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Related for those that want to learn more about how retail establishments track you: "No Place to Hide" by Robert O'Harrow Jr. Details the marketing and retail

Related for those that want to learn more about how retail establishments track you: "No Place to Hide" by Robert O'Harrow Jr. Details the marketing and retail industry's use of camera, AI, and customer tracking. The really scary part is that it was written in 2004.

sphinxpy 8y ago
Thanks for the recommendation. As for the year it doesn't shock me in certain aspects. The camera data in the early 2000's is something I didn't consider though. I notice many people don't know or think that corporations use customer cards for more than a discount. I worked for one of the largest retailers in the U.S. and learned how far the "Plus" card data really goes. All of that data is sold as very in detailed profiles of customers to brokers who sell the data to other corporations and institutions. I worked for them for 10 years and watched it evolve from data harvesting through rewards cards to utilizing the checkout as an avenue of further data collection through facial recognition cameras and even heat sensors throughout the store building heat maps of customer flow. I am not sure exactly about the heat map data being sold or not, however, I am sure some broker could find a market for it but I do know the checkout camera data was sold. The company started utilizing the card system in the 90's and its checkout camera with heat mapping in the early 2010's. Personally, I never used a customer card with my name or address just to maintain some privacy level.
- propogandist 8y ago
  There's an increasing amount of companies that are unfortunately using credit cards to track consumers. The only reliable option to 'opt-out' of tracking these days seems to be paying with cash. I'm interested in hearing more about the point of sale tracking and facial recognition though. Was face recognition just being used to track customers around the store through to checkout? Or are you suggesting that 'face id' data was captured and shared alongside purchasing activity, tied to the individual to a 3rd party??
  - sphinxpy 8y ago
    At the time I left, which was 4 years ago roughly, the facial recognition was used at the checkout area only. The perational area going from the beginning of the gondolas (aisles) that are where you might say the back of a line would be, all the way to the exit doors. This covered a large area but the only area using this at the time. The face ID system worked with the thermal mapping, which was used throughout the store, to create a projected customer volume for the front end management to prepare for. For instance the system tells the team that they have 1 register open but need 3 open now and 5 in 1 hour. The data from the facial recognition cameras was sold, this I know for certain, however, I do not know to what amount that data was put into the specific customer profile being built. My honest impression is it was being sold in a package with card profiles to make a better product for brokers. I've gone through meetings of how much this company wants to track you, how granular the specific customer profile was before the face & heat map system and the companies drive to find a place in the newer data markets that its competition was dealing in, in order to stay in business.
    - propogandist 8y ago
      this is facinating information. I hadn't thought retailers were this sophisticated with tracking users in-store, let alone few years ago. That said, the use case you've noted, like alerting where more registers are needed, make perfect sense. The face recognition piece is something I'm still trying to wrap my head around. If they were selling facial recognition data to a 3rd party, and this is a common practice within the industry, there is (presumably) an intermediary that has a very comprehensive view of all consumer purchasing behavior in a given geography and can (potentially) track people in real-time. Can you comment on some of the data brokers / tech players in this space [?] Is it the likes of acxiom? I've seen data being purchased where there's mastercard & visa purchase information, but it was all in aggregate and for silly things like banner advertising. I'm curious at who's in this space and how they're monetizing this data. It sounds like a (potential) goldmine for market researchers, marketers and manufacturers. Also, were there any mechanisms to stop competing retailers from buying this data and luring away loyal customers?
      - 8y ago

sphinxpy 8y ago

Thanks for the recommendation. As for the year it doesn't shock me in certain aspects. The camera data in the early 2000's is something I didn't consider though. I notice many people don't know or think that corporations use customer cards for more than a discount. I worked for one of the largest retailers in the U.S. and learned how far the "Plus" card data really goes. All of that data is sold as very in detailed profiles of customers to brokers who sell the data to other corporations and institutions. I worked for them for 10 years and watched it evolve from data harvesting through rewards cards to utilizing the checkout as an avenue of further data collection through facial recognition cameras and even heat sensors throughout the store building heat maps of customer flow. I am not sure exactly about the heat map data being sold or not, however, I am sure some broker could find a market for it but I do know the checkout camera data was sold. The company started utilizing the card system in the 90's and its checkout camera with heat mapping in the early 2010's. Personally, I never used a customer card with my name or address just to maintain some privacy level.

propogandist 8y ago
There's an increasing amount of companies that are unfortunately using credit cards to track consumers. The only reliable option to 'opt-out' of tracking these days seems to be paying with cash. I'm interested in hearing more about the point of sale tracking and facial recognition though. Was face recognition just being used to track customers around the store through to checkout? Or are you suggesting that 'face id' data was captured and shared alongside purchasing activity, tied to the individual to a 3rd party??
- sphinxpy 8y ago
  At the time I left, which was 4 years ago roughly, the facial recognition was used at the checkout area only. The perational area going from the beginning of the gondolas (aisles) that are where you might say the back of a line would be, all the way to the exit doors. This covered a large area but the only area using this at the time. The face ID system worked with the thermal mapping, which was used throughout the store, to create a projected customer volume for the front end management to prepare for. For instance the system tells the team that they have 1 register open but need 3 open now and 5 in 1 hour. The data from the facial recognition cameras was sold, this I know for certain, however, I do not know to what amount that data was put into the specific customer profile being built. My honest impression is it was being sold in a package with card profiles to make a better product for brokers. I've gone through meetings of how much this company wants to track you, how granular the specific customer profile was before the face & heat map system and the companies drive to find a place in the newer data markets that its competition was dealing in, in order to stay in business.
  - propogandist 8y ago
    this is facinating information. I hadn't thought retailers were this sophisticated with tracking users in-store, let alone few years ago. That said, the use case you've noted, like alerting where more registers are needed, make perfect sense. The face recognition piece is something I'm still trying to wrap my head around. If they were selling facial recognition data to a 3rd party, and this is a common practice within the industry, there is (presumably) an intermediary that has a very comprehensive view of all consumer purchasing behavior in a given geography and can (potentially) track people in real-time. Can you comment on some of the data brokers / tech players in this space [?] Is it the likes of acxiom? I've seen data being purchased where there's mastercard & visa purchase information, but it was all in aggregate and for silly things like banner advertising. I'm curious at who's in this space and how they're monetizing this data. It sounds like a (potential) goldmine for market researchers, marketers and manufacturers. Also, were there any mechanisms to stop competing retailers from buying this data and luring away loyal customers?
    - 8y ago