VTT’s spin off company first in the world to measure shopping intentions in physical stores

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a unique solution to measure in-store shopper’s intentions. The implementation respects privacy – no identity information of shoppers is collected. The objective is to start commercial deliveries in spring 2017.

“Until now it has been technically possible only to record how many people entered the shop and then from cash registers collect data of which merchandizes got purchased,” says Johannes Peltola, CEO and co-founder of Aikeet Oy, VTT’s spin off company commercializing the solution.

“What is happening between entrance and walk-out has been largely unknown. Existing technologies have enabled mainly people-flow measurements, but not the detection of intentions”, Peltola continues.

The patent pending solution uses very accurate imaging based on depth sensor technology that generates a 3D representation of the environment. Analytics methods provide accurate information on people behavior, which refined and fused with sales performance indicators, reveals the shopping intentions. The information can be used to improve the store sales operations and increase the appeal of specific brands.

The solution has been tested in several pilots in retail stores, shopping malls, commercial exhibitions and public places with altogether of more than 10 million visitors.

The company makes its first public introduction of its technology at Slush, the 2-day start-up event in Helsinki.

Aikeet Oy is startup founded by four experts of VTT and Pivot5 Oy, Helsinki-based seed investor. The objective is to start commercial deliveries during first quarter of 2017.