Friday, November 4, 2011

Customer Analytics Come To Real Stores

If you run a physical store -- remember them? -- you may have looked longingly at the kinds of analytics that your Web site, or your online competitors, may have enjoyed for years. Now, a new company is making a data Relevant Products/Services analytics platform available for the real world, taking advantage of the fact that most store visitors carry a mobile Relevant Products/Services phone with Wi-Fi Relevant Products/Services enabled.

On Thursday, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Euclid Elements announced its new platform, emerging from a stealth development period funded by venture capital. "To put it simply," said co-founder and CEO Will Smith in a statement, "we're Google Analytics for the physical world."

Wi-Fi Within 60 Yards

The Euclid platform uses sensors to map shopper traffic patterns in retail spaces, by tracking the position of customers' smartphones.

The data includes numbers of unique visitors over given time periods, numbers of people walking by when the store is closed, new vs. repeat visitors, customer Relevant Products/Services loyalty and frequency, the effectiveness of promotions in creating loyal customers, metrics between stores, average dwell time, and window conversion rates -- how many walked by vs. how many walked in.

The sensors pick up Wi-Fi signals within 60 yards, and use that information Relevant Products/Services as markers for the customers. The service runs about $200 monthly. The data can be used to help determine merchandising displays, the effectiveness of in-store specials, store layout and traffic flows, staffing and other aspects.

The company said that the installation is quick and easy. Installation of sensors, it said, takes a couple of minutes, and then stores just need to log into their Web dashboard to view analytics. The company said that the data is secure, in that it is always hashed, encrypted, and sent over secure connections.

No Personal Data

Euclid said that no personal shopper data is collected, and that all data is anonymous and aggregated. The company added that no information is collected about the owner or user of the mobile device Relevant Products/Services, or about any content that is transmitted or received by the device.

But all customers are automatically opted-in. Customers can opt-out and delete data from the service, and have their phone's identifier removed from the company database. However, it's not clear if the store is required or encouraged to notify customers that their phones are being tracked and an opt-out is available.

Euclid cites Philz Coffee, a chain of coffeehouses in the San Francisco area, as one of its early customers. The chain's president, Jacob Jaber, told news media that the system allows him to see, for instance, that customers spend 43 minutes on average at his Berkeley store, but only about 15 minutes at a store in San Francisco.

Armed with that information, Jaber is considering more products, such as a wider variety of food, in his Berkeley store, and perhaps creating more room for lounging in the San Francisco store.
 

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