September 3, 2008
Retail TouchPoints: Infosys Bows ShoppingTrip360 To Trace In-Store Behavior Patterns
By John Gaffney, Senior Analyst
Through a special arrangement, what follows
is an excerpt of a current article from the Retail TouchPoints website,
presented here for discussion.
It might be the long sought solution for click
tracking in stores. Or it might be another customer tracking technology that
takes a long time for retailers to understand and adopt. Whatever it turns
out to be, there are certainly some dramatic possibilities in Infosys’ new
ShoppingTrip360 technology.
As positioned by Infosys executives, ShoppingTrip360 is a combination of auto-ID technologies that allow retailers to track shoppers as they travel through a store and even as they browse shelves and make purchases. This tracking is enabled by an in-store network of wireless sensor-based applications. “It enables real-time collaboration between people (shoppers), places (retailers) and products (CPG companies) at the point of purchase,” according to Infosys.
The product is patent-protected and secretive at this time. However, it is being pitched by the company as a technology that is affordable and a generator of information that will lead to more customer loyalty and even more total spend. The jury is still out on whether ShoppingTrip360 will displace RFID technology. The company says it monitors shelf activity without “expensive RFID tags.” The cost is expected to be low. In fact it is “without capital investment” according to the company’s collateral material.
It also has a mobile phone component. “A software application gets downloaded onto a shopper’s cellular phone when they opt-in to use the Shopper Concierge service (the application in ShoppingTrip360 that serves shopping lists and targeted offers). The software application communicates with the ShoppingTrip360 platform over the wireless Internet,” said an Infosys spokesperson. “This permission-based opt-in network ensures that the shopper controls his own privacy and ability to interact with the store network. It also ensures that CPG companies for the first time in history have the ability to interact with the shopper at the moment-of-truth in a location-aware and context-aware environment. The shopper can download recipes, shopping lists, and receive advertisements, coupons, relevant messaging. The shopper can finally actively engage with this network just like she does today when she logs onto the internet.”
The technology has been in beta testing and the company isn’t saying what retailers or CPG firms have been involved. But many see great potential in a wireless technology that could enable the amount of in-store tracking and information collection that it promises.
“Our firm often talks about the notion of an in-store ‘cookie’ and what it may one day be,” said Laura Davis Taylor, CEO of Retail Media Consulting. “Many times, we’ve talked about enabling the cell phone to serve this role, as it seems logical that a shopper might one day be able to ‘identify’ their presence with their phone for opt-in shopper tracking–if they are motivated to do so. Reviewing the Infosys technology was very exciting for us because it appears to embrace all of the above. It links shopper data, shopper behavior, inventory, store operations and more to provide an ‘ecosystem’ of sorts that can generate some of the powerful insights e-commerce websites do–and isn’t that the model we should be going for in-store?”
Discussion Questions: What do you think about ShoppingTrip360? What would you like to know further about ShoppingTrip360 to better understand its potential at retail? Do you think such auto-ID technologies might be the solution to high costs around using RFID as a customer tracking technology at retail?
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Let’s simplify this. Throw away all the things that this system can do except those that you can imagine.
Let’s assume the consumer’s computer is in sync with their Blackberry type phone device, like mine. The consumer can sit down on their computer and put in a list of groceries that they may need. Similarly, while they are out and about, they think of something they forgot to put on the list and they add it into the same function on their cell phone. Whenever they sync their appointments, contacts, emails, etc, they sync their shopping list.
Now they go to the supermarket with list in hand (on their phone). Perhaps the system even sorts the listed items so they are listed in the pattern the retailer wants the shopper to walk the store. As the shopper approaches each shelf, the phone prompts the shopper. Perhaps Coke was in the list. The phone shows a graphic “Buy 2 6 packs and save $1.00.” Perhaps yogurt was on the list. As the shopper approaches the dairy case the phone presents “Have you tried new Activa with Bifidus Regularis?” Since I can use my Blackberry for my boarding pass on some airlines, the phone can also present a coupon graphic with a bar code to be used at checkout.
The above scenario is enough make this a dramatic and valuable tool. And, I am sure it can do more.
Let’s begin by differentiating between RFID technology, which may be used for tracking items, cases and pallets of merchandise throughout a supply chain and into the stores, versus technologies designed for tracking and/or communicating with shoppers. Both are potentially useful, but they are not interchangeable.
