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Cutting-edge technology and virtual reality aid observational studies of buying preferences and influences
This first installment of a
two-part series, "Eye on the Customer," explores the latest
technologies for in-store observation and the science behind emerging
customer tracking strategies. Look for part
two in the April issue, which will delve into the growing field of
neuromarketing and the science of measuring brainwaves to detect a
customer's response to in-store advertising and environments.
How many customers walked down an aisle? What products did they look at? What did they buy? How much time did they spend? Questions like these are becoming increasingly easier for retailers to answer in today's technologically driven world.
With the help of innovative, cutting-edge technology systems, companies
can delve deeper into the world of in-store metrics and yield more
accurate, detailed results. More retailers are
taking part in this in-store observation, watching customers while they
shop in hopes of determining what works — and what doesn't.
Infrared sensors, behavior-capturing video cameras, facial coding
analysis and virtual reality simulations are just some of the many
technologies retailers are experimenting with today.
Virtual retail-ality
However useful the results
of customer observation may be, it is often costly and time consuming to
implement changes in-store — and that's where Irving, Texas-based
Kimberly-Clark Corp's new Innovative Design Studio comes in. Located in Neenah, Wis.,
the facility helps retailers explore store design, merchandising and
product concepts based on consumer insights without ever having to
change a thing in-store — thanks to the use of a virtual reality system.
The core of the Innovation
Design Studio features a state-of-the-art visualization room with
advanced virtual reality technologies and equipment, including a
high-tech kiosk called the K-C Smartstation that simulates a customer's
shopping experience. Together, these help
Kimberly-Clark research new product innovations and store concepts from
idea through concept testing to actual execution. The center's four key areas of capabilities focus on design, research, analyzing and tracking shopper behavior.
"When you think about the design and research piece, how do we uncover
and get to the root of consumer thinking, and what they're reacting to
in-store, and how that impacts their purchase decision?" explains Mark Rhodes, senior insights team leader for Kimberly-Clark. "This whole studio is about getting at those types of ideas."
Through using the virtual
reality system and the K-C SmartStation, the company can create real
store settings, down to retailer-specific color palettes, graphics and
layouts. These 3-D, interactive store models
allow retailers to explore and test hypothetical in-store design and
merchandising concepts prior to launching them. For example, grocery store chain Safeway used the K-C SmartStation to test a new format for its baby care aisle.
Additionally, the K-C SmartStation allows consumers to walk the aisles
of the virtual stores, shop the store via a touchscreen panel and react
to virtual displays and instore promotions. Eye-tracking technology also analyzes consumers' engagement and reaction to different shopping environments. "It's really about taking ideas full circle from concept all the way to reality — and doing that faster," Rhodes adds.
"If you think about how we've traditionally done that, if we can take
time out of that innovation pipeline and bring an improved product to
the marketplace in a faster means, that's a big win."
Tapping into the senses
Minneapolis-based Sensory Logic Inc.
applies methods of eye tracking, facial coding and verbal analysis to
tap into every step of the decision-making process at the store.
A scientific insights company, Sensory Logic specializes in helping its
clients create a stronger sensory-emotional connection with their
target customers in order to boost sales and productivity.
The firm combines facial coding with eye-tracking technology from Tobii
to gather information on customer behavior — analyzing video of a
customer down to 1/30th of a second.
Tobii's eye-tracking
technology utilizes advanced image processing of a person's face, eyes
and reflections in the eyes of near-infrared reference lights to
estimate the 3-D position in space of each eye and the precise target to
which each eye gaze is directed toward. The
results from eye tracking combined with facial coding indicate the
precise nature of gaze activity (where people look) and emotional
response to a stimulus (how people feel about what they see) and, given
adequate sample size, even to specific elements of the stimulus.
"We like (facial coding and eye tracking) in combination, because we're
looking at some very granular data that way," explains Dan Hill,
president of Sensory Logic, which has worked with such retailers as
Petsmart and BP's Wild Bean Café. "They are a very powerful one-two punch."
To gather the required
data, Sensory Logic works primarily with videotape, although in some
cases experts versed in facial coding may do on-site observation.
Many small, discrete cameras are located throughout the store to
capture not only what the customers are looking at, but also how they
are responding. "You almost have to create a force field of cameras," Hill says. Once information is gathered, the firm can begin to break it down. "Eye tracking is great, but are you looking at [a product] because you're fascinated, you're repulsed, you're puzzled? Which is it?" Hill asks.
