Facial Recognition Vending Machines
We’ve touched on this story in a previous post on Eye Tracking Update, but only really in passing as it’s related to facial recognition technology. A company in Japan has installed vending machines that can make recommendations based on who you are. Hot day? Maybe the machine will suggest a cold soda. Are you a male over 50 years old? Maybe a cup of green tea. Chilly outside? How about a warm cup of coffee?
The company has installed a limited number of face recognizing vending machines in Tokyo train stations that recommend drinks and other items to you depending on who you are and how the day is. Customers step up to the machine and a camera scans their face to determine their age and gender. From there, similar to Amazon.com’s suggestions based on your previous purchases, the machine produces a recommendation tag that shows up on a screen alongside.
If a customer is a man, the machine is more likely to recommend a canned coffee drink based on previous demographic and trend studies. Men tend to drink coffee drinks. If the customer is in their 50s, the machine may suggest green tea, based on age or health. A twenty-year-old woman may be recommended something a bit sweeter. It makes you wonder if the suggestions perpetuate preference among particular demographics, but either way, I assume the individual still has the freedom to choose something else.
The company that created the machines says they thought it would be a lot more fun to choose drinks this way, and the novelty is definitely a pull. If customers can enjoy the actual purchase of the product, it makes the entire buying experience better for both sides.
The company plans to install more machines around other stations in Tokyo and the surrounding suburbs in the coming year. They hope to have around 500 working units installed and in use in the next 17 months.
According to the article, Reuters reports that sales from the new machines are triple that of the regular machines. It doesn’t exactly say why this is the reason, but I imagine the sheer novelty of the thing has a lot to do with it. Certainly interesting stuff.
Take a look at the original article at the Consumerist below:
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