From the sketchy information provided, this Infosys bundle appears to include both an RFID substitute (“smart shelves”) and shopper path tracking technology (presumably accomplished by tagging shopping carts). For shoppers willing to opt in to the mobile phone part, the potential to align trip data with frequent shopper information exists. (Here the privacy-personalization tension edges on “creepy,” but it’s a reality we must be prepared for.)
What the article calls “smart visual merchandising” sounds an awful lot like interactive or proximity-controlled digital signage. For the opt-in shopper who is willing to register her cell phone and pay the wireless web charges, such a system could be smart enough not to deliver a dog food offer to a cat owner.
The promise of “without capital investment” sounds like a code that means “advertiser pays.” That’s probably a very attractive feature for grocery and mass merchants, but it’s a can of worms from the shopper experience perspective. Without more detail it’s hard to comment further, but I’m a bit wary of the business model.
So to take this speculative analysis full-circle: Is ShoppingTrip360 the key to a great shopper experience, enabled by superior personalization and outstanding service levels? Or will it feel suffocating and manipulative? Or will shoppers even notice or care? In the plus column, we may look forward to more useful store-level data monitoring, which will support In-Store Implementation and compliance. But until the shopper is properly figured into the equation, I’ll remain a skeptic.
“It also ensures that CPG companies for the first time in history have the ability to interact with the shopper at the moment-of-truth in a location-aware and context-aware environment.”
I find statements like this highly offensive because they are simply PR BS. If anyone in this space is unaware of the work in this area, dating back to VideoCart by IRI, they are hardly at the forefront of what is going on in the retail world. The only thing potentially new here is the use of the cell phone as the basis for this tracking, and I’m not sure that is totally new, since cell phone tracking is quite common in Japan, I understand. And I have been told that at least one major cell phone manufacturer is working on incorporating an RFID reader in the cell phone.
But everything you read about Infosys (except the cell phone) is being done with a Motorola/Symbol handheld device right now in many dozens of stores at Stop & Shop, by ModivMedia. Moreover, this is an evolving program, quite a few years old.
The naivete of operations like Infosys’ is quite incredible. (But not unusual.) Many people, particularly technology companies, seem to think if only we could track shoppers in real time and communicate with them, floods of sales will rain down on us. It is companies like Modiv with years of trial and error experience that are at the cutting edge of communication with shoppers in real time in a context appropriate way. MediaCart is also on this path, with a much more extensive internet-in-the-store deployment. But they, though having completed a successful pilot, are still just getting underway in the experience department. (Of course, our own company has been tracking millions of shoppers on a second by second basis since 2001, but we do NOT communicate with the shoppers, only study their behavior.)
So let’s knock off the breathless “for the first time in history.” I wasn’t involved in Malec’s “first time in history” work in the early ’90’s, but have contributed incrementally to the body of learning started there. This latest Infosys development is beginning WAY behind the curve in understanding the in-store shopping experience. And is an incremental advance that may or may not amount to a hill of beans: the good book says that one should not celebrate going into war, like one returning from battle.
We should point out that the availability of data is not necessarily helpful. Bear in mind that other retailers were pulling back their loyalty card programs while Tesco with dunnhumby were accelerating theirs. The key to Tesco’s notable success wasn’t availability of data, but the serious and creative marketing that drove the program.
Having said all this, it seems certain that there will be continuing developments in this space, and almost certainly one or more of these will be smashing successes.
Here’s the thing that scares me a little bit about all the Point of Purchase Bells and Whistles…
Maybe I am wrong, but I don’t believe most of the people will get anything more from their phones than a good shelf talker can provide. Some will say, “you can offer targeted discounts” and that is true, but how will you choose your targets?
I can remember when retailers first tried to turn their “silver shoppers” into “gold shoppers.” When the existing gold shoppers learned that their “lesser” counterparts were getting special incentives, they balked. I’m not sure offering targeted promotions will always go over well with the other people shopping the same aisle and paying full price. It certainly demands some serious thought.
On the other hand, I think a retail operation that encourages shoppers to plan ahead through an integrated website and store layout – that allows shoppers to go online, build their shopping list, then visit the store – can offer many of the same features as in-store automation. It is just these types of people, the ones who plan their shopping as opposed to picking up what’s on their mind for dinner, that new item and discount promotions are targeted to reach. It might be nice to load the shopping list down to the cell phone, but random alerts as customers walk the store just seems like too much.