"As you move past the first initial impression and capturing responses,
then the facial coding can allow you to quantify emotionally just how
excited or displeased or disinterred customers might be by different
aspects of the store experience." It is deciphering this emotional reaction that can help retailers better align their stores with their customers' needs.
Facial expression analysis
is also being experimented with at the Restaurant of the Future (ROF) in
the Dutch town of Wageningen in the Netherlands.
Part company restaurant, part sensory consumer research lab, the ROF is
a cooperation between scientists of Wageningen University, catering
company Sodexo, professional kitchen supplier Kampri Group and software
developer Noldus, which tracks diners with cameras and monitors their
eating habits. ROF is open to the general
public, but requires visitors to register and sign consent forms
agreeing to being watched by the team of 22 scientists who manually
record their actions into a database.
At the ROF, scientists can
observe diners in conditioned situations over a prolonged period of
time, researching various elements, including behavior, food choice,
design and layout, the influence of lighting, presentation, traffic
flow, taste, packaging, preparation and other aspects of dining out. Hidden cameras and sensors observe diners, and face-reading software is being developed to automatically analyze expressions.
Chairs in the restaurant can monitor a customer's heart rate, while
scales built into the floor can weigh unsuspecting diners as they
purchase meals.
"We want to find out what influences people:
colors, taste, personnel," Rene Koster, director of the research team
and head of the Center for Innovative Consumer Studies at Wageningen,
told Reuters. "The restaurant is a playground of possibilities. The changes must be small. If you were making changes every day it would be too disruptive."
Observational technologies
Cameras play an integral role in advanced customer-monitoring technologies. Brickstream uses dual-lens cameras to monitor store traffic for retailers such as Office Depot, Toys "R" Us and Walgreens.
Best Buy uses Brickstream's BehaviorlQ camera system to collect
information on shopper behavior patterns, and the data can also be
compared to sales numbers to determine the effectiveness of various
elements of the store design.
But cameras aren't the only way to observe customers.
On a basic level, grocery store chains such as Schenectady, N.Y.-based
Price Chopper and U.K-based Tesco are testing Irisys' SmartLane, which
uses infrared sensors to track people/groups to better manage check-out
lines and waiting time. Abercrombie & Fitch and U.K.-based Marks & Spencer also use infrared sensors.
Another infrared sensor
technology monitoring instore traffic is being used by the Pioneering
Research for an In-Store Metric (P.R.I.S.M.) project, under the
direction of New York-based The Nielsen Co. (parent company of DDI).
P.R.I.S.M. has also moved beyond traffic counts by incorporating store
communication audits to derive estimates for consumer reach. (For more P.R.I.S.M. coverage, see DDI's Feb. issue, page 36).
Paco Underbill, CEO of New York-based Envirosell Inc., is a pioneer in the field of customer observation.
Combining traditional market research techniques, anthropological
observation methodologies and videotaping, Envirosell builds profiles of
what happens in-store. In video shop-alongs,
Envirosell runs through a shopping trip with recruits using a small
camera, talking to them about what they see.
However, for the most part the company physically follows shoppers in
secret, observing their behavior and marking it down on tracking forms.
They may also intercept
customers as they are leaving a particular section or leaving the store
and ask them questions about their shopping trip.
Questions might be about education, income, career or about frequency
of shopping — issues that can't be established just by observation,
Underbill explains "Based on interviews with a person, our observations,
their comments and often one-on-one interviews with staff that work on
the floor of the store, we build our profile of what happens," Underhill
says.
The analysis process begins
by taking all of the data and looking at it — both from the context of
having been in the store, and then from the context of Envirosell's
databases. "When we isolate a problem or an
issue, some of it is saying, 'is this something that can be solved by
physical changes in the design? Is this the problem of the information system, or is it a problem of the operating culture?'" Underhill suggests.
With all of these emerging
technologies aiming to stake a place in the landscape of in-store
metrics, should retailers anticipate a backlash? Is there such a thing as too much technology?
Underhill believes the retail industry's adoption of technology metrics
has added to the stream of data without adding to the ability to
process it. "Retail does not need more data. Retail needs better processing of its existing data," he notes.
Whether there is such thing as too much technology, it seems that it
will only continue to speed ahead, and retailers wanting a share in the
competitive market should all be on board.
PHOTO (COLOR): Kimberly-Clark's Innovative Design Studio features virtual reality technology.
PHOTO (COLOR): Sensory Logic Inc. combines sensory inputs to gather customer info.
PHOTO (COLOR): Scientists at the Restaurant of the Future observe diners with hidden cameras.
PHOTO (COLOR): The K-C Smartstation simulates a customer's shopping experience.
By Jessie Bove, Associate Editor
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