Influencing Customers through Customers : Simulation of Herd Behavior in Supermarkets

ISBN-13: 9783639154092 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 68 str.

Zeeshan-Ul-Hassan Usmani

Opis

In today's supermarket multi-billion dollar industry, impulse shopping accounts for 2 out of 3 purchases. Despite the current situation, most retail stores attempt to benefit from the fact that people are impulsive in nature as a way to maximize their profits. In order to improve on current levels of sales, retail stores and supermarkets need to look at out-of-the-box to solutions that may, at first, not appear useful. One such approach is the study of levels of self-organization in people while they are doing their shopping. This thesis discusses the status-quo of supermarket optimization and leaps into how a supermarket simulation can use real-time information about customer purchases. And apply models inspired by RFID and customers feedback to empower customers with products sales level leading to an increase in impulse purchases. In today''s supermarket multi-billion dollar industry, impulse shopping accounts for 2 out of 3 purchases. Despite the current situation, most retail stores attempt to benefit from the fact that people are impulsive in nature as a way to maximize their profits. In order to improve on current levels of sales, retail stores and supermarkets need to look at out-of-the-box to solutions that may, at first, not appear useful. One such approach is the study of levels of self-organization in people while they are doing their shopping. This thesis discusses the status-quo of supermarket optimization and leaps into how a supermarket simulation can use real-time information about customer purchases. And apply models inspired by RFID and customers feedback to empower customers with products sales level leading to an increase in impulse purchases.

O autorze

Zeeshan is a Fulbright Scholar. He holds a M.S. and is currently
working towards his Ph.D. in Computer Science at Florida Tech.
Zeeshan has developed a simulation of supermarkets to observe
and quantify the effects of herd behavior on impulse shopping by
customers. His work has been mentioned in MIT s Technology
Review and The Economist.