No. 148: Simplified system to analyze shoppers’ interest from NEC (August 30, 2010)

NEC developed a simplified system for retailers to analyze shoppers’ interest. Using mobile phones and inexpensive sensors, it can tell the popularity of a specific sales floor and the response of shoppers to new products. It has four units of integrated equipment made up of motion sensors and radio transmitters installed on the ceiling for every 100-200 square meters to count the number of visitors. Information obtained from the acceleration sensor incorporated in the mobile phone that each customer carries is used to analyze his motion. Analyzing where he stops and walks, the system tell what products interest him. The system was tested in a department store in Tokyo for three months, and the test proved that its allows for the precise measurement. The system costs about one third of the existing expensive system. The company plans to put it into practical use in two years.