Mannequins Secretly Watch Customers Shop

Posted by in Retail


The EyeSee model, sold by Italian producer Almax SpA is the first face profiling system to reside in a mannequin. It was designed and manufactured by Kee Square in collaboration with Selea (a research and development company of advanced video surveillance).  The units went on sale last December for $5,130. Currently they are being used in three European countries and the U.S. though the manufacturer declines to name their clients.
 

One smart dummy, the EyeSee mannequin is an eco friendly body with a surprise inside. It’s made of an entirely recyclable and shockproof polystyrene shell and finished with water based paints. Inside, a camera has been embedded in one eye which feeds data into facial-recognition software that logs the age, gender, and race of passers-by. This information is used to create customer reports that are output to a computer or mobile device.
 

Because mannequins stand at customer level they engage more interaction than over-head security cameras to collect high caliber data. Retailers can use this sort of “spyware” as long as they have a closed-circuit television license because EyeSee doesn’t store any images.
 

Retailers see it as a way to keep up with online competition when it comes to data collection. Uché Okonkwo, executive director of consultant Luxe Corp. told Bloomberg, “Any software that can help profile people while keeping their identities anonymous is fantastic. [It] could really enhance the shopping experience, the product assortment, and help brands better understand their customers.”
 

The allure of analytic people watching in a retail setting is that it:
 

  • allows retailers to evaluate the effectiveness and exposure of their windows
  • improves the service provided by the store personnel by being able to predict store traffic and the needs of particular groups of customers
  • gives businesses a better idea of customer trends and how to feature their products accordingly


Lorna Hall, retail editor at fashion forecaster WGSN said, “The retail community is starting to get wise to the opportunity around personalization. The golden ticket is getting to the point where they’ve got my details, they know what I bought last time I came in.”
 

For example, particular data collected revealed to one outlet that men who shopped in the first two days of a sale spent more than women over the same period of time. This led the company to adjust its window displays in a manner that is initially targeted more towards men’s taste.
 

Bloomberg also cites instances where “a clothier introduced a children’s line after the dummy showed that kids made up more than half its mid-afternoon traffic, the company says. Another store found that a third of visitors using one of its doors after 4 p.m. were Asian, prompting it to place Chinese-speaking staff by that entrance.”
 

But what if customers don’t want their picture taken? SmartPlanet quotes Christopher Mesnooh, a partner at Parisian law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse as saying, “If you go on Facebook, before you start the registration process, you can see exactly what information they are going to collect and what they’re going to do with it. If you’re walking into a store, where’s the choice?”
 

Some wonder if profiling people with the same technology used to capture terrorists might be off-putting to their customers.  Emma Carr, deputy director of civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch explains her feelings about it, “Keeping cameras hidden in a mannequin is nothing short of creepy. The use of covert surveillance technology by shops, in order to provide a personalized service, seems totally disproportionate. The fact that the cameras are hidden suggests that shops are fully aware that many customers would object to this kind of monitoring.”
 

Colin Johnson, a spokesman for Nordstrom who wonders if facial recognition may be taking personalized marketing a step too far said, “It’s a changing landscape but we’re always going to be sensitive about respecting the customer’s boundaries.” Nordstrom does not use the EyeSee mannequins but they can collect consumer data if a customer chooses to connect via WiFi, iPads or video screens at their retail locations.
 

Almax assures customers that, “All this is total respect of privacy, protected by a sophisticated mix of hardware and software technology which processes the data without the aid of a computer and without having to record and transmit sensitive information (images or biometric data), and so without leaving any trace of the face analyzed.”
 

