This AI-Powered Supermarket Can Watch How You Shop to Suggest Products

Customized ad targeting already happens across the internet. But Fujistsu is now experimenting with the idea at a physical supermarket in Japan by tapping AI and cameras. 

The AI system analyzes “in-store behavior” to create custom promotional content, which can be displayed on digital signage, Fujitsu says.

The system promises to be smart enough to recognize a customer’s reactions, hand gestures, and overall body language through in-store cameras to discern what products they might be interested in. The company’s generative AI will then write some text for the customer promoting a select product, which can be displayed through a digital avatar on a nearby sign.   

“This allows the AI module to deliver engaging information tailored to the interests of customers by observing behaviors, like bending down toward a shop display or picking up a product, and providing content that includes the best customer service and product appeal for that individual,” Fujitsu says. 

(Credit: Fujitsu)

The system might be the future of in-store ads. Fujitsu adds: “Retailers face a need to shift away from conventional, ‘one-size-fits-all’ marketing, and embrace innovative approaches that provide shoppers with engaging, consumer-friendly experiences.”

Still, the system may also strike some people as creepy. The technology sounds like it can track your every move and build a profile of your behavior, all in an effort to serve ads, which you may not even like.

Nevertheless, Fujitsu says the same technology has clear benefits for retailers by addressing labor shortages and offering a way to automate promotional activity to potentially boost sales. All data on the system is also processed “in a format that preserves customer privacy,” it says.

The system is being tested at the Aruk Mitajiri(Opens in a new window) store in Hofu city. On Thursday, Fujitsu kicked off the trial, which will continue until Oct. 15. After the field trials, the company plans on officially launching the AI system to customers during fiscal 2023, which spans until March of next year.