On-shelf tracking system

a tracking system and shelf technology, applied in the field of shelf tracking system, can solve the problems of increasing operational costs, reducing product quality, and reducing shelf space, and creating significant competition for shelf spa

Active Publication Date: 2013-05-09
TRIANGLE STRATEGY GRP
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

Enables real-time tracking of consumer interactions and product data, reducing the need for extensive and costly testing, allowing for more efficient use of retail space and faster learning processes for retailers and manufacturers.

Problems solved by technology

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) retailers and manufacturers are under continuous pressure to improve operational efficiencies, given intense competition, smaller profit margins and ever-increasing operational costs.
This usually places a high demand on available shelf space and creates significant competition for shelf space in CPG retail stores.
There are two limitations to using just scanner data, namely, (1) aggregation and (2) time.
These limitations incur significant costs (e.g., typically testing of a new product or new merchandising arrangement requires 20+ stores over 2-3 months for any given “cell” in a test) and limit the number of experimental cells that can be executed.
Hence, many valuable experiments that could be conducted are precluded by cost considerations, slowing the overall learning process by retailers and manufacturers and resulting in inefficient use of space.

Method used

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Examples

Experimental program
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Effect test

Embodiment Construction

[0042]An on-shelf tracking (OST) system tracks consumer activity with respect to individual retail product units from a retail carton, while the retail carton is positioned on an array of sensors mounted on or in close proximity to a retail display shelf of a merchandising fixture. The OST system's various product sensors provide a way to determine when a consumer interacts with a retail product unit positioned on a retail shelf, a description of the interaction, and stores information about the interaction as an event in an event log for later retrieval and analysis. The retail product unit is the smallest increment of retail product offered by a retailer for purchase (e.g., a single pack of Wrigley® Five Rain gum, 15 sticks). The retail carton, also referred to as a product container, contains retail product units in a standard number and configuration (e.g., 10 ct box of Wrigley® Five Rain gum). The merchandising fixture displays retail products to consumers in an appealing fashi...

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Abstract

A system to be installed on a merchandising unit having one or more inventory zones, one or more units of product, one or more product sensors, a mounting structure, and an electromagnetic signal processor. The one or more inventory zones can present the one or more units of product in several different arrangements. The one or more product sensors, each at least associated operatively with one of the one or more inventory zones, converts a sensed quantity of the one or more units of product into a respective analog electromagnetic signal. The mounting structure secures the one or more product sensors to the merchandising unit relative to the one or more units of product so that the one or more product sensors sense a quantity of the one or more units of product. The electromagnetic signal processor in communication with the one or more product sensors can sample output from the one or more product sensors periodically and converts the analog signal into a digital signal.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM[0001]This application claims the benefit of priority from Provisional Patent Application No. 61 / 453,942, filed Mar. 17, 2011, which is incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Technical Field[0003]This disclosure relates to systems for tracking consumer interactions with retail products on merchandising fixtures in real time.[0004]2. Background Information[0005]Consumer packaged goods (CPG) retailers and manufacturers are under continuous pressure to improve operational efficiencies, given intense competition, smaller profit margins and ever-increasing operational costs. Manufacturers and retailers work with a fixed amount of retail space and seek to maximize the productivity of that space in order to maximize revenues while controlling costs. Retailers seek to maximize overall revenues through optimal placement of top-performing existing store keeping units (SKUs), proper placement of new SKUs and elimination of less productive SKUs. This usually...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & AuthorityApplications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): G06F13/38G06Q30/00G08B5/22G06Q10/00
CPCG06Q10/087
InventorCAMPBELL, PATRICK
OwnerTRIANGLE STRATEGY GRP