I need an idea person.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by DRU

Absolutely it can be linked to location. It it would use GPS...not try to differ from it. We would just get a little GPS device to solder on to the Arduino board and then program it to output it's location. Then we'd build software (web-based or mobile apps, for example) that would listen for the signals of all the devices and show you where their current location is.

That is a pretty good idea, too. I've actually seen people doing what you said based on things like who all ahs "checked in" via Facebook or some other service. At large events, quite a few people do check in, and then they can be tracked via Facebook apps (or whatever service they're hooked up to) to see the highest traffic places at the show.

Building something to attach to shopping carts that does the same thing probably wouldn't be very difficult at all. We could track the entire shopping path of shoppers and provide data on all sorts of shopping habits.

The thing I like about this is that it converts to money. Do people go to a particular corner of the store? What percent of people go straight to the clearance rack and then walk out? What parts of the store are destinations that people seek out specifically (that you then place on the other end of the impulse purchases)? If you understand what your customers are doing, you can optimize your store layout to improve time in store and sales.

[FAX]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

The thing I like about this is that it converts to money. Do people go to a particular corner of the store? What percent of people go straight to the clearance rack and then walk out? What parts of the store are destinations that people seek out specifically (that you then place on the other end of the impulse purchases)? If you understand what your customers are doing, you can optimize your store layout to improve time in store and sales.

Time and motion studies take place all the time. And they cost a freaking fortune, too.

FAX

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by FAX

Time and motion studies take place all the time. And they cost a freaking fortune, too.

FAX

I kind of figured that, and it seems like it would be manual. I'm not sure if anyone has devised an automated solution yet. It sounds like a no.

I talked to a guy once about using RFID chips to do this, and someone else about using GPS. At the time, the GPS wasn't precise enough, though maybe it is now. The RFID guy turned out to be a poseur of epic proportions, so I just fled from him.

[FAX]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I kind of figured that, and it seems like it would be manual. I'm not sure if anyone has devised an automated solution yet. It sounds like a no.

I talked to a guy once about using RFID chips to do this, and someone else about using GPS. At the time, the GPS wasn't precise enough, though maybe it is now. The RFID guy turned out to be a poseur of epic proportions, so I just fled from him.

So far as I know, they're totally manual.

You hire a consultancy who hires a guy who stands around and watches people come in and out of your store. After awhile, they write up a report and suggest you move some stuff around.

Oh, and send you an enormous bill.

That's about it.

FAX

[AndChiefs]

Originally Posted by FAX

So far as I know, they're totally manual.

You hire a consultancy who hires a guy who stands around and watches people come in and out of your store. After awhile, they write up a report and suggest you move some stuff around.

Oh, and send you an enormous bill.

That's about it.

FAX

The important thing in this type of implementation would be the software in place behind this time study. How would you break down the results to be understandable by the stores? Do you have a consultant that flies around to places helping them understand the raw data they're receiving? Do you have a sortable listing solution that ranks different aspects of the results?

How durable is the technology? If it's placed on a shopping cart it has to be pretty durable to withstand the constant pounding it will be receiving. RFID is going to have problem transmitting the results efficiently and accurately. GPS is generally not quite precise enough for an application like this.

An idea that popped into my head is using the temperature feature of the technology. If you have temperature working in concert with another tracking feature you might be able to narrow it down a bit more. Refrigerated sections will have lower temperatures and most aisles should have different temps especially if it's able to break down by .1 degrees. Pretty simple to track with thermometers around the store and should be easy to integrate into a tracking system.