Jordan Fisher was troubled. Each Red Bull energy drink is packed in a similar metal can, and his company's camera system tracks the products customers buy in the store, but can't distinguish them.

This obstacle is one of the many obstacles his company Standard AI faced when renovating the Circle K convenience store in Tempe, Arizona. Paying when they leave, eliminating the checkout line. A network of more than 100 cameras can identify any of the thousands of similarly sized candies or drinks captured by customers, including Red Bull cans, which can now be identified by a combination of geometric projection and higher-resolution cameras.

This tracking of consumer activity in stores—the gaze and stay of shoppers, the use of cameras to capture their interactions and their unsuccessful events—is part of an increasing effort to use data collection to improve the efficiency of retail spaces.

"Checkout is a killer application, but it's just the tip of the iceberg," said Fisher, the CEO of Standard AI, who honed the accuracy of cameras in high-volume, high-density environments. "You have a system that can understand where people are in real time, down to the centimeter. It's all about the use of real estate."

From the intrusion of hypermarkets to the rise of e-commerce, and the recent pandemic blockade, physical retail seems to be in a permanent crisis. But face-to-face shopping is still very popular and the subject of a lot of investment. (Retail technology investment in the second quarter of this year reached a record $31.5 billion.) Amazon spent as much as $13.4 billion on physical retail, including the acquisition of Whole Foods and the development of its Just Walk Out system, which was launched in grocery stores. Compete with retailers for unmanned checkout counters.

The added technology layer in stores and entertainment venues—crowd tracking cameras, information collected from smartphones, neighborhood traffic statistics, and complex demographic data—is designed to replicate the data measurement and analysis of the online experience.

But as large technology companies are increasingly scrutinized, privacy advocates are issuing warnings about the technology.

The lack of regulatory clarity complicates efforts to resolve privacy issues. Gary Kibel, a partner at the Davis+Gilbert law firm that specializes in retail privacy, said that if there is no overall federal privacy law, or even a common definition of personal data, retailers must classify state and municipal regulations, such as California consumers. Privacy law. .

Technology companies responded to this resistance by pointing out that their systems are designed to limit the content they collect and anonymize the rest. For example, Standard AI's system does not capture human faces, so it cannot be analyzed using face recognition technology.

More and more consumer and crowd behavior data have had a significant impact on real estate design. It even makes the physical space more interactive for marketers.

WaitTime is an artificial intelligence crowd-counting startup supported by Cisco Systems, used by venues such as Dodge Stadium and Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. In the FTX arena where the Miami Heat played, the digital information at the entrance to the lobby supported by WaitTime not only tells fans where to find food and drinks, but also tells fans the length of the team.

In today's market, "data eliminates risk," said Ken Martin, Cisco's executive director of global sales, adding that crowd tracking technology can guarantee a high return on investment.

The increasing use of crowd counting technology is part of a wave of change that industry experts say that sports and other entertainment venues will be used to improve safety and crowd flow and allow mobile and contactless ordering.

Sanford D. Sigal, CEO of NewMark Merrill with more than 80 shopping centers and chairman of BrightStreet Ventures, a company that develops retail technology, said: "The pandemic will not use this technology. People are pushed to the edge." "This technique is aspirin. Take it when you feel unwell, or penicillin. It can save your life? Today, it's definitely penicillin."

Proponents believe that data can change decision-making by simplifying leasing and reconnaissance of new locations. Detailed information about how customers use parking lots or specific stores can help landlords and owners better manage their malls and shopping centers.

"It's not that the data is so disconnected from intuition. The data is real and provides additional impetus for brands to open stores," said Adam Henick, founder of Current Real Estate Advisors, who specializes in social media and data analysis.

Ethan Chernofsky, vice president of marketing at Placer.ai, which provides location intelligence and demographic data to retailers, said brokers can more easily filter potential locations to a few locations based on a combination of local demographic data and nearby stores.

Kevin Campos, head of the venture capital firm’s retail technology fund, said: “Now you really understand the demographic data of a certain location, the actual flow of people, the value of co-tenants and the flow of passengers, and you have a good understanding of the location. A richer understanding." The Fifth Wall. "This is a smarter dialogue between landlords and potential tenants."

Placer has approximately 800 clients in the commercial real estate and retail sectors, including top brokerage firms and developers such as Tishman Speyer and Marcus & Millichap. James Cook, director of retail research for the Americas at Jones Lang LaSalle, said that Placer data has always been the tool of choice for measuring repeat customers this year. It provides insights from a week ago, while early methods will lag behind by three or four months. Real estate brokerage.

The development of data mining has attracted more entrepreneurs who are eager to create more digital experiences for retail brands.

Leap’s co-CEO Amish Tolia stated that Leap is a New York startup that operates boutiques for small, often digitally-native, direct-to-consumer brands in multiple states and handles them Of real estate, design work and even data analysis. For example, online retailer Goodlife Clothing hired Leap to operate two of its stores in Manhattan.

Goodlife co-founder and co-CEO Andrew Codispoti (Andrew Codispoti) said: "I look at this business digitally, and they look at it the same way." "Based on your data as a brand, they Is becoming an expert in more and more places across the country, where to develop."

The choice of opening a turnkey location is a big selling point, but Leap also incorporates a shopping model in all of its locations—including local e-commerce sales, foot traffic, and community demographics. This allows it to pick ideal tenants and even tell them the most profitable products to display.

"Leap will effectively have a nationwide data set that is truly meaningful to retailers and real estate owners," said Henick of Current Advisors, who helped Leap find Manhattan locations for retailers. "It allows brands to be satisfied with their success rate in a particular location."