The retail industry is extremely challenging due to fast-changing consumer behavior. Traditional business models are no longer able to fulfill customer satisfaction. Today, retailers are getting more effective digital tools to attract customers.
Over the years, the application of digital signage has revolutionized the retail industry. Digital signage has a higher recall rate. It can capture more views than traditional displays such as posters and banners. However, as more and more digital signages are put to use in the retail industry, some retailers quickly realize the limitations of their digital signages.
Let’s discuss using digital signage with facial detection in the retail business.
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| Hoi Huh |
What is face detection?
Face detection is a technology that uses machine learning techniques and algorithms to find human faces within a captured video.
There are several methods that a face detection system can use to locate faces. One of the most common methods used is to separate facial regions from non-facial regions and the static background. In short, the system is taught to find facial features such as eyes, nose, and mouth.
Limitations of digital signage
As more and more digital signages are utilized in the retail industry, some retailers realize that customers are getting used to seeing digital content in retail stores. It is becoming harder to attract customers.
In addition, measuring and calculating digital signage ROI can be very difficult. Retail business owners need to evaluate their campaigns’ effectiveness by looking at the return on investment. Besides, retailers are also constantly looking for ways to collect valuable customer data such as gender, age, and the time spent in looking at the digital signages.
Audience measurement
The integration of digital signage and face detection technology offers huge benefits to retail business owners. Audience measurement is one of the benefits.
Audience measurement solution helps to explore and collect measurement data on how viewers interact with the digital signage. With the aid of the face detection system and the camera, the solution can determine the number of viewers, the number of passersby, the total time spent in viewing the content, and other useful information. What is even better is that the solution can group these data by age and gender.
By installing and using an analytics tool, retail business owners can access and gain valuable insight out of the data. For example, a retailer can identify messages that have the shortest dwell time. He can then decide whether to optimize the messages or remove them from the campaign.
In short, digital signage with face detection helps retailers to understand more about their customers and track the effectiveness of their digital signage campaigns.
Content optimization
Another benefit of using face detection technology is content optimization. Since digital signage with the face detection feature can identify the gender and age group of viewers, retailers can now deliver highly personalized messages in real time.
Imagine you are the owner of a large shoe retail store that sells all kinds of shoes. There is digital signage in your store. You have no idea whether to display the promo video of men’s leather shoes, high heels or kids footwear.
By using the face detection system, your digital signage can display the promo video of high heels when a female customer is looking at the screen, and it can also switch to the promo video of men’s leather shoes when there is a male customer.
Privacy concern
Any application or system that collects personal and private data can always freak people out. First, we need to understand the difference between facial detection and facial recognition.
Facial detection is used to identify facial features that can help to tell demographic characteristics such as gender and age. Facial detection cannot tell the identity of the person involved. Once the characteristics are identified, the system will store only the data which will then be used by businesses to understand their customers. The system will not store any personal data.
On the other hand, the application of facial recognition is more sensitive because it can tell the identity of the captured person if there is a match with database data.
No matter which application is used, business owners should use the collected data only to benefit their customers. Pay attention to any regulation imposed in your country or state that may limit the use of facial detection in public spaces.
Helps improve shopping experience
While technology is evolving faster than ever, retail businesses should adapt to change quickly by implementing digital business strategies. Although the future of the facial detection application remains murky due to privacy concerns, we cannot deny the fact that digital signage with a face detection feature can help to improve the retail shopping experience.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which struck the U.S. nearly two years ago, altered the digital signage landscape. The industry is still trying to recover and adapt to the pandemic’s effects. While some digital signage fields have struggled to grapple with industry changes, others have thrived.
QR codes, for example, have seen a rebirth in retail, dining and other sectors. They offer a fast, convenient and touchless way of completing a purchase. Michael Ferrer, senior director of Solution Sales for Sharp NEC Display Solutions, believes QR codes will remain popular in coming years. Sharp NEC Display Solutions, based in Downers Grove, Illinois, produces commercial and visual technology, along with digital signage assets.
“Digital signage to mobile device will continue to flourish,” Ferrer said in an email interview with Digital Signage Today. “We’ve seen QR Codes make a huge comeback and help communicate messages — just scan and information comes directly to our smart phones.”
In the quick service restaurant industry, the pandemic pushed businesses to complete digital menu boards, especially at drive-thrus, as more patrons chose pickup outside the store instead of in-store dining. In recent years, while designing new construction plans, businesses have been more likely to include digital signage — a stark change from several years ago, Ferrer said.
“They were once seen as an afterthought,” he said.
Both Ferrer and Carol McGury, EVP, event and education services at Smithbucklin, expect personal experiences — companies trying to make a one-on-one connection with consumers — will continue to grow. Smithbucklin, based in Chicago, is a for-profit company that provides complete association management services, typically for non-profit associations, foundations and consortiums.
“Digital signage has evolved to a point where advertisers or sponsors can get very close to replicating an in-person conversation to connect with an audience,” McGury said in an email to DST. “You see this in retail, transportation, hospitality, healthcare, education. The right content is delivered to the right audience at the right time. This is what every communicator, educator, advertiser or sponsor desires.”
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| McGury |
McGury believes interactivity will also continue to evolve through digital signage sensors, leveraging artificial intelligence and network connectivity through the cloud to bring targeted content to specific audiences.
Bill Zimmer, VP of marketing at 360 Live Media, believes frictionless ordering from digital signage inside stores is also a trend on the rise. 360 Live Media, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is an event marketing, strategy and design agency.
“For the retailer, it can mean lower overhead costs as fewer staff may be required to service a store,” Zimmer told DST in an email. “For consumers, it can be a more efficient and enjoyable experience to browse and place your order directly rather than wait in line to dictate it to someone else.”
What industries will see the greatest gains?
Ferrer and McGury both see the transportation field gaining the most from digital signage in 2022 and beyond, while Zimmer thinks the events industry could enjoy a boost.
“I believe that transportation, business, healthcare, entertainment, and retail verticals are all in growth mode and will continue beyond 2022,” Ferrer said. “Some are refreshing just their tech, but others are completely reinventing themselves.”
McGury sees the boom in transportation digital signage pumping dollars into the hospitality industry as well.
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| Zimmer |
“In the transportation segment, there is a huge population that will travel in record numbers in the next five years,” McGury said. “Hospitality benefits from the travel surge and the events industry has been a leader in digital signage but many venues will need to upgrade since their existing technologies have hit their useful life.”
While the events industry has to bolster its tech, according to McGury, Zimmer sees a “world of potential” in events.
“Hybrid conferences and trade shows offer new opportunities for both in-person and digital attendees to connect, do business, and engage with content,” Zimmer said.
In education, remote learning is likely to stick around for a while, and McGury believes digital signage in education could see a significant lift in 2022.
“Lessons from the mobile economy and mobile publishing will come into play for the digital signage market,” McGury said. “Lines will blur since we all hold a personal digital sign in our hands all the time.”
Display TechnologyCustomer ExperienceEducation / SchoolsEntertainment VenuesRestaurantsRetail
source https://duchonsigns.wordpress.com/2022/01/12/face-recognition-digital-signage-should-you-be-concerned/
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