The golden rule for store operations is to keep it simple. By the time there are enough 3g users able to walk the aisles with their cell phones turned on, we will have solved the physical distribution challenges so that customers will be able to pick up their pre-selected orders at the drive through.
The most important comment in the article was NO UP FRONT COST. If the other barriers to entrance are low and it is a pay for results model, then it may have a chance. Otherwise there is so little time and so few other resources to put to this initiative.
Retailers have too many other things on their plate at this time. Most of them have not even figured out the best way to sell more to present customers, give them better customer service and cut down on the lines they make them stand in.
The US is far behind other countries in the use of the full range cell phone technology capabilities. One reason is the greater value that our society places on privacy versus other high-tech countries such as Japan. Every time a retail system is compromised, the fear of these technologies increases and advances such as this one become less probable. Developing leading edge technology applications that make life easier for consumers and also provide marketers with new avenues of access may be a pipe dream. We need a few identity protection stories to build confidence.
I agree with David. From a market research perspective, it sounds fascinating. From a consumer perspective, it’s creepy and invasive. And, being dependent on consumers buying in to participating in the process, there could be a lot of professional respondents participating, strongly biasing the data that results. In order to provide interesting, actionable and valid information, this would have to be managed properly.
As a behavioral marketing aficionado I think the implications of ShoppingTrip360 are infinite and exciting. As a consumer the entire notion kind of gives me the chills. There will be a lot to learn about this technology, not only from the standpoint of “how does it work?” but also “how will it be used?” and “how will it be justified and explained?”
I think retailers need to concern themselves more with selling unplanned purchased products to consumers more than simply predicting the mainstays and repeating the same purchases on every shopping trip.
I have only one question: how does this help the shopper? And the answer can’t include “targeted offers” because that’s not providing real value. That’s just making it more likely that they’ll respond to your advertising, and shoppers aren’t stupid – they get that part of the equation even as they take your offers. The answer also can’t include “relevant, in-stock products” because that is also not providing real value. That’s janitorial services – expected, and cause for switching if you mess that part up too many times. You don’t get any credit for in-stock because that is simply expected in the first place – that was the argument that got item-level RFID in trouble.
Opt in is good. The shopping list management hints at a possibility of shopper value, but other than that, it’s all about what the retailer and CPGer gets. That’s simply not enough. How does this solution directly help the retailer build a compelling, delightful, helpful, and valuable experience for the shopper? Then we’ll have something worth talking about.
Interesting developments, albeit mostly a combination of a number of older technologies and ideas that try to address parts of the – influence the consumer-meets-consumer preference-meets-demand chain reality conundrum.
Dan certainly expresses a valid point…other countries are moving ahead, at least in consumer facing technology such as 3-g phones. If the phones are out there and the only retailers to use the capabilities are Starbucks, Trader Joe’s and 7-Eleven….?
Will all consumers use it? Nope. But some will. And if the interface and relevance are well done then more consumers will use it tomorrow than today, and more next week than tomorrow.
I also believe Jamie has a valid point. Driving customers to the shelves has not been the problem. (Driving them to THE shelves has been an issue, one that trade promotion and now ad dollars are meant to influence.) Having the right something in stock, at the right price on the right shelf…well that issue has not changed in 24 years, and it appears with store specific sets and leaner inventory chains that it is getting worse.
Will the “free” smart shelves solve that? Again, the article refers to “pads”, meaning old technology. Inaccurate, expensive and there are much better answers out there…without going to RFID.
But we should give the guys at Infosys some credit for thinking about the problems shoppers, retailers and CPG-guys face in an outside-the-box manner.
This is an exciting and logical application of mobile handset technology, though it faces a number of key challenges.
While this is better in terms of being less costly than an RFID chip on every customer, it achieves the same thing and it is going to take a seriously rich value proposition to get customers to opt-in to this level of tracking. Further, the opt-in needs to be clearly spelled out. Opting in to a retailer is not the same as opting in to every manufacturer and the more cumbersome the messaging (in-store especially), the more ineffective it will be.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, shopper behavior – especially in grocery stores – is largely driven by habit. This technology needs to be easily habit forming in order for it to succeed and that is going to take the right quid pro quo for the customer to both get them to download the app and to start using it.
Last, and perhaps most important, data alone doesn’t lead to customer loyalty, intelligent collection and application of the right data (from the right customers) does. Most retailers have enough problems using the data they have today…this is going to take a while and only work for those that are exceptionally capable internally and those that possess the right customer relationships.
