Nunwood syndicates biometric shopping study

UK-- Nunwood is putting its biometric shopper research system to use in a syndicated study aimed at FMCG manufacturers.

The agency says producers of food, household products, pharmaceuticals and confectionery have signed up to be part of the study, in which Nunwood will use its Bioshopping system in partnership with one of its major retail clients.

The system, first trialled last year, uses measurements of skin temperature and conductivity, combined with eye-tracking and movement tracking, to gauge shoppers' emotions as they browse a store.

Customers are recruited at the store entrance and asked to wear a mobile phone-sized device, with two sensors that attach to their fingertips to monitor galvanic skin response and skin temperature. The device also contains a chip that can be tracked by sensors located around the store, and each participant wears a special pair of glasses to track where they look.

Nunwood now has several retail and FMCG clients for the service, and says it it seeing considerable interest in the US. The agency is hoping to open the service up to new users by offering it on a syndicated basis.

Research and development director Ian Addie said: “This will be the first of a series of syndicated Bioshops, which is leading to a great response from a wide variety of non-competing category leaders across FMCG.”

Addie said some clients have been slow to adopt biometric research techniques because of the perceived high cost and risk. “Via this highly accessible, syndicated approach, leading brands are able to achieve meaningful emotional insight quickly and with limited financial commitment,” he said.

Author: Robert Bain

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Nunwood gets under the skin of the shopper