Personalisation In-Store

Despite all the hype about e-commerce, let's not forget that the majority of sales actually takes place in store

That's one of the interesting numbers from this infographic from IBM.

So of course what happens in store of real importance to retailers - especially when you consider what consumers want in store

-58% of consumers want to get product information in store

- 42% are more likely to return to the store if they have in-store mobile promotions

In previous posts( Combating Showrooming ) I've highlighted the growing trend for 'showrooming', which is defined on Wikipedia as 

'Showrooming is the act of examining merchandise in a brick and mortar retail store without purchasing it there, then shopping online to find a lower price for the same item'

To help retailers, IBM Research are creating a new augmented reality mobile shopping application to give in-store shoppers instant product details and promotions through their mobile devices.

Full details from IBM can be found here -

Augmented reality makes shopping more personal


But essentially, the app will allow consumers to create a personal profile that highlights their preferences from ingredients to avoid, product ratings and even to search for promotions on that day.

"We're going way beyond simple facial recognition for products to provide superimposed information that points out the products shopper prefer – whether based on previous purchases, price, consumer rating, sodium content, environmentally friendly packaging, or other considerations," said Amnon Ribak, project leader for the augmented shopping advisor.

In particular this could be useful if you are able to see ratings and reviews from people you know or trust - or indeed from Total Strangers.

Of course this is only the start. In theory, the app, with the consumers permission, could be used to physically locate the consumer in the store itself so that perhaps they could be guided to items on their shopping list or indeed have promotions highlighted on previously purchased items.For example, they could very well be reminded to pick up another pack of sausages as they are in the Buy One Get One Free promotion