Across the pond, American shoppers (and employees) are accustomed to security cameras in stores and shopping centres, but they're also concerned about privacy.Now some U.S. stores are experimenting with cameras that record in-store activities for in-depth analysis. The goal: to research customer behaviour and, ultimately, better serve shoppers by changing store design or employee reaction or both. Envirosell (see photo from its site, above) is one of a growing number of specialist firms that assist retailers by putting cameras in the field to gather shopper data for analysis.
As another example, Cabela's, a retailer of outdoor clothing/gear, uses video cameras to monitor how long salespeople wait before they greet shoppers. Management told the New York Times that salespeople weren't as quick to help shoppers as expected. After the company used training and communication to reinforce expectations, cameras verified that employees were following the recommendations.
However, privacy advocates worry that in-store surveillance will lead to identification at the individual level, now that face recognition software is available. They also raise ethical objections, saying that shoppers should not be considered "subjects" in customer-behavior experiments.
As the debate continues, expect more stores to test video observation while paying close attention to public reaction.
