Startup Daily TV: Foresense Technologies is using AI to help retailers target ad to passing shoppers

Pioneering presence detection technology company Foresense Technologies Ltd is preparing to list in 2021 having recently raised more than $2.7 million in equity capital.

The company will use the funds the roll out of digital sensors across Australian and international bricks and mortar retail outlets as it seeks to connect the virtual world to the physical world.

Foresense’s proprietary presence detection technology, combined with in-store digital sensors and intuitive mobile app technology, provides accurate real-time analysis of foot traffic collected by sensors, integrating with customers smartphones, inside and around a physical store location.

CEO Glenn Weiland said e-commerce now makes up over 20% of total retail sales in the US, and online juggernauts such as Amazon. Click serve up ads until you buy.

“These hyper-targeted digital marketing tactics have left bricks and mortar operators for dead. Our sensors and AI capabilities not only enable brick and mortar stores to compete, it allows them to level the playing field,” he said.

The technology has wide applications across cafes, retailers, hotels, newsagents, banks, airports, stadiums and casinos.

It can effectively monitor and log individual customer behavioural activity and builds a detailed user profile of their time in-store. It then aggregates the data over longer periods – days, weeks, months, even years – to identify trends and customer characteristics such as if they’re a new or return visitor.

“We can help retailers determine where additional staff need to be deployed, or assess customer experience from floor traffic flow from entry through to browsing, queuing and payment times to gain insight into streamlining the purchase process,” Weiland said.

“Most importantly, we can analyse this data with our sophisticated AI system to determine why a customer may abandon their real world ‘cart’, just as we see in the online world.”

The company’s plans for the year ahead also include a partnership with one of Australia’s largest media companies which will see thousands of its sensors placed across Australia from airports to shopping centres to create Australia’s largest real time data location base data analytics footprint.

It’s also collaborating on a utilisation plan to assist the thousands of newsagents nationally with real time insights, to grow revenue in their businesses.

Foresense also recently signed a major deal with CUED Pty Ltd for the global roll out of artificial intelligence prototype black boxes and digitised live gaming technology for professional pool players.

And following the raise, it’s now planning to roll out more than 2,000 sensors for a US-based casino and resort group with 13 sites, and a VIP loyalty program in a deal that underpins Foresense’s US expansion.

Glenn Weiland recently spoke to the Startup Daily show on ausbiz to tell us more about Foresense and its plans.

Click on the video below to hear what he had to say about it.