Three Carrefour hypermarkets in Madrid, Spain, will pilot Proximus' solution to track shopping trolleys and baskets this autumn, according to a report in the RFID Journal.
Proximus, the Spanish company providing the technology, wanted to develop a product to allow retailers to connect with their shoppers in the same way that online stores are connecting with theirs. It developed Bluetooth beacons that transmit a unique ID number to sensors, which then forward the data collected to a cloud-based server. The technology is now being trialled and released in stages.
The Carrefour pilot is part of the first stage, where the technology will track Carrefour customers' shopping-trolley movements throughout the stores, rather than identifying the individual customer. The pilot is expected to last for around six months.
The technology has already been piloted on a smaller basis at two Nisa stores in London. Beacons were attached to shopping baskets and sensors were installed in the stores' ceilings. They can pinpoint the location of the shopper to approximately 1.5 metres. This means that they can tell which route the shopper takes around the store, where they stop, when they go to the checkout, and when the basket is returned to the holding area. The results of the Nisa pilot are still being evaluated.
The technology will provide retailers with more insight into their customers' activities, via reports from Proximus based on the data collected. This information can then be used for store and service improvement.
In the long term, the plan is to incorporate the technology into retailers' loyalty programmes, which would track shoppers' movements around the store via their mobile phones, and offer them promotional material, discounts and rewards based on their shopping preferences. There could also be potential to link the technology to individual retailers' apps.
Proximus aims to target all the main retailers in Europe and to establish a base in America by the end of 2015.
© 2014 European Supermarket Magazine by Nicole Gernon
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