New emotion detector to identify a bluffing KAM?

Did you happen to notice the new security camera, the buyer playing with a thermal sensor, while sucking on a suite of algorithms, at that last business review meeting?

A new system that uses a simple video camera, a high-resolution thermal imaging sensor and a suite of algorithms can detect lies just by watching our faces as we talk, experts say.

Developed by a team from the universities of Bradford and Aberystwyth in conjunction with the UK Border Agency, the system was unveiled today at the British Science Festival in Bradford.

It builds on years of research into how we all unconsciously, involuntarily reveal our emotions in subtle changes of expression and the flow of blood to our skin.

We give our emotions away in our eye movements, dilated pupils, biting or pressing together our lips, wrinkling our noses, breathing heavily, swallowing, blinking and facial asymmetry. And these are just the visible signs seen by the camera. Even swelling blood vessels around our eyes betray us, and the thermal sensor spots them too.

However, as the stakes rise in supplier-retailer relationships, it is important for KAMs to match every technical move of the buyer with equivalent technical aids in order to ensure a fair-share outcome…

A fascinating article in the New Scientist describes experiments with a pair of hi-tech glasses that can  whisper in the KAM’s ear through a headphone attached to the glasses. It reveals when the buyer is "confused" or "disagreeing". All the while, a red light built into the specs starts blinking above the right eye warning the KAM to stop talking. It seems as though the wearer has developed an extra sense.

The glasses can send this information thanks to a built-in camera linked to software that analyses the buyer’s facial expressions. They're just one example of a number of "social X-ray specs" that are set to transform interpersonal interaction. . The camera tracks 24 "feature points" on the buyer’s face, and software analyses the myriad micro-expressions, how often they appear and for how long. It then compares that data with its bank of known expressions By sensing emotions that we would otherwise miss, these technologies can thwart disastrous social gaffes and help us understand each other better. Some companies are already wiring up their employees with the technology, to help them improve how they communicate with customers.

The real issue is whether this boost to our emotional intelligence goes too far in helping the KAM to interpret feelings the buyer might rather keep private?

Whitby Scampi Gets a Little Help From Tesco

Whitby Seafoods has signed a deal which means its wholetailed scampi will go on sale at Tesco stores around Britain.

Launched in 1985 by Graham Whittle from the assets of the Whitby Shellfish company, founded in 1963 and was one of the first firms to sell breaded scampi in the UK.

Over the last 26 years, Whittle has transformed the business into the biggest scampi supplier in the UK.

Following a high rate of sale locally, they pitched to successfully to supply Tesco nationwide.

A big step for Whitby Seafoods, but giant leaps ahead in terms of meeting Tesco KPIs and more especially the own label potential, globally (Tesco products are in 90 countries where they do not have shops…)

In effect, the supplier could either become a scampi aggregator for Tesco, or focus on the brand and develop it via all UK multiples..  ( 'If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere..')

Either way, this could simply be the end of the beginning…a lesson for all niche players?

Hi-tech price matcher will guarantee shoppers get the best deal, at last?

Sainsburys are trialling Brand Match till technology that instantly checks the prices of branded goods at other chains.

If the cost of the basket would have been cheaper elsewhere, the customer is given a voucher to the value of the difference

The technology for Sainsbury’s Brand Match covers about 12,000 items. It is being trialled at 12 Northern Ireland stores but could be extended to more than 930 premises across the UK. This will save shoppers the inconvenience of shopping around

With rival chains modifying current policies and apparently trialling similar schemes, coupled with the wide range of products being affected, this could be a price war with a difference, resulting in genuine price reductions across the bulk of a supplier’s distribution.

The retail ‘winners’ will be the more efficient companies that can afford to use their greater efficiencies to survive deep price-cuts, and have the muscle to pass some of the pain back up the pipeline…

Erotic capital and the KAM

The term ‘erotic capital’ refers to six or seven different but connected elements. It is multifaceted in that beauty, obviously, is a central element, but there are cultural variations in what determines beauty. There is also the idea of sexual attractiveness, which is not the same as beauty. Your sex appeal can have as much to do with your personality, style and sense of your femininity/masculinity.

There are also your social skills, whether you are a life-and-soul-of-the-party person and how you generally interact with other people. Your social presentation is important too, what you wear and how you wear it, as is your sexuality itself, your degree of sexual competence. But, overall, it’s important to remember that your erotic capital is as determined by your charm, charisma and social skills as much as anything else.

Scoring high on erotic capital may override in itself any deficiencies you have in economic, human and social capital. And it can have a considerable impact on a KAM’s salary too.

Have an interesting weekend, from the NamNews Team!

