UK retail analyst ResearchFarm has published a new report showing how new technologies are set revolutionise the way retailers monitor consumer behaviour. Technology of the Future 2014 looks at how what the latest devices used to track consumer behaviour will mean for consumers and retailers, and outlines the future of loyalty through sentient devices and social media data mining and wearables.
“With more of consumers’ lives shared online and therefore available for data capture, retail and brand loyalty will be transformed,” says ResearchFarm’s Daniel Lucht. “Retail is starting to witness the decline of physical loyalty cards and ResearchFarm expects the area to be a key battleground for brands. For both retailer-led loyalty interaction (push) and customer-led loyalty interaction (pull) innovative technology promises a transformation.”
Lucht said companies such as Argus Labs will offer retailers an opportunity to profile individual customers simply through their smartphones usage patterns and target highly personalised messages based on moods and underlying emotions.
“By tracking all smartphone interaction (including how hard a user presses on their phone) emotional profiles and mood states can be read by the sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) developed by the company,” he said. “This means that in future retailer loyalty scheme interaction could be pulled in by shoppers’ emotions and feelings, with sentinent devices and AI feeding back to brands the right moment to contact a shopper and what the relevant product offer needs to be.”
A contrasting approach will be retailer-led interaction that utilises social media and current affairs. Starcount, the new venture by the dunnhumby founders, could potentially offer such a solution, Lucht said. Based on social media profiles and data showing what shoppers actually love and care about, retailer interaction with shoppers about a topic, band or hobby should be relevant and get around the vexed spamming issue. A retailer or brand could then inform fans of a certain band about upcoming tour dates and offer related merchandise. “Understanding how to exploit the data on social media into an effective marketing tool will be a key skill,” he noted.
A third major topic in the future transformation of retailing will be the rise of wearables, Lucht said. Increasingly sophisticated technology is reaching a point where it actually dictates how consumers shop and even drive a real change in their lifestyles. The boom in fitness, health and wellness apps has driven a real consumer behaviour change around calorie intake and exercise regimens, with a considerable impact on certain FMCG brands observable already.
“That said, the wearables category is much broader than “on trend” smartwatches,” he said. “Smart clothing like tech infused athletic wear providing real time information on the effectiveness of a workout or baby wear providing a baby’s heartbeat rate offer a glimpse into the future of how basic items like clothing could be digitised and transmit data about shoppers – consumers could literally become a walking source of information.”
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