Image Courtesy of adamr at FreeDigitalPhotos

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  • Melissa Kennedy
    Melissa Kennedy
    Thanks, Michelle. I agree. When companies start installing cameras, I'll do my business online. I dislike the idea of being spied on while I'm shopping.
  • michelle r
    michelle r
    i don't like that this company spies on people
  • michelle r
    michelle r
    i don't like this page at all, it's all false. if u want a job near u it gives u jobs 100 miles away! spying on people can help but i would never go 2 a store that has camera's like that. just recorded who buys the dress.
  • Heather Fairchild
    Heather Fairchild
    I think it won't be long until almost everything we say and do is monitored. Ever watch the show Persons of Interest, something like that...
  • Mirsha T
    Mirsha T
    I think is very interesting and efficient. Although, I can't agree with the ethnicity  profiling. Not because there is Asian visitors walking through the doors means they are Chinese and that is why they decided to hire Chinese Speaking staff. The customers walking in may as well be Japanese, Korean, Thai, and among other Asian ethnicities. I might be wrong since I don't know much about the accuracy of the software using to operate the mannequins.  I sure can agree that these software is more accurate to accumulate data to get the consumers and retailers what they need and spec to their own advantage to meet their pursuit from one another.
  • Robert M
    Robert M
    "TRULY-INNOVATIVE!!!  Who cares if BIG-BROTHER IS WATCHING,HE NEEDS TO in order to catch all the damned crooked SOB'S IN THE WORLD...
  • Diane B
    Diane B
    Great idea
  • A.G
    A.G
    This just like Minority Report ,  w/ tom cruz were they just flashed ur eyes and asked u a million times if u want 2 buy this and that based on the last time u shopped . And that would be annoying . I see it would be good 4 the shop lifting but nothing more .
  • Stephanie C
    Stephanie C
    I totally agree with Kathy Y.
  • Raquel W
    Raquel W
    I think people should be made aware of the cameras.  I believe depending on the shopper's age many will not have a problem with it.
  • Leticia W
    Leticia W
    sick and creepy
  • Janice F
    Janice F
    This reminds me of 'I Robot" where the public was told they were completely innocent and then it was discovered the robots were really going to be doing something different.  Also, the "scanners" at the airports stated they did not store image either, that was not correct - they did store images and the images were used inappropriately.  I don't like this at all.
  • Alonzo D
    Alonzo D
    Sometimes technology is a great thing as long as someone doesn't turn it into something bad,evil,or for some type of personal gain.In which we all suffer somehow.
  • Robin C
    Robin C
    Big Brother has been joined by dummies.  Paranoid people will need  to learn to live way off the grid and in total isolation if they don't want to be surveilled at every waking moment that they are in the public.  Many stores already have a closed circuit advisory inside the front door.  This is just another step to make us a global village.  The idea that modern people have a certain amount of anonymity that our ancestors lacked because everyone in the local community knew them is being changed.  We better get used to it.  They needed to stay licit because they were known by sight.  We now will be as identifiable as they were.
  • Romano M
    Romano M
    A good idea, especially for tracking shoplifters.
  • Patricia r
    Patricia r
    What is that old saying ... if your relationship has to be a secret you shouldn't be in it! it goes for any relationship even the one with the store you shop in. it would be a no go for me!
  • Carlee B
    Carlee B
    I have done this work in the past and loved it!! I think it is a great way to watch shoppers!!
  • John T
    John T
    I find being labelled and categorized as somewhat offensive.  Most of the time I shop is usually for my wife because she has mobility issues and doesn't get around too well in most stores.  I can only imagine what kind of report is being generate on me.  Maybe I'll start wearing disguises.
  •  HeleneH.
    HeleneH.
    Shopping is a very private and personal experience.  It's a time to chill and pamper yourself, while exploring what's new and exciting in the world of retail....It is not cool to have an invasive eye looking over your shoulder at your every move.  I would avoid stores that "spy" on their customers.
  • Joannie S
    Joannie S
    I think this is just the governments way of taking our rights and freedom away. I think It could be a good thing if its purpose was to help catch people in shop lifting.
  •  Kathy Y
    Kathy Y
    I think it is just another part of the big picture. I think that it won't be much longer, that our every move will be watched. We know that our every thought if you are on facebook, and more than likely youtube, is recorded. I think it is communism at its highest level. Look at the new software out for realtors. They can just put the prospective client's cell phone number in their computer or Iphone, and it lets them know when their client gets within the near vicinity  of a house that is for sale. They simply call them, and the unsuspecting client having no idea his whereabouts is known falls prey to the realtor. It is scarey, and I am not happy to be an AMERICAN CITIZEN.
  • Melissa B
    Melissa B
    The eye see mannequins seem like they may be taking advantage of seeing without being seen. I know I will definitely be more suspicious if mannequins seem to close to my height or  eye level with me i may avoid those store all together.

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