The future of biometrics in retail with AI-driven customer demographics

Innovative Technology’s biometrics division has made significant updates to their MyCheckr age estimation device ahead of the one of the biggest retail shows in Europe – EuroShop 2023. The World’s No. 1 Retail Trade Fair EuroShop takes place in Düsseldorf, Germany from February 26th to March 2^nd and Innovative Technology will be on stand 6B46.

MyCheckr performs anonymous age estimation and can be used as a standalone device or integrated with self-checkout kiosks (SCO) – ideal for any retailer who sells age restricted goods such as alcohol, tobacco or vapes.  In addition, ITL have also announced that the MyCheckr will now be able to display targeted advertisements and collect anonymous analytic information regarding the customers in front of the device. They plan to showcase this to any retailers interested in AI powered targeted ads and customer demographic analysis at EuroShop next week.

Commenting on this Dr Andrew O’Brien, Product Manager – Biometrics said, “We are very excited to showcase the new functionality of MyCheckr.  Not only can it perform anonymous age estimation to aid the till operator, but we can now integrate that functionality into self-service checkouts for an autonomous transaction.  Plus, our new spoof detection will be included as standard on all devices to combat any fraud attempts – come and try it out yourself at the show.”

When asked to comment on the new targeted ads and demographics functionality, Andrew said, “We have been speaking with major retailers with regards to developing MyCheckr and gained some valuable feedback.  As the MyCheckr screen faces the customer it occurred to us that if we can estimate age and gender, it could also be used to display ads targeted to that particular demographic.  Space is valuable in a retail environment so this would be an efficient use of space without needing additional digital or printed signage. In addition, having important customer intelligence is vital for retailers. This is why we’ve added the analytics functionality so that retailers can now see what type of customers are on their premises, and either plan to attract different cohorts into their shop – or even determine effectiveness of new marketing drives designed to attract different customer segments. Demographic data is collected completely anonymously to ensure that consumer privacy is protected.”

Concluding Andrew said, “Not only does MyCheckr ensure retailers protect minors from being sold age-restricted goods, but it also presents an ideal way to personalise ads and give valuable demographic data to fully understand consumer behaviour and provide anenhanced level of customer service. We’ll be in Hall 6 booth B46 so come along and demo this exciting new solution as well as try out our full biometrics range.”