- NEWS
Martin wades into abortion debateAs the Dáil committee hearings continue on the abortion bill, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has waded into the debate saying it is important that Christian believers "be, and seen to be, on the side of life, especially when life is most vulnerable".
Payment cuts see families pay rent shortfallLimits on rent supplement payments set by the Government are forcing thousands of families to make undeclared top-up payments to landlords to secure places to live.
- WORLD
Anger as North Korea launches another missileNorth Korea fired a short-range missile from its east coast, a day after launching three more of these missiles, a South Korean news agency said.
How Star Trek predicted the futureWHEN Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry first dreamed up the concept of a television show based in the unexplored universe of Outer Space in 1964, the world was a very different place.
- BUSINESS
Warnings over future of eurozoneThe eurozone is heading towards a break up unless there are moves towards much closer political and fiscal union, according to chief economist with State Street Global Advisers, Chris Probyn.
Bruton defends corporate tax rateIreland will be able to maintain its current corporation tax code in the face of international pressure to prevent multinational corporations avoid paying their fare share of tax, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton said yesterday.
- SPORT
Mayo’s statement of intentGalway 0-11 Mayo 4-16 Five minutes to go in Salthill yesterday and James Horan was still cajoling his men to sew it into Galway.
Wilkinson inspires Toulon to gloryASM Clermont Auvergne 15 Toulon 16 Not for the first time this season, a matchday performance and the result have made a mockery of the statistics.
- LIFESTYLE
What Lenny did nextLENNY Abrahamson has directed three feature films: Adam & Paul, Garage and What Richard Did.
Clothes maketh you madTrying on clothes, said Ewart, produced "sensations which bring deep peace and perfect contentment" to the female mind.
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Breaking stories
Mannequins keeping an eye on shoppers
Store mannequins are meant to catch your eye. Soon you may catch theirs.
By Andrew Roberts
The latest tool in fighting retail thieves and tracking shopping habits is seeing-eye mannequins. Fashion brands are deploying mannequins equipped with technology used to identify criminals at airports to watch over shoppers in their stores. Retailers are introducing the EyeSee, sold by Italian mannequin maker Almax SpA, to glean data on customers.
Five companies are using a total of “a few dozen” of the mannequins with orders for at least that many more, Almax CEO, Max Catanese, said.
The €4,000 device has spurred shops to adjust window displays, store layouts, and promotions to keep consumers walking in the door and spending.
The EyeSee looks ordinary enough, with its slender polystyrene frame, blank face, and improbable pose. Inside, it’s no dummy though. A camera embedded in one eye feeds data into facial-recognition software like that used by police. It logs the age, gender, and race of passers-by.
Demand for the device shows how retailers are turning to technology to help personalise their offers as growth slows in the luxury goods industry. &
While some stores deploy similar technology to watch shoppers from overhead security cameras, the EyeSee provides better data because it stands at eye level and invites customer attention.
The mannequin, which is now being used in three European countries and the US, has led one outlet to adjust its window displays after revealing that men who shopped in the first two days of a sale spent more than women, says Almax.
Some say profiling customers raises legal and ethical issues. EU and US regulations permit the use of cameras for security purposes, though retailers need to put up signs warning customers they may be filmed. Watching people solely for commercial gain may break the rules and could be viewed as gathering personal data without consent, says Christopher Mesnooh, a partner at Paris-based law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse.
“If you go on Facebook, before you start the registration process, you can see exactly what information they are going to collect and what they’re going to do with it. If you’re walking into a store, where’s the choice?”
Some clients have asked for the EyeSee to be rigged to recognise staff so they don’t muddy the picture of customer behaviour. That option may be extended to loyal shoppers, who would be invited to opt-in in return for rewards.
Almax is also testing technology that recognises words to allow retailers eavesdrop on what shoppers say about the mannequin’s attire.
Catanese says Almax also plans to add screens next to the dummies to prompt customers about products. Too much sophistication could backfire, says Lorna Hall, retail editor at fashion forecaster WGSN, as it’s a fine line between technology that helps and technology that irks.
A reminder about where to find women’s shoes “could become a digital version of a very pushy sales assistant”, she said. “And we all know how we feel about those.”