Cameras and Software that Track Shopping Behavior

With support from the National Science Foundation, computer scientist and CEO of VideoMining Rajeev Sharma and his team have designed software that automatically generates statistics about in-store shopping behavior. These statistics can provide valuable insights for supporting critical decisions in store layout design, merchandising, marketing, and customer service. Sharma's team has developed similar technology to help caregivers monitor the elderly.

Transcript

00:00:10 MILES O'BRIEN: With so many products and so many stores and websites, how do we decide what to buy and where to shop? SHOPPER: I like that it's right across from where I usually go to class, and it's really convenient. MILES O'BRIEN: Whether it's the convenience, good service or finding the best deal, storeowners want to know what attracts you to their stores and what it takes to keep you coming back. Turns out, there's a science to all of this. RAJEEV SHARMA: Look at the amount of things which are trying to grab your attention. MILES O'BRIEN: With support from the National Science Foundation, computer scientist Rajeev Sharma and his colleagues have developed software that breaks down shopping behavior much

00:00:48 like websites do. His company, VideoMining, uses overhead cameras like these to put together a top-down view of how people shop and what they buy. RAJEEV SHARMA: Basically what VideoMining does is use a software along with cameras that are mounted on the ceiling of stores, to track shoppers as they move around in the store and create data that helps us understand how shoppers are shopping. MILES O'BRIEN: The software creates maps of a store's traffic patterns by digitally analyzing the video. Cameras like these are positioned directly above, and picture resolution is intentionally set low so that all shoppers remain anonymous. RAJEEV SHARMA: Can not identify individual shoppers. Computers actually watching the video and generating numbers that represent the shopper behavior.

00:01:34 MILES O'BRIEN: The idea is to show retailers and manufacturers the best areas in the store to place products, and how to create a comfortable place for people to shop. Sharma identifies trends. For example, people prefer wider aisles when they shop. Women take a lot longer to shop than men, and except in a few cases, brand loyalty is on the wane. RAJEEV SHARMA: We can see people coming in, going between brands and picking up the product based upon price, based upon other attributes. By providing the data to retailers and manufacturers, they can design the stores to match the shopper's interest. MILES O'BRIEN: The software was initially created to monitor the elderly and disabled in their homes. Now it's keeping an eye on shoppers, giving businesses a scientific leg up in the rat race of figuring out how best to serve their customers and keep them coming back.

00:02:26 For Science Nation, I'm Miles O'Brien.