Departmental stores are going to reopen soon in a few of the regions that were severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, retail is entirely different from just a few months ago. Stores intend to wipe surfaces throughout the day, sterilize clothes that customers try or touch and drive everyone to wear gloves or even masks.
Furthermore, large department malls and stores are ready to place thermal body scanners at their entrance. They are detecting sick clients and restricting them from entering the store, but this point raises many serious concerns and questions. Although few people predict that users will quickly get used to it. However, another technology is entering the retail sphere as the pandemic pushes retailers to enforce AI face recognition online even faster. Following are the ways that facial recognition will transform the retail industry.
1. Facial Comparison Can Reduce Shoplifting
The retail owner may be surprised that many people already use facial recognition technology in retail stores. Almost half of all Americans state that they want to use the face recognition process to prevent shoplifting. Undoubtedly, it’s one of the most substantial uses of advanced technology in the retail sector. Even though the stores have advanced security, the shoplifting issue still prevails, with fraud costing the retail sector around $16.7 billion in 2017.
2. Face Recognition Process Allows Stores to Improve the Shopping Experience
All clients are usually looking for a convenient shopping experience. One of the remarkable ways of convenient shopping is to personalize the complete experience to fulfill the specific client’s needs. Facial recognition solution ensures that every client is exposed to their relative needs. However, to achieve this, retail stores want to access the information they just can’t get from the entered information when a user creates a client account. It’s a necessary point where facial recognition technology steps in.
If a retail store has installed advanced technology, it can quickly or easily take customization to a new level. For instance, a user walks into a fast-food store with beautiful touch-screen kiosks, and now the screen is filled with a choice of consumer-ordered food items. This saves them from scrolling through the menu to find the components of their favorite food.
Moreover, similar technology can also be used in retail stores to identify frequent customers upon entry. With this data, the store can quickly send deals to its clients through emails, push notifications and messages from its applications about services identical to the ones the clients have purchased. This technique helps prevent them from being bombarded with deals in which clients don’t have any interest and never want to buy.
3. Facial Recognition Solution Helps Employees To Provide Better Customer Service
Poor client service is the primary factor that can quickly sink a business. It’s a complicated situation for retail stores as 91% of users who have experienced poor customer service simply leave the floor without complaining to any employee. Hence, poor customer service is usually a silent killer that doesn’t come to light. Luckily, using face recognition deep learning, retail stores can proactively restrict unsatisfactory user experience.
Usually, when a consumer enters any store, their purchasing behavior is entirely unknown to the firm, which is different from when users shop online. However, AI face recognition online assists in filling the gap by analyzing consumers’ faces when they enter the store. The system also follows them as they roam around the store. Whenever customers quickly walk around the store and briefly look at products, this advanced technology alerts employees that the user is looking for something specific and requires help.
On the other hand, if a system detects that a user is repeatedly going back to purchase the specific product, then this indicates that they have a higher interest in this item.
4. AI Face Recognition Online Brings Tracking Concerns to the Physical Shopping Experiences
This article has only covered the benefits of using FRT in retail stores. However, it’s vital to realize that it’s not always easy. There are a few pitfalls that retailers must consider. For example, any store using advanced technology takes the relevant steps to make its clients know they are being tracked.
The safest way to execute is to make signs that hang on the doors or windows and inform clients that they are being monitored inside the store. Not everyone knows about this technology, so it’s smart for these stores to introduce an opt-in character that prevents users from storing their pictures if they don’t want it.
Key Takeaways
The only way to know how facial recognition services change the retail sector is to pay attention to how users react when stores begin to integrate them. However, it’s expected to be a positive change for the whole business world. Face recognition technology is capable of directing employees exactly where they want to be to offer the best client service to every single individual.
