Last month Family Dollar launched an in-store shopper behavior monitoring system using video and advanced analytics in 20 of its stores, measuring customers’ real-time interactions with designs, displays and promotions. The system generates quantifiable metrics showing how many shoppers visited each location, and which brands were most effective in engaging and converting them to purchase.

The ShopperGauge Retail Learning Lab, a collaboration between RockTenn and BVI Networks, uses a combination of 24/7 digital video monitoring with interpretive software to measure traffic, dwell time and shopper engagement with pre-identified points, coolers, displays or shelves, combined with digital sensors to measure actual product takeaway from the display or shelf. In addition, real-time shopper movement data is captured at entry, aisle, endcap, shelf, off-shelf and checkout locations to provide a more complete picture of store traffic.

“We are always looking for ways to better understand how to meet our customers’ needs and design our stores accordingly,” said Family Dollar SVP of customer marketing Don Hamblen. “The ShopperGauge Learning Lab will provide us with instant access to shopper insights, allowing us to incorporate the voice of the customer into our in-store merchandise and marketing decisions. In addition, our supplier partners can work with us to measure the impact of their merchandising with the Family Dollar shopper.”

The ShopperGauge system was introduced in 2010 and has been tested in several retail locations, but the Family Dollar test is the largest live test so far for the technology. Join POPAI on October 27 at the San Francisco POP Show for a more comprehensive look at this promising technology and aggregate findings coming out from the field.