NEW YORK: Eyeing that can of soda in the supermarket cooler? Or maybe you're craving a pint of ice cream? A camera could be watching you.
But it's not there to see if you're stealing. These cameras want to get to know you and what you're buying.
It's a new technology being trotted out to retailers, where cameras try to guess your age, gender or mood as you walk by. The intent is to use the information to show you targeted real-time ads on in-store video screens.
Companies are pitching retailers to bring the technology into their physical stores as a way to better compete with online rivals like Amazon.com that are already armed with troves of information on their customers and their buying habits.
With store cameras, you may not even realise you are being watched unless you happen to notice the penny-sized lenses. And that has raised concerns over privacy.
"The creepy factor here is definitely a 10 out of 10,'' said Pam Dixon, the executive director of the World Privacy Forum, a non-profit that researches privacy issues.
At the National Retail Federation trade show in New York earlier this year, a smart shelf on display by Mood Media tried to detect "happiness'' or "fear'' as people stood in front it -- information a store could use to gauge reaction to a product on the shelf or an ad on a screen.
Cineplex Digital Media showed off video screens that can be placed in malls or bus stops and try to tell if someone is wearing glasses or sporting a beard, which in turn can be used to sell ads for new frames or razors.
The screens can also be placed at the drive-through. A minivan pulling into a fast food restaurant, for example, might get an ad for a family-sized meal on the video screen menu.
For now, the cameras are in just a handful of stores.
Kroger Co, which has 2,800 supermarkets, is testing cameras embedded in a price sign above shelves in two stores in the suburbs outside Cincinnati and Seattle. Cameras guess a shopper's age and sex but the information is anonymous and the data is not being stored.
Walgreens, which has more than 8,000 drugstores, installed cooler doors with cameras and sensors at six locations in Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Bellevue, Washington.
Above the door handle is a camera that can try to guess ages and track irises to see where you are looking, but those functions are off for now.
"The cameras are currently being used to sense when someone is in front of the cooler and count the number of shoppers passing by,'' Walgreens said.
It declined to say if it will turn on the other functions of the camera. "All such enhancements will be carefully reviewed and considered in light of any consumer privacy concerns.''
Advocates of the technology say it could benefit shoppers by showing them discounts tailored to them or drawing attention to products that are on sale. But privacy experts warn that even if the information being collected is anonymous, it can still be used in an intrusive way.
"For instance, if many people are eyeing a not-so-healthy dessert but not buying it, a store could place it at the checkout line so you see it again and maybe your willpower breaks down,'' said Ryan Calo, a professor at the University of Washington School of Law and co-director of its Tech Policy Lab.
"Just because a company doesn't know exactly who you are doesn't mean they can't do things that will harm you,'' he said.
"The technology could also lead to discriminatory practices, like raising prices when an older person walks in or pushing products based on your perceived mood such as ads for anti-depression medication if the cameras think you look sad,'' added Dixon of the World Privacy Forum.
"We shouldn't be gathering the emotional state of anyone,'' she said.
Not all retailers are keen on adding embedded cameras. Walmart Inc's Sam's Club, which is testing shelves with digital price tags, is cautious about them.
"I think the most important thing you do with tech like that is to make sure people know,'' said John Furner, Sam's Club's CEO. "You don't want to surprise people on how you use technology or data.''
"Retailers risk offending customers who may be shown ads that are aimed at a different gender or age group,'' Jon Reily, vice president of commerce strategy at consultancy Publicis.Sapient, said.
Nonetheless, he expects the embedded cameras to be widely used in the next four years as the technology gets more accurate, costs less and shoppers become used to it.
For now, Reily said, "we are still on the creepy side of the scale.'' ap