AI movement tracking helps bring business back

The British Retail Consortium (BRC)-Shoppertrak Index offers tangible insights into the effects Covid19 has had on footfall on the UK’s high-street. The latest figures for April have demonstrated the massive impact lockdown has had on the retail industry, with a record 84.7% decline in foot traffic as people spend much less time out and about – BRC-Shoppertrak footfall monitor, April. 

In the UK, the full lockdown officially began on 23^rd March where strict social distancing guidelines were introduced and non-essential shops across the country were ordered to close. With lockdown easing, shops will be allowed to reopen in England from Monday 15^th June if retailers can follow safety guidelines. This has driven an unprecedented demand for solutions that can ensure the health and safety of both employees and customers. 

Deep North, a computer software company which specialises in computer vision and AI-powered video analytics for retailers, shopping centres and transportation hubs, has outlined how it can enable enterprises to better understand consumer behaviour in physical environments. 

“Brick and mortar businesses are in need of unique solutions that drive growth, provide adaptability, enable sales, and ensure the safety of their customer base as we slowly return to normality,” said Dejan Subosic, President of Deep North EMEA. “Our technology can measure store occupancy and instore movements which we hope will help ease people's willingness to open up their stores and welcome back their customers under these new circumstances.”

As we move slowly back into what may look like a brave new world of business and trade structures initially, it will certainly be interesting to see which elements of this ‘new normal’ actually stay the journey. For now though, it seems almost inevitable that the use of analytics and AI for the physical world will be considered as a strong tool for the continuation and growth of business moving forward.

“It´s more important than ever that companies and institutions that manage physical spaces start understanding their data so that they can better guarantee the safety of their visitors and customers. Data in the physical world is no longer a nice to have – it's a need to have,” added Dejan.

Some examples of how Deep North´s solution can assist in real-time include:

• Businesses can measure store occupancy so stores can manage operations and alert customers on safety levels in (vs the manual counters at the entrances and exits).
• Determine queue lengths and wait times to get in store or check out.
• Understand if customers and employees are operating by social distancing standards.
• Identify where in store customers cluster to ensure proper shelving and distancing between essential and high-trafficked goods.