Why do we continue to spend time talking about technology that helps us to spy on our customers? We should be talking about techniques and customer-centric methods to watch, listen, and communicate with shoppers about their habits, likes and dislikes. Retailers are encouraged by technology companies to distance themselves from the customer, not embrace them. I’ve said it a half dozen times in my comments to RetailWire and I guess it needs repeating, “Tell me again why you don’t want to talk to the customer.”
What a relief that Infosys has finally finally finally! found a way to download recipes to my cell phone. This problem is driving me nuts. Every day I go to the supermarket I wander around in a state of complete crippling anxiety because I don’t know how to get recipes on my cell phone. I don’t know how to prepare my bowl of Froot Loops with milk and a banana. I don’t know how to assemble a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I don’t know how to grill a burger. Good thing Infosys is watching out for me. With ShoppingTrip360 and my trusty cell phone I can learn to cook for myself. Until now, I had to hire a professional dietician and a Cordon Bleu chef unless I wanted to eat all my meals at Starbucks.
Nielsen In-Store has this data for 28,000 F/D/M stores so I’m not sure why we are discussing a solution with ZERO traction.
All of this technology certainly has a “Gee Whiz” element to it, but somewhere along the way we seem to have forgotten that customers are really actual living breathing human beings. Human beings that like and need to be engaged by other human beings.
We had several forums last week that focused on the disappearing human touch in retail. Somehow, we’ve allowed ourselves to believe that technology can actually help us achieve economies of scale in dealing with customers. Technology can provide information, but can never replace the essential value of human contact in driving business.
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Let’s simplify this. Throw away all the things that this system can do except those that you can imagine.
Let’s assume the consumer’s computer is in sync with their Blackberry type phone device, like mine. The consumer can sit down on their computer and put in a list of groceries that they may need. Similarly, while they are out and about, they think of something they forgot to put on the list and they add it into the same function on their cell phone. Whenever they sync their appointments, contacts, emails, etc, they sync their shopping list.
Now they go to the supermarket with list in hand (on their phone). Perhaps the system even sorts the listed items so they are listed in the pattern the retailer wants the shopper to walk the store. As the shopper approaches each shelf, the phone prompts the shopper. Perhaps Coke was in the list. The phone shows a graphic “Buy 2 6 packs and save $1.00.” Perhaps yogurt was on the list. As the shopper approaches the dairy case the phone presents “Have you tried new Activa with Bifidus Regularis?” Since I can use my Blackberry for my boarding pass on some airlines, the phone can also present a coupon graphic with a bar code to be used at checkout.
The above scenario is enough make this a dramatic and valuable tool. And, I am sure it can do more.
Let’s begin by differentiating between RFID technology, which may be used for tracking items, cases and pallets of merchandise throughout a supply chain and into the stores, versus technologies designed for tracking and/or communicating with shoppers. Both are potentially useful, but they are not interchangeable.
From the sketchy information provided, this Infosys bundle appears to include both an RFID substitute (“smart shelves”) and shopper path tracking technology (presumably accomplished by tagging shopping carts). For shoppers willing to opt in to the mobile phone part, the potential to align trip data with frequent shopper information exists. (Here the privacy-personalization tension edges on “creepy,” but it’s a reality we must be prepared for.)
What the article calls “smart visual merchandising” sounds an awful lot like interactive or proximity-controlled digital signage. For the opt-in shopper who is willing to register her cell phone and pay the wireless web charges, such a system could be smart enough not to deliver a dog food offer to a cat owner.
The promise of “without capital investment” sounds like a code that means “advertiser pays.” That’s probably a very attractive feature for grocery and mass merchants, but it’s a can of worms from the shopper experience perspective. Without more detail it’s hard to comment further, but I’m a bit wary of the business model.
So to take this speculative analysis full-circle: Is ShoppingTrip360 the key to a great shopper experience, enabled by superior personalization and outstanding service levels? Or will it feel suffocating and manipulative? Or will shoppers even notice or care? In the plus column, we may look forward to more useful store-level data monitoring, which will support In-Store Implementation and compliance. But until the shopper is properly figured into the equation, I’ll remain a skeptic.
“It also ensures that CPG companies for the first time in history have the ability to interact with the shopper at the moment-of-truth in a location-aware and context-aware environment.”
