In Bid to Sway Sales, Cameras Track Shoppers

[arcadian]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/business/20surveillance.html

The curvy mannequin piqued the interest of a couple of lanky teenage boys. Little did they know that as they groped its tight maroon shirt in the clothing store that day, video cameras were rolling.

At a mall, a father emerged from a store dragging his unruly young son by the scruff of the neck, as if he were the family cat. The man had no idea his parenting skills were being immortalized.

At an office supply store, a mother decided to get an item from a high shelf by balancing her small child on her shoulders, unaware that she, too, was being recorded.

These scenes may seem like random shopping bloopers, but they are meaningful to stores that are striving to engineer a better experience for the consumer, and ultimately, higher sales for themselves. Such clips, retailers say, can help them find solutions to problems in their stores — by installing seating and activity areas to mollify children, for instance, or by lowering shelves so merchandise is within easy reach.

more...

[louis-t]

1. OK, so when are they installing the x-ray cameras?

Just askin'.

[katmondoo]

2. I am 5'1 and when I can't reach an item in the grocery store I look around

for an umbrella or a cane for sale. I "borrow" it get my item then return the object. I wonder if I have been recorded. Hope so.

[Auggie]

3. Wonder if the trackers are in the USA or offshore...

[madokie]

7. India

[kenny blankenship]

4. We are the most heavily surveilled society ever.

People are becoming completely used to being watched, recorded, tracked, monitored, data-mined, profiled, predicted, and prejudged.
There's no way this will turn out good.

[Warren DeMontague]

5. You mean to say that, when I walk through a store, I'M BEING WATCHED?

Noooooo! Noooooo! Noooooo!

How am I supposed to pick my nose- or practice my dance moves- in the canned goods aisle, ever again?

:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o

[DJ13]

6. If they would spend less on cameras & more on their employees

Their sales would increase faster than wasting money "analyzing" how to improve their stores.

[kenny blankenship]

8. Employees? You mean ... human beings?

Messy, thieving, unreliable flesh bags who show up late, and squawk about their "rights". No more employees, never.

We make a welcoming environment for consumers by painting the walls in bold colors, deploying informational graphics with large shapes and letters, and providing enough overhead space in aisles for panoptical surveillance technology to be installed - but not conspicuously so that the consumer will not know he is being followed by electric eyes. No human interaction is required to draw consumers into the vending floor, get them turned around and disoriented, force them to walk past multiple racks of impulse purchase items, and then empty their pockets at the door. The science of this is airtight.