The success of any business depends on its ability to convert first-time visitors into satisfied customers. For a business to survive, it needs customers. But for a business to scale, it needs those customers to come back, again and again.  Studies show that 40% of a retail store’s revenue is created by only 8% of its customers which are repeat customers. Moreover, it’s cheaper to get existing customers to repeat purchase than it is to find new customers. This is because customer acquisition is 5 to 25 times more expensive than retention. Every time a potential customer walks out without buying, the company not only lose an immediate sale, but also a vast amount of future sales that customer would have provided. Not to mention loyal customers who can turn into brand advocates. This helps to bring in more new customers because ‘word-of-mouth’ is the most influential factor in a purchase decision for nearly three-quarters of consumers.

Since recurring customers bring more profit, businesses, especially retailers must come up with newer strategies to increase customer retention to be in the game for the long run. One of the most interesting technologies gaining popularity in this sector is Computer Vision, a branch of Artificial Intelligence which allows computers to make judgments in the same way a human mind would. Computer vision can be a force multiplier when it comes to getting valuable insights that help in upsells and cross-sales. It helps retailers by collecting data from images and videos and analyzing them at an in-depth level to provide informed decisions. Computer Vision’s capability to detect and recognize recurring customers can be used to provide a more immersive shopping experience to the user. Many tech-savvy retailers are already experimenting with Computer vision technology to increase customer retention.

How Computer Vision Can Improve the Shopping Experience of the Recurring Customers

A key component of any intelligent video surveillance systems is the visual processing of people including detection, tracking, recognition, and behavior interpretation. Computer Vision’s face recognition capability can automatically identify if a visitor is a new customer or a repeat customer. The system can also track how frequently a shopper visits the store, or how many unique visitors come into the store every day. These insights help retailers to understand more about customer loyalty which is a measure as to how successfully a brand is engaging with its customers. Armed with these insights, retailers can take extra care of repeat customers. And delighting repeat customers with personalized offers will eventually lead to an increase in sales. Computer vision algorithms that have the capability of identifying repeat customers can be applied in different retail scenarios.

Automatic Number Plate Recognition System

Customers love tailor-made and personalized experiences. When a repeat customer’s car pulls into the store’s parking lot, A computer vision system can identify them by analyzing its license plate number. While facial recognition can confirm customer identify when they get out of the vehicle. With these insights, retailers can take curbside orders or deliver BOPIS (Buy online, pick up in-store) purchases the moment a shopper walks in. A real-time video analytics system such as Emotyx can automatically recognize the number plate of a car with high accuracy without human intervention. Emotyx’s Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) can provide a better customer experience at auto dealerships and vehicle service desks by automating slot reservations since it can identify the customer right when they drive in and initiates the service processes.

VIP or Blacklist Management

Identifying regulars and rewarding them with loyalty program goes a long way in increasing sales. With Computer Vision, retailers can track how many times a customer returns to the store. This is very useful for high-end stores that sell high-value items. By analyzing their purchasing history and preferences, retailers can provide personalized product recommendations specific to each shopper. By treating repeat customers as VIPs, Computer Vision ensures brand loyalty and converts occasional shoppers into regular customers. The same system can also be used to detect people who are banned from entering the store for various reasons such as theft, vandalism or other miscreant behaviors.

Automatic customer authentication to provide a frictionless store experience

One of the wishes for a customer is to get basic tasks done more quickly. And the computer vision system can address one of the worst parts of the shopping experience: queuing for the checkout. Nobody likes to spend time on a long queue at the checkout station. By using facial recognition, retailers can authenticate shoppers that are on their stored database. When the customer leaves with goods, the cost of the items is instantly charged to a stored credit or debit card. The Amazon Go concept store in Seattle, USA is a prime example of how retailers are using computer vision to eliminate checkout process. The store uses computer vision to track when a customer picks up an object. It can register all the items in the shopper’s shopping basket. The customer can simply leave the shop and the money is automatically debited from their saved credit card. The receipt is then sent straight to the app.

Providing targeted in-store ads

Repeat customers are more likely to purchase different products over time and computer vision technology can impact a customer’s in-store experience in a positive way. Retailers can detect repeat customers as soon as they step in and based on their past behavior, and purchase history, retailers can deliver targeted ads or gift coupons either to their mobile or on any of the in-store displays. Retailers can also suggest other product options that are related to items they are close. Customers are likely to see this as a way to save money, speed up shopping and lead to new product discoveries.

Loyal, recurring customers are the backbone of any business since they bring in a majority of the revenue and a good source of word-of-mouth marketers. It’s important for the retailers to keep large recurring customers base to ensure a steady revenue. Therefore, any business looking to succeed in an era of vast customer choice should have a cutting-edge customer retention strategy and computer vision can contribute a lot. Many retailers are finding computer vision to be a crucial component when it comes to customer retention since it provides a seamlessly blended digital-physical store experience customers seek.