Vending by JSR Now Offer People Recognition Retail
Vending by JSR to bring Zuply’s People Recognition Retail to the UK.
Until now Vending and self service technology has been the most convenient way to shop but people tracking makes it even faster and easier. This technique in itself is not new. For example, it is used in supermarkets to determine consumer flows and behaviour: which aisles do better than others and which products are picked from the shelf there?
The technique uses cameras that follow the customer’s movements. So it is possible to identify yourself through an app, open the smart refrigerators, collect products, checkout – and do so with several people at once. Apps that work with Zuply people tracking are those from qnips and Spar For You, both available for download in the Google Play Store and the Apple Store. Zuply’s own app can also be used. In the future, it will also be possible to use a bank card.
“In an unmanned store or other space, several smart refrigerators can be set up with a wide range of products,” Sander owner of Zuply says. “The demonstration store at Internoga has as many as six. At the end, you can check out everything at once. So you don’t have three or four receipts for different cabinets.”
Multiple customers at once
Equally important, multiple people can shop at the same time. Thanks to people tracking, the system knows who is at which refrigerator and what products he or she is grabbing. Sander: “The cameras follow the individual customers through the space. If someone extends his or her hand to one of those smart refrigerators, the camera sees it and then it automatically opens the door. The items the customer grabs go into his or her virtual basket. With regular vending machines, you have to wait for each customer in turn: only when the first one is finished can customer two get going.”
Not having to wait anymore is nice for the customers, as is the smooth buying process. The latter is also nice for the operator of the unmanned shop or restaurant: more capacity paves the way for higher sales. “During breaks in factories and offices, a company restaurant or canteen has to process a lot of people in a short period of time. So with that time pressure, it’s nice if you can have multiple people grabbing their food and drinks at the same time and check out quickly.”
Sander adds that Innovend and the operator do not store the customer’s identity or personal characteristics. “The camera signals that a person is coming in and just follows him or her around the room. It doesn’t know who you are, doesn’t do facial recognition or anything … None of that is necessary. It just follows you and therefore can know from which Lynx iQ you take something. What products are taken is known by the smart refrigerator, thanks to the weighing sensors. The system does not know who the customer is. Privacy is guaranteed.”
Vending By JSR are to visit Holland early October to have full training on this ground breaking technology. Stuart Retson, managing Director, said “We are really excited about bring this to the uk, we are looking to break into the office, hospital, restaurants and canteen industries but needed something different to offer them. The Zuply People Recognition Retail is exactly what these spaces need to sell a large volume of product over several short time windows in the day.”
Vending by JSR hope to have the first retail space open in early 2025. Keep an eye on their socials or visit www.vendingbyjsr.co.uk for details.