FaceFirst, the leading retail face recognition platform company, unveiled Customer-IQ, a proximity marketing and security solution that enables retailers to personalize in-store shopping experiences and prevent identity fraud at the point of sale. Customer-IQ will identify shoppers who opt-into the service as they enter a retail establishment, delivering assistance and exclusive recommendations via text message and app notifications. At the point of sale, Customer-IQ will act as a secondary proof of identity.
FaceFirst created the solution in response to retailers who were frustrated by their inability to consistently identify and serve customers as they entered stores. Four years after the deployment of beacons, existing proximity marketing technologies are widely seen as a flop. According to Boston Retail Partners, just 13% of retailers can identify customers as they enter a store, with another 10% identifying customers at checkout. In comparison, 60% of retailers identify customers during online shopping.
Customer-IQ will be significantly more private and less intrusive than existing loyalty programs. Retail customers will opt-in to the service and will be able to unsubscribe at any time, and unlike existing beacon technologies, Customer-IQ won’t require customers to ensure that their mobile Wi-Fi or Bluetooth is on, nor will it attempt to read their mobile MAC address.
Like other products in the FaceFirst platform, Customer-IQ will easily integrate with a wide variety of existing retail systems and technology, including customer relationship management (CRM) software, point of sale (POS) systems, customer recommendation engines and communications networks. The result will be a 360-degree view of the customer as well as a multi-channel messaging capability.