At its Taipei store, which is located on a street lined with competing retailers selling various types of audio systems, usually only regular customers or customers who have been recommended visit the store. As the products sold in the store are relatively specialized, few passersby would be interested enough to walk in. Thus, the change that Image Audio needs now is keeping old customers while attracting new customers into the store to make inquiries and purchases, i.e. transforming traditional retail sales into smart retail that is based on multi-touch interaction and data analysis.

From traditional retail to smart retail

In the past, Image Audio depends on store personnel’s memory to determine if customers are regular or new. However, such precious customer data and retail traffic information are lost whenever there is a change in store personnel. To tackle this problem head on are Avalue’s Shopper Traffic & Walk-in Paths analytic system and VIP Real-time Facial Recognition with Notification solution.

Through the Shopper Traffic & Walk-in Paths analytic system, the timing and frequency of everyone going in and out are recorded and statistically analyzed. After the data is uploaded to Microsoft Azure for analysis, the store administrator can, at the touch of a button, see analysis of highs and lows of in-store customer traffic through simple charts based on back-end BI statistical reports. This helps to facilitate the scheduling of rest time and working hours for store personnel, providing more effective allocation and arrangement of a tight workforce.

With over 80% of Image Audio’s customers being regulars, information relating to their purchase and shopping habit becomes highly critical. Avalue recommends using VIP Real-time Facial Recognition with Notification solution. Through back-end entry of VIP members’ information and record of their purchases, preferences and habits, VIP real-time facial recognition is automatically activated once a VIP customer enters the store.

Once activated, all store personnel, including the person attending to the customer, the person organizing the store inventory and the manager in the office, will receive real-time notification of the VIP’s arrival. This will not only enhance the VIP customer’s sense of exclusive and privileged treatment but also increase store personnel’s professionalism and trustworthiness. When customers feel favorable toward the store, this will be the store that comes to their mind instantly when they have a need for audio equipment next time.

Besides staying connected to old customers and providing considerate services, attracting new customers is vital too. On a street where there are many retailers selling similar audio products, an interactive and interesting marketing approach is as important as professionalism. By increasing a little more curiosity and inquiry from the customers, chances of increased bag counts will be boosted.

Thus, Interactive Facial Recognition & Product Recommendations is the perfect solution here. When a customer enters the store, the interactive facial recognition system will transmit the customer’s facial features back to Microsoft Azure for facial recognition, and then recommend products suitable for the customer based on the administrator’s settings, which match different customers’ characteristics such as gender, age and personal attributes to suitable product ads., deepening the customer’s identification with the store and increasing his/her motivation to buy.

While capturing the customer’s interest, the system will also record the customer’s information (photo will not be retained; only information such as gender, age and personal attributes will be kept). Store administrator can then see the customer’s profile more clearly through BI analysis report, allowing the introduction of more profile-matching products, increasing the customer’s satisfaction and bag count.

More satisfied customers

“The introduction of Avalue smart retail solution has enhanced our professionalism when serving our customers, leaving our new customers with a better impression and experience,” said Image Audio’s marketing manager Tiffany Chang.

With yearly growth in the retail industry, sales are mainly carried out in physical stores. However, the Internet boom has gradually given rise to virtual stores with sales transactions through online shopping and social media, etc. As competition rages both online and offline, retailers will strive to be more innovative through the collection and application of big data, enhance customers’ shopping experience in the physical store, and create more robust O2O connection.

To address the main concerns of traditional retailers and provide innovative solutions, Avalue’s diverse smart retail solutions are designed to provide a win-win new smart retail experience for store owners and customers.