Now let us look at some of these intriguing questions that just might catch your fancy:

• What if you could hold your smartphone to the sky and see how the weather will change during the day?
• What if your phone could recognize trams passing by and tell you whether you could use it to go back home and/or when the next one is coming?
• What if you could see which of the Burj-Khalifa – or any other hotel –rooms that are available, and their price, only by taking a picture of the building itself?
• What if you could see when a museum is open and what are its current exhibitions and opening hours?

Thanks to video analytics, augmented reality is on the way to become part of our habits. But what is it? Augmented reality is a type of virtual reality that aims to duplicate the world's environment in a computer. An augmented reality system generates a composite view for the user that is the combination of the real scene viewed by the user and a virtual scene generated by the computer that augments the scene with additional information. The virtual scene generated by the computer is designed to enhance the user's sensory perception of the virtual world they are seeing or interacting with.

Since over a year now, we have been hearing a lot about this innovative technology and more particularly about the google glass and how it will revolutionize the way we see and interact with our surroundings. Everyday we can witness new applications that are bringing us closer to this this revolution.

With this idea in mind, and a constant development in the field of augmented reality has led to birth of applications like Layar and Blippar, which focuses on apps that are developed for smartphones, giving consumers a more interactive look into the world AR.

I'm sure you all aware of the Google glasses as mentioned before. But for augmented reality, it is just the tip of the iceberg for the future it holds for this technology.

A lot of retailers have already leveraged on this concept of AR incorporating into their sales and marketing operations, allowing consumers to take full advantage in helping them choose their product. Augmented reality is changing the way of how consumers can interact and shop at the same time. An example of this is illustrated in the IKEA 2013 catalogue video below:

The Nespresso Case:
Another similar example would be in the case of Nespresso machines.The concept is quite simple, the customer had to print a qr code, put it on a desired location, download the Nespresso app that would use the smartphone camera to reproduce the machine on the screen. The customer could then change color to check which one would better fit its environment.
This allows the potential customers to picture how well the Nespresso machines would fit their homes.

The Automotive Case:
HUD or Head-Up-Display is the use of any transparent display that displays information data without users' requiring to look away from their usual point of view. BMW was the first car manufacturer to adopt this technology into their commercial vehicles, where by the information on speed and other vehicle information was displayed on the bottom of the windscreen allowing the drivers to a more efficient and safer driving experience. It makes the drivers more aware of the car comportment and soon will be able to inform him from potential dangers using cameras at the back of the car reported on the windscreen. The cameras, together with infra-red light, will be able to analyze potential threat and communicate them to the driver, this latter won't even have to change its field of vision and will be able to concentrate only on what is in front of him!

Links:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57588128-76/the-next-big-thing-in-tech-augmented-reality/
http://mashable.com/2012/12/19/augmented-reality-city/
http://www.koloss.se/project/nespresso-augmented-reality
http://www.bmw.com/com/en/insights/technology/technology_guide/articles/head_up_display.html

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE BEYOND SWEETHEARTING!

VIDEO ANALYTICS IN RETAIL STORES

There is a significant difference in video surveillance and the use of complex video analytics.  One major type of retail fraud, sweethearting, where a cashier intentionally fails to enter one or more items into the transaction in an attempt to get free merchandise for the customer, can be easily detected by a surveillance video camera that is monitored by an employee. This helps prevent losses and increase cost efficiency but does not substantially improve efficiency and increase sales since we have not captured any knowledge of what is influencing a client in a store.

Thus, understanding consumer behavior can be a very useful tactic to maximize store productivity and add value to a store’s business operations. Sucess is crucially dependand on understanding the PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESS BEHIND A CLIENT’S PURCHASE BEHAVIOR.

Video analytics comes into play by using refined algorithms that calculate what factors are influencial on the clients experience in a retail shop and DELIVERING A BEHAVIORAL SNAPSHOT of the shopper.

Surveillance captures consumer behavior

By analyzing captured video material, basic data can be collected such as the simple counting of entrance and exit data, queuing behavior and respective waiting times or the effectiveness of the customer flow within the store. We can collect traffic statistics to determine optimal staff deployment and promotional plans and optimize overall planning. This gives information about specific customer as well as employee experiences and conclusions can be drawn how they may be marketed to. Moreover, Video Analytics helps to identify potential stock cuts and reports on shelf availability. The retailer is given the possibility to establish an automated anticipation alert and is able to replace products on the shelves that are running out.

Something revolutionary about video analytics is that it allows retail managers to gain insights into customers’ interaction with the employees and analyze consumer behavior. Touch points of engagement are videotaped and analyzed, making it possible to draw conclusions out of these interactions and improve them towards the client’s desires. Furthermore we can observe which parts of the store are the most frequented and follow the customer’s buying pattern. Trough surveillance we observe the paths customers navigate through the store, observe dwell time etc. This gives valuable information as to how to arrange product placement, take merchandizing decisions, improve customer satisfaction, product promotions, optimize staff allocation and deliver valuable, personalized customer messages. Moreover, organizations can use consumer information to learn about the needs and opinions of shoppers in ways not previously possible. Big data analysis offers companies a way to identify those shoppers who are the most valuable as returning customers. DATA COLLECTION BOOSTS CUSTOMER LOYALTY. We may thus add value through better customer service and are also by utilizing the ability to influence the customer’s buying pattern subconsciously.

Video Analytics shows a motion path and the dwell time of consumers

The productivity and accurate data interpretation is also crucially enhanced by the use of Video Analytics. In order to make managerial decisions, executives need accurate and reliable information. Retail Video Analytics is providing the means to drive business decisions that rely on hard facts. Retailers used to have to draw their own conclusions from obersavation. Now, the hiring of trained personnel becomes obsolete due to an automated data analysis displayed on dashboards that PRESENT,VISUALIZE AND INTERPRET LIVE METRICTS FROM THE STORE.

References:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/xerox/2013/09/27/big-data-boosts-customer-loyalty-no-really/

http://www.agentvi.com/images/Agent_Vi_-_Retail_Applications.pdf

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4425348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D4425348

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4959867&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D4959867

http://www.retailnext.net/analytics-technology/visualization