I find statements like this highly offensive because they are simply PR BS. If anyone in this space is unaware of the work in this area, dating back to VideoCart by IRI, they are hardly at the forefront of what is going on in the retail world. The only thing potentially new here is the use of the cell phone as the basis for this tracking, and I’m not sure that is totally new, since cell phone tracking is quite common in Japan, I understand. And I have been told that at least one major cell phone manufacturer is working on incorporating an RFID reader in the cell phone.
But everything you read about Infosys (except the cell phone) is being done with a Motorola/Symbol handheld device right now in many dozens of stores at Stop & Shop, by ModivMedia. Moreover, this is an evolving program, quite a few years old.
The naivete of operations like Infosys’ is quite incredible. (But not unusual.) Many people, particularly technology companies, seem to think if only we could track shoppers in real time and communicate with them, floods of sales will rain down on us. It is companies like Modiv with years of trial and error experience that are at the cutting edge of communication with shoppers in real time in a context appropriate way. MediaCart is also on this path, with a much more extensive internet-in-the-store deployment. But they, though having completed a successful pilot, are still just getting underway in the experience department. (Of course, our own company has been tracking millions of shoppers on a second by second basis since 2001, but we do NOT communicate with the shoppers, only study their behavior.)
So let’s knock off the breathless “for the first time in history.” I wasn’t involved in Malec’s “first time in history” work in the early ’90’s, but have contributed incrementally to the body of learning started there. This latest Infosys development is beginning WAY behind the curve in understanding the in-store shopping experience. And is an incremental advance that may or may not amount to a hill of beans: the good book says that one should not celebrate going into war, like one returning from battle.
We should point out that the availability of data is not necessarily helpful. Bear in mind that other retailers were pulling back their loyalty card programs while Tesco with dunnhumby were accelerating theirs. The key to Tesco’s notable success wasn’t availability of data, but the serious and creative marketing that drove the program.
Having said all this, it seems certain that there will be continuing developments in this space, and almost certainly one or more of these will be smashing successes.
Here’s the thing that scares me a little bit about all the Point of Purchase Bells and Whistles…
Maybe I am wrong, but I don’t believe most of the people will get anything more from their phones than a good shelf talker can provide. Some will say, “you can offer targeted discounts” and that is true, but how will you choose your targets?
I can remember when retailers first tried to turn their “silver shoppers” into “gold shoppers.” When the existing gold shoppers learned that their “lesser” counterparts were getting special incentives, they balked. I’m not sure offering targeted promotions will always go over well with the other people shopping the same aisle and paying full price. It certainly demands some serious thought.
On the other hand, I think a retail operation that encourages shoppers to plan ahead through an integrated website and store layout – that allows shoppers to go online, build their shopping list, then visit the store – can offer many of the same features as in-store automation. It is just these types of people, the ones who plan their shopping as opposed to picking up what’s on their mind for dinner, that new item and discount promotions are targeted to reach. It might be nice to load the shopping list down to the cell phone, but random alerts as customers walk the store just seems like too much.
The golden rule for store operations is to keep it simple. By the time there are enough 3g users able to walk the aisles with their cell phones turned on, we will have solved the physical distribution challenges so that customers will be able to pick up their pre-selected orders at the drive through.
The most important comment in the article was NO UP FRONT COST. If the other barriers to entrance are low and it is a pay for results model, then it may have a chance. Otherwise there is so little time and so few other resources to put to this initiative.
Retailers have too many other things on their plate at this time. Most of them have not even figured out the best way to sell more to present customers, give them better customer service and cut down on the lines they make them stand in.
The US is far behind other countries in the use of the full range cell phone technology capabilities. One reason is the greater value that our society places on privacy versus other high-tech countries such as Japan. Every time a retail system is compromised, the fear of these technologies increases and advances such as this one become less probable. Developing leading edge technology applications that make life easier for consumers and also provide marketers with new avenues of access may be a pipe dream. We need a few identity protection stories to build confidence.
I agree with David. From a market research perspective, it sounds fascinating. From a consumer perspective, it’s creepy and invasive. And, being dependent on consumers buying in to participating in the process, there could be a lot of professional respondents participating, strongly biasing the data that results. In order to provide interesting, actionable and valid information, this would have to be managed properly.
As a behavioral marketing aficionado I think the implications of ShoppingTrip360 are infinite and exciting. As a consumer the entire notion kind of gives me the chills. There will be a lot to learn about this technology, not only from the standpoint of “how does it work?” but also “how will it be used?” and “how will it be justified and explained?”
I think retailers need to concern themselves more with selling unplanned purchased products to consumers more than simply predicting the mainstays and repeating the same purchases on every shopping trip.
