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The combination of video and smartphone signals is enabling retail stores to track your movements within their stores and identify whether you are a returning customer. Ever increasingly retailers at taking video and WifI signals, identifying you and then going as far as determining what sections of their stores you frequent.
However that's not all. They are going as far as analyzing your movement within their stores, such as the direction you turned after viewing a particular item or section The New York Times reports that Nordstrom's, for example, has tested a tracking system that connects to customer's mobile device WiFi signal, then traced their movement within the store. A Nordstrom spokesman however said that they have ended this practice after receiving customer complaints.
It's not just high end stores either. From Family Dollar to Benetton these companies are checking into and implementing tech based system that track your position within the store, yoru movements all the way to your facial expressions. The firm RealEyes has an in store system that analyzes customers' facial expressions for the purpose of determining purchasing interest.
What's just as freaky is if a store has RealEyes installed, and you're in that store, with your your phone, if the store has Wi-Fi access cthey an pinpoint where you are within the store within a 10-foot radius, even if you do not connect to the network. How wrong is that?
A spokemsan for Cisco,says that "Brick-and-mortar stores have been disadvantaged compared with online retailers, which get people’s digital crumbs." Is it even the same thing?
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