Comment: Tesco’s face scanners do not go far enough

Tesco’s plan to use face scanners to target advertising at customers certainly comes as a surprise. While tailoring advertising to each customer is a great idea, there are far better ways of doing this than using a face scanner at a till.

Retailers need to make informed decisions about an individual customer’s needs, and this should extend further than categorising somebody by their age and gender – there’s so much more to each customer’s needs than this.

There is also potential for disaster if and when the scanners’ estimations are wide of the mark. Starbucks came in for some flack when customers’ names were written inaccurately on cups, and Tesco is putting itself in a position to offend people even more.

Imagine a portly gentleman being shown adverts targeted at pregnant women, or a short-haired woman being targeted with shaving products for young men.

What supermarkets should be doing is using information about the customer to provide a more compelling and intuitive service that engages them on a personal level. A good first step for organisations is to analyse customers’ purchasing trends.

Large retailers like Tesco should focus on where and what customers are choosing to spend their money on. Organisations can tailor every interaction (whether online, in-store or over the telephone) so that customer satisfaction is always exceeded, and that opportunities to increase sales are increased.

Using more effective tools than an advanced face scanner will allow Tesco to better understand customers.

For businesses that put customers first, they can also expect to better manage risk, cut costs, satisfy escalating consumer expectations, drive decision making and maintain a high level of business integrity. Although customer research can be time consuming, it will result in great profits for a company if done so correctly.

In today’s tough climate where fickle customers shop for the best prices and promotions, the most successful businesses will be those that understand their customers’ needs, how they want to shop and even how much they are willing to pay.

Paul Alexander is co-founder of Beyond Analysis