StORES Magazine - September 2007 - (Page 60) WORTH WATCHING / AVATARS On-Screen Employees Fastrak’s associate may be virtual, but the help is real BY LEN LEWIS t’s the year 2054: Tom Cruise’s character in the film “Minority Report” is being chased by the police. He runs into a store and faces a screen that performs a quick retina scan. A virtual greeter asks: “Good afternoon, Mr. Anderton: Welcome back to the Gap. How did those assorted tank tops work out for you?” I We may not be there just yet. But Fasfacilitate communications with the trak Retail, a U.K.-based firm with ofshopper at the point of purchase where fices in the United States, is rolling out a they are making decisions.” new concept in digital signage: an artifiThe folks running Fastrak have strong cial intelligence engine and a virtual backgrounds in technology, “but putsales associate, designed to bring inting technology into a store doesn’t crestore marketing to a new level. ate success,” he says. “It is an enabler, a “We wanted to create a company that way to create a holistic approach to rewould bridge the gap between IT detail and brand marketing and for compartments and retail design and store munications with shoppers.” planning,” says Peter Augusta, presiThe heart of Fastrak’s onscreen offerdent and co-founder of Fastrak. “The ing is a three-dimensional virtual sales idea is to bring digital signage down to associate (or avatar) that, with the help a shopper-usable presentation in order of touch-screens or voice recognition, to enhance the selling process. This is going to help “We built an open software system that can take information from any source and apply it toward a customer.” — Peter Augusta, Fastrak assists shoppers with up-to-date product information and demonstrations. It also has the ability to answer customer inquiries and to advertise promotions in multiple languages. In essence, it is a tool to upsell and cross-sell products 24/7 without incurring additional overhead. The key to Fastrak, Augusta says, is its simplicity: Because there are no endless menus for shoppers to scroll through, the shopping experience is enhanced. “Technology companies tend to throw the best technology out there because they can – whether or not it’s in alignment with the brand or retailer,” he says. “They are trying to sell their technology. I saw that in the e-commerce business quite a bit – solutions in search of a problem. What we have is retail-ready. 60 All you need is a data cable to start communicating with our content-management systems.” In a retail setting, customers “won’t interface with a keyboard,” Augusta says. “In a way, we ‘dumbed down’ the technology to fit into a retail environment. The touch-screen will only present information based on what shoppers are looking for.” Traditionally, touch-screen interfaces didn’t work well in a retail environment because too much information was put up on the screen. “The ability of anyone to process all that information – particularly a woman standing there with her child yanking on her leg – is limited,” Augusta says. “So we’ve elevated the traditional interface to where it engages the customer through interaction with a ‘live’ human being. It captures their attention and complex information can be communicated very easily.” Girlfriend factor The virtual sales associate has already been used at museums and trade shows, primarily as a digital guide. “It’s just kicked off in retail and it seems to be getting the most traction in the brands that are trying to make an emotional connection,” Augusta says. “Cosmetics are one example. Women buy cosmetics based on how it will make them look or feel. This is where the ‘girlfriend factor’ WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG
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