Thursday, May 29, 2008

Infra red to track shoppers

What else are they going to come up with for marketing analysis? I find this a bit unnecessary and cannot get my brain around exactly how the numbers will provide any extra help to all the marketing statistics already out there. But best to know where all we are being tracked, I always say.


Supermarket shoppers may soon find their movements tracked by infrared beams as stores try to influence their buying choices. Under the surveillance scheme sensors similar to those used on automatic garage doors are placed in aisles around the perimeter of a store in what is known a "racetrack" formation. They emit infrared light and record the number of times the beam is broken by a shopper, the direction the person is heading and the exact time. Results can be used by supermarkets to establish the "closure rate" of products - how many people bought a product as a percentage of those who passed by. (Telegraph)

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