Russian Mood-Sensing Retail Device Readies for U.S. Invasion

A new overseas retail service could soon make its way west.

Synqera, a Russian point-of-sale analytics and loyalty startup founded in 2010, uses tablets mounted to kiosks that sync people's facial emotions and personalize shopping. The devices are placed at the front of retail stores, like markets or drug store chains, to help customers coming in make decisions and on their way out when they want to pay.

See also: Where Do You Fit in the New Retail Web?

Sensors on the machine scan a customer's items to see exactly what you're getting, or based on your appearance, what you may want to purchase. Based on time of day, season or mood, Synqera offers promotional offers. The service then collects data on what you buy to predict offers you may be interested in purchasing on subsequent visits.

For example, Synqera might offer someone over the age of 21 a discount on a bottle of whiskey at the checkout counter on a Friday night, especially if he looks lonely (or, conversely, ready for a fun night out). If it recognizes you as angry, it won't offer you anything at all. It also recommends incentives and extras such as product location maps, recipes, coupons and eco-friendly alternatives.

Synqera's machines are currently installed in a handful of stores in Russia's Ulybka Radugi, a household goods and cosmetics chain with 2.5 million customers and 280 locations throughout the country.

But deals with companies in Europe and the United States are on the table and are expected to be finalized laster this year, Synquera management told Mashable. Synqera CEO Filipp Shubin hopes to have a presence in clothing and household goods sectors in the United States before 2014.

Shoppers want more visual shopping experiences, according to a recent study from the web data firm WeSEE. This is exactly what Synqera delivers: The checkout tech is geared to increase customers' in-store experience, improve loyalty and ecommerce sales — and allow brands to collect valuable data on consumers' sex, age, demographic and sentiment.

Synqera's software syncs the physical profile of each customer facing the sensor-enabled checkout device, data from the loyalty card and the shopping basket. Real-time interactive customer displays are built and displayed for each shopper's order, tendencies and response rate. Information can be viewed through the device's camera and touchscreen; as the service expands consumers will be able to view product offers and data remotely via a store's mobile apps.

Devices can accept various forms of payment and loyalty cards, including those in mobile or online wallets, doubling as a universal checkout point.

"Retailers have been looking for ways to incentivize customers to return, from the moment of entering the store to the point of purchase," Shubin said.

The company wants to drive sales by expediting shopping and turning customers' idle time in line into engagement. i-Free Ventures, a major player in the Russian mobile market, invested $4 million in the company. Currently, Synqera employs 29 people and is based in Saint Petersburg with offices in New York.

An Invasion of Data?

Synqera is the next evolution of data mining, according to Brad Lawless, vice president for Collective Bias, a social startup linking customers and retailers. And it might not be all bad.

"Some people balk at retailers knowing too much about them, but we've traditionally seen shoppers parting with personal information when signing up for store loyalty programs if they receive additional convenience or savings in trade," Lawless said. "Imagine walking into a store with a shopping list stored on your device. You get in and out more efficiently with less frustration and perhaps experience a moment of delight as well."

But not everyone agrees. Tony Ferraro, the founder and chief executive of Twubs, a Twitter management tool working with big brands, warned that racial profiling in the public sector has been fairly risky. "It will be interesting to see how the market responds to marketers doing the same," he said.

Others — doubtlessly with recent NSA revelations in mind — worry that such data collection may overstep privacy boundaries.

"It will be hard to personalize the shopping experience like this without it feeling creepy," said Julie Smolyansky, the president and chief executive of Lifeway Foods. "Millennials maybe open to trying something like this but other generations may have a harder time. The success or failure of such a tool would be in getting the shopper to opt in."

Synqera's Shubin said the goal is to help consumers, not spy on them: "We define success as the impact to store sales and customers."

If Synqera can deliver enough of a cost-benefit for consumers, it may prove a winner, but people will have to hand over plenty of personal data first. If and when that happens, consumers will either smile and get deals — or frown and walk away.

Do you think Synquera has a chance at success in the U.S.? Sound off in the comments.

Images: Synqera, Flickr / Patrick Hoesly