Enjoy Brick-And-Mortar Shopping? Get Ready To Be Watched Very Closely

Facial recognition, computer vision and artificial intelligence may sound like creepy technology buzzwords, but they are quickly becoming a part of everyday brick-and-mortar shopping. Marketers hope these technologies can reveal what you are thinking in the crucial period between entering the store and making a purchase — that means recording everything you do and analyzing that data. Companies like Amazon already have granular data on what consumers look at, click on, and add to their carts before making a final purchase online — but when it comes to store purchases, like food, companies know less about us. That’s why companies from Apple to Google have been helping retailers fill in the gaps, using shoppers’ smartphone data. “One of the things that marketers have been trying to do is get beyond the data of our keystrokes,” said Daniel Newman, principal analyst at Futurum Research. “Whether its cookies tracking you through a retail website or what we’re talking to a friend about on Facebook.” See more at CNBC.