The Future is Facial Recognition

By Erin Harris, editor-in-chief

ONCE PRIVACY AND SECURITY CONCERNS AND KINKS IN THE TECHNOLOGY ARE OVERCOME, FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY WILL CHANGE RETAIL.

Facial recognition isn’t a brand-new technology. Casinos and law enforcement, for example, have been using facial recognition for safety and security purposes for years. And while facial recognition isn’t new to the retail industry either, it is being leveraged outside loss prevention as a beneficial way to improve customer engagement, marketing, advertising, and more. Privacy concerns are hefty, and, as a result, some retailers are gun-shy about incorporating facial recognition into their businesses, while some others don’t know what they don’t know about the technology. Yet, international acceptance is escalating quickly; MarketsandMarkets estimates sales of facial recognition software and equipment were $2.8 billion worldwide last year and forecasts they will increase to $6.19 billion by 2020. Rest assured, the technology is gaining steam domestically by the day. Just ask Apple.