In-store shopper eye tracking is a rather new way of finding out what your customers like and dislike without having to manually collect the data. Eye tracking devices follow the motion of the customer’s eyes as they navigate through the store, helping the store management better understand the shoppers. The following will give you the information of how the in-store shopper eye tracking work.
What is eye tracking?
Eye tracking is a method of following a person’s gaze in real-time by using sensors and cameras. This technology tells us about what catches a person’s attention, how long a person looks at different things, what a person’s eyes focus on, etc in real-time. These devices do so by reading a person’s pupil position, eye movement, and more. This method can be used to determine the general behavioural patterns of people when exposed to different kinds of stimuli.
What devices are used for eye tracking?
Eye tracking devices can be of two types: Remote eye tracking devices and head-mounted eye tracking devices.
Remote eye tracking devices
These are those eye tracking systems that do not come in direct contact with the customer whatsoever. The tracking is done by mounting cameras with IR sources throughout the stores to monitor and follow the customers’ gaze as they navigate through the store while shopping. They use pupil center and cornea reflection to track eye position and head orientation.
Head-mounted eye tracking devices
These eye tracking devices usually come in the shape of glasses. They are worn by the customers as they follow through with their regular shopping routine. These glasses are fitted with cameras and sensors that follow the shoppers’ eye movements and estimate their responses to being exposed to various kinds of stimuli in real-time.
Both of these methods of eye tracking have been implemented in numerous stores throughout the world and helped people understand how their customers think. Out of the two types of eye tracking devices mentioned, the head-mounted (eyeglasses) is the newer version.
How do the in-store shopper eye tracking devices work?
Eye tracking devices work by measuring the movements of pupils. These movements are captured by the cameras present in the devices, which are attached to a computer system. The computer system then calculates the direction, and hence, the product at which the customer is looking.
The cameras present in an eye tracking device are focused on the pupils of the user to track the minutest of details.
These devices cannot pinpoint exactly what spot on the glasses the user is looking through. Instead, the computer represents the zones of focus of the user’s gaze throughout their field of vision. The computer also records the amount of time for which the eyes of a user are fixed on a given zone.
The tracking results are generally output in the form of heat maps, wherein the areas with the higher focus times are denoted with colors corresponding to higher temperatures whereas the areas with lower focus times are depicted with colors corresponding to lower temperatures.
In a setting where the user is in a state of constant motion, the results are shown in the form of points in succession to prevent confusion.
How does this information help the retailers?
The information collected through eye tracking devices can tell the retailers about what kind of products attract more attention from the customer and how the customers react to different kinds of products and their placement throughout the stores. This can help the retailers place their products in such a manner that can help the business be more profitable.
For example, placing attention-grabbing products strategically in close proximity to one another will help the store make more sales as the customers will not have to walk to a different section or aisle of the store to notice these products. In this way, even if the customer hadn’t originally planned on buying more than one product, they still end up getting extra stuff because they get intrigued by it when they see it.
Customer eye tracking can also help reduce wastage in stores. The products that aren’t bought by anyone are discarded by the stores when they reach their expiry dates. The products that are thrown away are not only added waste to the environment but also losses for the business. This can be controlled to a large extent by customer eye tracking, as the results obtained can be used to evaluate how much or how little of each product needs to be bought at the time of restocking so that the wastage, as well as losses, can be minimized.
Eye tracking devices are highly useful pieces of equipment that help us navigate the best spots for product placement in a store. This is done by studying the interaction between the product placement and eye movements and focus periods of the customers. The data thus collected can be used to calculate the optimal placement positions for products, which, in turn, results in higher sales and lower wastage, hence helping increase the profits and decrease the losses of the business.
1.When was the first eye tracking device invented?
In 1908, Edmund Huey built a device that could track eye movement during reading.
2.Are eye tracking devices safe to use?
Yes, eye tracking devices are safe to use and do not cause any harm to the user.
3.Is there any limitation to eye tracking devices?
Yes, there are limitations to eye tracking devices. One of the major ones being that not all eyes can be tracked. Various factors such as contact lenses, pupil color, etc affect the ability of the sensors to read eye movements.
