This summer, confectionery brand Mondelez (formerly part of Kraft Foods), was one of the core partners to trial RFID tags in select Safeways supermarkets in San Francisco. Shelftalks, in-store cardboard signs drawing attention to certain products, were embedded with NFC-enabled tags. These allowed customers to download product-related recipes when tapping the readers with their NFC-enabled smartphone.
Recipes could then be shared via social networks and visitors could also download the brand’s i-Food Assistant app in one click. More than a third of people who initially approached the RFID readers went on to interact further with the technology.
Mondelez worked with thinaire, a New York based NFC specialist, and News America Marketing (NAM) who focus on in-store advertising, to develop the initiative.
Mondelez is also partnering with Microsoft’s Kinect technology to bring Smart Shelf to consumers and shoppers to track what consumers are purchasing.
Using Microsoft’s Kinect technology, sensors are used to track the shopper’s actions and interactions with the shelf. The sensory shelves will better track who is buying what and gives Mondelez and other corporations the opportunity to engage with consumers. The Smart Shelf would be able to track what customers shop for on a regular basis. The technology compares facial features with proprietary algorithms to determine a person’s gender and approximate age and track gestures to see what products have actually been picked up.
Smart Shelf is still in the experimental stages, but operational pilots will be held next year.
