Data Is The New Architect

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🛒 Checkout this.

WaitTime, an artificial intelligence (AI) crowd-counting start-up from the Cisco stable, is being used by venues such as Dodger Stadium and the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. 

Meanwhile, at the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida, digital messaging on entrances powered by WaitTime tells patrons where to find the munchies along with the length of the queues at the food counters.

Big Data, combined with AI is mapping shopper behaviour like never before, analysing human - shopping rack interaction down to the level of a few inches. 

Data And AI Shaping The Future

Per The New York Times, the growing volume of data on consumer and crowd behavior is having significant implications on real estate design. It’s making even physical space more interactive for marketers.

🎙 Jordan Fisher, CEO of Standard AI, a retail tech firm that hones camera accuracy in high-volume, high-density environments, says, “You have a system that understands where people are in real time, down to the centimeter. It’s all about utilisation of real estate.”

This real time recording and analysis of consumer activity within retail stores — where shoppers look and hangout, with cameras capturing their actions and even their near-misses — is just the tip of the iceberg of using data and analysis to make commercial real estate more efficient.

Zooming In

With the pandemic locking down stores, physical retail may seem stuck in a soup but brick-and-mortar shopping is still very popular and a compelling investment opportunity. 

Retail tech investment has hit a record $31.5 billion in Q2, 2021 already. 

Amazon has spent generously on physical retail, including $13.4 billion on the acquisition of Whole Foods. 

And with the development of its Just Walk Out tech, Amazon has rolled the human-less checkout ball among grocery stores and retailers - a trend that could significantly change the way retail real estate is designed. 

Zooming Out

While privacy advocates are sweating about such use of technology, tech firms counter the resistance by saying that their systems are designed to limit what they collect and anonymize the rest. 

For example, Standard AI’s software does not capture faces, making analysis with facial recognition technology impossible.