I have only one question: how does this help the shopper? And the answer can’t include “targeted offers” because that’s not providing real value. That’s just making it more likely that they’ll respond to your advertising, and shoppers aren’t stupid – they get that part of the equation even as they take your offers. The answer also can’t include “relevant, in-stock products” because that is also not providing real value. That’s janitorial services – expected, and cause for switching if you mess that part up too many times. You don’t get any credit for in-stock because that is simply expected in the first place – that was the argument that got item-level RFID in trouble.
Opt in is good. The shopping list management hints at a possibility of shopper value, but other than that, it’s all about what the retailer and CPGer gets. That’s simply not enough. How does this solution directly help the retailer build a compelling, delightful, helpful, and valuable experience for the shopper? Then we’ll have something worth talking about.
Interesting developments, albeit mostly a combination of a number of older technologies and ideas that try to address parts of the – influence the consumer-meets-consumer preference-meets-demand chain reality conundrum.
Dan certainly expresses a valid point…other countries are moving ahead, at least in consumer facing technology such as 3-g phones. If the phones are out there and the only retailers to use the capabilities are Starbucks, Trader Joe’s and 7-Eleven….?
Will all consumers use it? Nope. But some will. And if the interface and relevance are well done then more consumers will use it tomorrow than today, and more next week than tomorrow.
I also believe Jamie has a valid point. Driving customers to the shelves has not been the problem. (Driving them to THE shelves has been an issue, one that trade promotion and now ad dollars are meant to influence.) Having the right something in stock, at the right price on the right shelf…well that issue has not changed in 24 years, and it appears with store specific sets and leaner inventory chains that it is getting worse.
Will the “free” smart shelves solve that? Again, the article refers to “pads”, meaning old technology. Inaccurate, expensive and there are much better answers out there…without going to RFID.
But we should give the guys at Infosys some credit for thinking about the problems shoppers, retailers and CPG-guys face in an outside-the-box manner.
This is an exciting and logical application of mobile handset technology, though it faces a number of key challenges.
While this is better in terms of being less costly than an RFID chip on every customer, it achieves the same thing and it is going to take a seriously rich value proposition to get customers to opt-in to this level of tracking. Further, the opt-in needs to be clearly spelled out. Opting in to a retailer is not the same as opting in to every manufacturer and the more cumbersome the messaging (in-store especially), the more ineffective it will be.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, shopper behavior – especially in grocery stores – is largely driven by habit. This technology needs to be easily habit forming in order for it to succeed and that is going to take the right quid pro quo for the customer to both get them to download the app and to start using it.
Last, and perhaps most important, data alone doesn’t lead to customer loyalty, intelligent collection and application of the right data (from the right customers) does. Most retailers have enough problems using the data they have today…this is going to take a while and only work for those that are exceptionally capable internally and those that possess the right customer relationships.
Why do we continue to spend time talking about technology that helps us to spy on our customers? We should be talking about techniques and customer-centric methods to watch, listen, and communicate with shoppers about their habits, likes and dislikes. Retailers are encouraged by technology companies to distance themselves from the customer, not embrace them. I’ve said it a half dozen times in my comments to RetailWire and I guess it needs repeating, “Tell me again why you don’t want to talk to the customer.”
What a relief that Infosys has finally finally finally! found a way to download recipes to my cell phone. This problem is driving me nuts. Every day I go to the supermarket I wander around in a state of complete crippling anxiety because I don’t know how to get recipes on my cell phone. I don’t know how to prepare my bowl of Froot Loops with milk and a banana. I don’t know how to assemble a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I don’t know how to grill a burger. Good thing Infosys is watching out for me. With ShoppingTrip360 and my trusty cell phone I can learn to cook for myself. Until now, I had to hire a professional dietician and a Cordon Bleu chef unless I wanted to eat all my meals at Starbucks.
Nielsen In-Store has this data for 28,000 F/D/M stores so I’m not sure why we are discussing a solution with ZERO traction.
All of this technology certainly has a “Gee Whiz” element to it, but somewhere along the way we seem to have forgotten that customers are really actual living breathing human beings. Human beings that like and need to be engaged by other human beings.
We had several forums last week that focused on the disappearing human touch in retail. Somehow, we’ve allowed ourselves to believe that technology can actually help us achieve economies of scale in dealing with customers. Technology can provide information, but can never replace the essential value of human contact in driving business.