Video Mining

Did you feel like someone was watching you the last time you went to the mall? Maybe you were being watched.

An increasing number of stores are using "video mining" to follow consumers while shopping. They can analyze body shape to pick out adults versus kids, determine how much time is spent in the store, whether or not any purchases were made, etc. They can also analyze which aisles have high traffic or shopper reaction to displays (e.g. plasma TVs) to help improve merchandising strategy. American Express used a camera hidden in a holiday gift card display this past season. They tracked eye movement and handling of the cards. They looked at the results as a function of display placement relative to competitor gift card displays. Technology has come a long way from the days of Candid Camera!

You can check out one of the leaders in the technology at www.videomining.com. Another site, www.shoppertrak.com, gives some examples of the summary data gleaned from video mining.