Facial Recognition is One of our 2017 Trends

It’s time for supermarkets to look at the innovations taking place in fast food, around the world, and bring them to every supermarket in the country.

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the Panasonic Innovation Center and facial recognition was a key element of the center. To help marketers understand the demographics of who is looking at what products, how they shop a store’s department and for operators to understand traffic patterns.  Now, according to TechCrunch KFC in China is working on a new “smart restaurant” that will use facial recognition and factors such as age, gender and facial expression to suggest things a customer may order. 

How does it work? The image recognition scans a customer’s face, looking specifically for information it can use to inform a food recommendation. It’s interesting because it goes well beyond the typical demographics – age, gender, race, etc and will infer one’s mood and detect repeat customers in order to provide suggestions based on their order history. 

According to KFC’s tech partner, Baidu, a young adult male may be recommended a “crispy chicken hamburger, roasted chicken wings and coke” meal for lunch, while a female in her 50s might be suggested “porridge and soybean milk for breakfast.” 

It’s time for supermarkets to look at the innovations taking place in fast food, around the world, and bring them to every supermarket in the country.