[CEATEC 2015] Normally, we humans find safety in numbers – which can be deemed to be the herd mentality. Of course, there are pros and cons associated with such a way of thinking, since when it is for the correct and just cause, it can be a force of good, while if it is something negative, then the entire situation can end up rather badly, and in double quick time to boot. Having said that, the masses can be said to be the ones that help shape the marketing tools and devices of companies – after all, why come up with something that nobody wants despite having all the bells and whistles thrown in? Rakuten intends to take advantage of the herd mentality in shoppers through the AR-HITOKE system.
The AR-HITOKE system is a shopping support system that is capable of visualizing the number of shoppers at a particular brick-and-mortar store, doing so through online and offline aggregation. Following that, it will rely on augmented reality (AR) technology which can be easily understood across different languages. For instance, if ramen shop has plenty of customers for that particular day as opposed to the sushi bar next door and a teppanyaki counter further down, the camera which is trained on a map of the floor which depicts all three shops will show on the display a whole lot of people at the ramen shop, while only a handful of others will be milling around the teppanyaki counter and the sushi bar. This provides an overall popularity picture at a quick glance – useful if you would like to see what folks like to eat the most, or to avoid the lunch crowd and go somewhere quiet instead.
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