How shops help shoppers to choose wine

With research indicating that three-quarters of shoppers find choosing wine 'an ordeal’, and 75 per cent having a repertoire of just two wines, there appears to be real scope for needs-based merchandising of wine in the aisle.

In fact in their wine-traffic, Tesco have isolated two key groups:

-       “Tell Me” customers (47%), who are likely to be intimidated by the wine aisle, prefer to choose from a small selection of wine because it’s easier, tend to be lured by promotions and expect good availability of whatever they choose

-        “Engage Me” shoppers (53%), who are more interested in exploring, and will navigate by colour, grape and country, seeking out wines that are new or intriguing.

Tesco are currently refitting 870 Tesco wine departments to give each type of shopper their own grazing area.

-       “Tell Me” people get a range of own-label wines called Simply. They also get a neat section of three-for-£12 wines, and a “Great With” display.

-       The 'Engage Me’ shoppers get the traditional by-country layout, but with extra boxes so that different wines can be highlighted – new wines, medal-winning wines, journalist-recommended wines. Wines with a reason to buy that goes beyond price.

A retailer that takes the trouble to ask, has the wit and resource to remerchandise accordingly and can validate the result in real-time, has to grow share at the expense of more margin-orientated competitors.

Pro-active OFT innovation in competition law

News that UK farmers are to be told by the OFT that they can join forces to get better prices from supermarkets and other customers represents a breakthrough in the application of competition law not only for farmers but also for suppliers and retailers in other categories.

Whilst farmers now need to identify partners both legal and commercial that can help them to optimise their new freedom, all suppliers and retailers need to reassess their application of competition law.

Essentially, because of a combination of limited knowledge and an over-zealous application of the law some suppliers may become over-cautious in their dealings with major customers. In effect they confine themselves to the middle of the ball-park while their competitors, with a more pragmatic approach (and possibly the advantage of risk-neutral/risk-seeking inhouse lawyers) enjoy the freedom of operating up to the legal edge, without risk…

In doing so, it is vital that suppliers assess the risk–profiles of their own organisation (risk-averse, risk-neutral or risk-seeking), their internal and external legal advisers, and their major customers in order to ensure that al decisions do not net down to risk-avoidance, and thus compromise commercial opportunities.

In an unprecedented era where every little helps, it is vital that suppliers and retailers develop robust legal-commercial strategies that allow them to work to the legal limits, and give them the freedom to negotiate on a fair-share basis..

Men falling victim to 'manity sizing' on the High Street?

Four out of five British stores are selling trousers with a waist up to two inches inch wider than the measurement shown on the garment.

An article in the Sunday Telegraph details research showing that M&S, Debenhams, Next, and Topman were found to be flattering customers by adding up to inch to the waistline. Supermarkets were the worst offenders, with some selling items with two inches to spare.

Overall, 28 out of 50 garments checked were found to be larger than on the label; seven were at least one and a half inches bigger; among those was a pair of Levi's 501 jeans, a fashion bulwark, which was 32.5 inches and not 31 as advertised.

Whilst this may meet vanity needs by being able to squeeze into the same size of trousers despite a growing waistline, savvy consumers are becoming increasingly frustrated to discover their sizes vary in this manner.

However, the real issue is not the size-variations but the variety of explanations offered by retailers, ranging from ‘manufacturing variations’ (as if retailers were unaccustomed to rejecting whole truck-loads of out-of-spec products), certain jeans ‘being worn lower on the hips to create a slightly cooler, baggy look’, designs to take into account ‘shrinkage of up to half an inch on the first wash’ all adding the growing reluctance of savvy consumers to outsource any aspect of the decision-making-process to marketers or retailers, ever again….

Given the opportunity for an online clothing supplier to produce sizes as described, and also save consumers the annoyance of having to try on trousers instore, perhaps the real victims of ‘manity sizing’ will be ‘bricks ‘n mortar’ outlets?

Amazon near-home delivery…

For customers with issues ref having their online purchases delivered to home or office, Amazon are apparently trialling a delivery locker in 7-11 for secure collection.

When the package is actually delivered, the customer receives an email notification along with a bar code to his smartphone and heads to the 7-Eleven. There he’ll stand in front of the locker system, which looks like the offspring between an ATM machine and a safety deposit box. The machine will scan the bar code on his handset to receive a PIN number. He’ll punch that PIN number and retrieve the package.

A prototype delivery locker from Amazon has been installed in the back of a 7-Eleven store in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighbourhood.

Real issue will be how long 7-Eleven will be an essential part of the process i.e. a standalone unit in key 'commuter-stop locations'?