Digital Consumer Experience beyond traditional eCommerce channels with deep learning

With digital experiences growing beyond eCommerce channels, the retail industry is gearing up for disruption beyond the likely recession. The combination of computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning technologies is enabling the convenience that consumers are seeking.

The combination of computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning are termed Just-Walk-Out technology. The following is the user journey within the retail experience,

1. The consumers walk into a shopping mall, and cameras and sensors identify the consumer and track their movement.
2. When a consumer picks up an item, the item is added to his virtual cart.
3. When customers leave the store, the technology automatically charges them for the items in their virtual cart.

That easy! The technology eliminates the need for customers to wait in long checkout lines, scan items, or interact with cashiers. Retailers can gather valuable data on customer behavior, such as which items are most popular and how long customers spend in the store. This experience can also be integrated with store loyalty programs, allowing retailers to offer personalized discounts and promotions to customers.

Just-Walk-Out as it may seem as straightforward, has its challenges, yet, we have learned from Amazon Go, Sam's Club, and Wholefoods Market, who have used this technology stack already.

1. Entry into the Just-Walk-Out is only available for the privileged, who have been vetted for their authenticity and credibility. This friction for consumers to enter into such a system is a barrier. Amazon Prime and Sam's Club membership models are proven to ease consumer identification and recognition.
2. Concerning shopping cart accuracy, consumers are seeking the accuracy of the cart. Identifying an organic Mango from a regular Mango is challenging for a computer vision system, which needs systems beyond computer vision. Barcodes have been a successful technology and must be integrated with the checkout experience. I was amazed at Sam's club's checkout experience, where I could use the mobile app to scan items as I collected from the aisle and walk out with ease skipping the checkout queue.
3. Venturing into a convenience store covered in sensors and cameras watching every move raises information security and personal security concerns. Shopping malls should establish safe digital zones so consumers can shop freely.

Composable applications and technologies that support the Just-Walk-Out are,

1. Standard.ai: uses computer vision to track consumers and AI to automate the checkout process.
2. Grabango: uses computer vision and sensor fusion to track customers and the items they pick up.
3. Zippin: Provide cashier-less stores implementations with precision sensors, advanced AI, fast deployment in stores, and advanced e-commerce-style insights
4. Trigo Vision: enables brick-and-mortar grocery retailers to integrate the efficiencies and insights of digital commerce into the physical world
5. InContext Solutions: is leaping into the metaverse with ShopperMX proprietary 3D shopper platform.

With all the tools and technologies evolving in this area, brands should evaluate a Just-Walk-Out with the following considerations,

1. Customers should spend their valuable time shopping and not wait in long queues. The retail system should provide Frictionless checkout experiences.
2. The customers should be able to pick up the items they want and leave the store without human interaction. Such a contactless shopping experience can be beneficial during a pandemic or other situations where social distancing is necessary.
3. Loyal customers expect to get personalized discounts and promotions to customers based on their purchase history, and retail systems should be capable of providing a customized shopping experience.
4. Just-Walk-Out technology can track inventory levels in real time, which can help retailers restock items more quickly and reduce stockouts.
5. Retailers always have a challenge in identifying and preventing theft. Just-Walk-Out should help reduce in-store theft.
6. Just-Walk-Out platforms should provide real-time customer insights to understand which product is most interesting and why.
7. The technology should also support all the payment options modern eCommerce solutions provide.

With the convergence of the digital and the traditional shopping worlds, the complex consumer journey has been completed more than ever. Consumers want seamless entry and exit in and out of any channel and anytime, still getting what they want. From a retailer's perspective, allowing them to manage all their sales channels from one platform is critical for business success. Computer Vision, Deep learning, Customer data platforms, and networking technologies like 6G and IoT devices are enabling this to happen.