, or push alerts on mobile apps based on previous purchase information.
3. Provide personalized assistance to improve in-store customer service.
With face recognition using integrated machine learning algorithms, retailers can better understand the different moods and attitudes of customers in response to various discounts and promotional offers. Retailers may use facial analysis to create effective promotional strategies based on emotions such as excitement, depression, shock, and happiness.
When customers examine the same item multiple times and stay close to it, an in-depth study is used to analyze their behavior. This indicates that the customer wants to take it over but needs help making a decision. Using video analytics, mobile apps on staff phones, or dashboards alert staff to immediately notify and assist customers. This will help them to increase shopper satisfaction and improve their in-store experience.
4. Theft Prevention
Shoplifting has been a persistent and significant problem in organized retail. The National Retail Federation (NRF) reports that retail theft, fraud, and losses grew to $50.6 billion in 2018, up from $46.8 billion the previous year. Retailers are also coming up with new strategies to identify and prevent shoplifters from stealing from their establishments. The retail business can benefit from facial recognition by detecting shoplifters in real-time. It looks into the lives of prior shoplifters and compares them to the shoplifter database. When a match is detected, it alerts the security staff, allowing them to take appropriate action.
Let’s look at how facial recognition may identify a shoplifter’s face:
- A live video stream is used to capture a facial image.
- The image’s facial features are extracted.
- The image has been trimmed to include the face and converted to grayscale.
- The data is transformed into a template that the algorithm uses to search a wider database.
- When the database is compared to the template, fraud is detected.
5. Productivity of the Workforce
It is easier for businesses to manage staff efficiency when facial recognition is used in the store. It keeps track of employee attendance, gives them secure access during and after work hours, prevents unauthenticated access to sensitive and restricted parts of the shop, and speeds up check-in and check-out. It also boosts employee productivity by tracking real-time interactions and recording their contacts with customers, which aids in identifying areas for improvement and streamlining the process.
Customers have long been impressed by the retail industry’s use of cutting-edge technology to improve the customer experience in stores. Connected retail outlets, video management software development, 360-degree camera design, and video analytics are among the technological transformation activities included in the technology.