Amazon unveils “Store Analytics” data insights for third-party brands – Sourcing Journal

Amazon, which has always been known for its data-gathering abilities, now wants to provide deeper product insights to third-party brands that sell in its physical stores.

The e-commerce giant has launched Store Analytics, a service that offers brands aggregated and anonymized insights into the performance of their products, promotions and advertising campaigns across Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations.

Amazon collects these data points across two of its recent physical retail technology developments, both of which use computer vision to capture real-time shopper movements. One is “Just Walk Out” checkout technology, a network of overhead cameras and shelf sensors that track shoppers as they walk through the store and pick up items before automatically recharging them as they exit. The other is the Amazon Dash Cart, a shopping cart with cameras and weight sensors to automatically log the products placed inside.

Both systems log the purchase with the credit card buyers who are already stored at Amazon.

Insights from Just Walk Out and the Dash Cart can already help Amazon improve the in-store shopping experience by making the store layout easier for shoppers to find their favorite items and discover new ones. Ultimately, this could improve product selection and availability, and also add value through relevant promotions and advertising.

With Store Analytics, brands in these stores now have access to details about how their products are being discovered, considered and purchased, which can further help them make informed decisions regarding merchandising, promotions and advertising campaigns. The Store Analytics dashboard allows brands to see how their products are ranking and performing in each store.

Additionally, advertisers running in-store campaigns such as digital signage will see related performance metrics in their campaign reports.

For the time being, although Just Walk Out has been implemented in select Whole Foods stores, it appears that the data will be collected solely from the Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go concepts.

Amazon allows consumers to opt out for privacy reasons

A company blog post announcing Store Analytics touched on the privacy concerns consumers may have regarding their shopping data. Store Analytics only provides brands with aggregated and anonymized data, which means that data shared with brands is presented as a grouping in all use cases and does not contain any personally identifiable information.

Amazon says it doesn’t share anything that can be linked to an individual buyer. Instead, the company shares totals, averages, and percentages about the performance of products, promotions, and advertising campaigns. For example, the online marketplace may share the percentage of times a brand’s product was pulled off the shelf and then purchased from Amazon.com either during that store visit or later.

“We never share personal information about shoppers, so the data brands receive never includes details like their name, individual browsing data, or individual session details like the time of day they shopped or the store they shopped at have,” Amazon said in the blog. “Additionally, no videos or images of branded buyers will be shared as part of this service.”

However, Amazon allows buyers to opt-out of the service on the Store Analytics website.

The opt-out option is available in the “Submit Your Preference” section of the website, where users select “Do not include my purchase data in Store Analytics” before clicking the “Submit” button. To opt out on a mobile device, consumers can go directly to the Store Analytics website and follow the same steps, or navigate to “Your Account” in the Amazon Shopping app or on Amazon.com in their mobile browser.

In addition, notice of the opt-out is included on in-store signage and email receipts from Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores in the United States when shoppers use Just Walk Out technology or Amazon Dash Carts to check out use.

Shoppers who opt out can continue to use Just Walk Out technology and Amazon Dash Carts in Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores. However, Amazon does not store or use any data for shop analysis purposes or the associated advertising measurement of future shopping tours for this buyer’s account.

Privacy is a major issue for US big tech firms, and Amazon is no stranger to its business practices with ongoing criticism and run-ins with regulators. In July last year, Luxembourg’s data protection regulator initially fined Amazon $887 million for violating Europe’s GDPR protection laws, but a federal judge later stayed the court order in December.

“We follow Amazon’s long-standing privacy and security policies and approaches. Store Analytics data is stored in a secure zone in the cloud. We always anonymize and aggregate the data before making it available to brands that receive the service,” the company said on the blog. “We know that buyers care about how their information is used and shared, so we’ve put a lot of thought into making this service useful for brands while protecting buyer privacy. We take privacy seriously and all sensitive data is treated in accordance with our longstanding policies.”