Using Infrared Sensors To Measure Aisle Eyeballs
Written by Evan SchumanDespite the traditional mantra that item-level tagging makes sense when the price drops below 5-cents and preferably 1-cent, a major global consulting firm found the average price was 40 cents, compared with an average 18-cent price for pallet and case tags.
The fact that the initial item-level tag prices is so much higher is not so surprising given that initial costs during experimentation phases are typically much higher than during full-scale deployment. What is surprising is that the average cost is so much more than its pallet/case counterparts.
The IDTechEx analysis said that much of that can be explained because of the need for much more robust and larger memory tags for tracking parts and equipment that some of those early testers?such as aviation leaders Rolls Royce and Lockheed Martin–required.
The analyst firm had already reported much-higher-than-expected marketshare figures for item-level RFID tagging, but they reported more details on Tuesday, including the firm’s projection that item-level tags will account for $11 billion by 2016, out of a worldwide RFID market projected then to be worth $26 billion.
IDTechEx also identified where it see RFID sales going this year, broken down by segment.
-Marc
September 28th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
I think infra-red and other customer tracking devices give people a good reason to shop at small businesses where they are less likely to be “studied”
September 30th, 2006 at 3:46 am
It does seem surprising that these highly visible companies would push a solution that is going against many of their own pronouncements in RFID. The smart shelves with appropriate technology would measure $AMP (Advertising, Marketing and Promotion) much more accurately and not establish more silos of technology within the store. IR sensors for traffic counting have been available and used in specialty/Dept. stores in Malls to try and establish numbers for conversion of lookers to purchasers. That is relatively successful but not very accurate.
The true reason may lie more along how to redistribute/readjust the flow of Trade Promotion $$ which can reach 7% of a retailer’s sales.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:10 am
This is a typical American way of doing things in a complicated and expensive way. Ultimately all these technological things dont really matter – what matters is providing top quality products, wide assortments, reasonable prices, good customer service