Chinese Conglomerate Scans Faces for Biometric Marketing

“…the store is equipped with sensors designed to use facial recognition and data analysis to assess visitors and their behavior as they proceed through the facility.”

A China-based multinational conglomerate is taking advantage of biometric and AI-driven marketing in a new store in Shenzhen.

The company, Tiens Group, has a hand in a number of areas, from finance to biotechnology to logistics. But in announcing its new Tiens Experience Store, the company emphasized in a statement that it’s one of the “leading corporations in the Healthcare industry,” suggesting that that its new outlet, which is aimed at helping visitors “learn how the company’s products positively impact the lives of global consumers,” has a strong focus on health and medical products and services.

In any case, the store is equipped with sensors designed to use facial recognition and data analysis to assess visitors and their behavior as they proceed through the facility. The aim, Tiens says, is “to develop specialized omnichannel sales and marketing strategies” that are able to meet customers’ needs.

It’s an approach to marketing that could become increasingly common, with pioneers like NEC having been shopping around facial biometrics technology that can assess shoppers’ demographic attributes and present tailored marketing materials accordingly. While there appears to be a growing amount of discomfort with public deployments of facial recognition technology in the West, primarily over police use of such systems, the use of facial recognition in China is relatively widespread, and seems to have attracted little domestic controversy in the context of China’s police state. The Tien Group may even be able to impress some consumers with its use of biometric marketing; it’s certainly eager to draw attention to it.

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August 10, 2018 – by Alex Perala