Euclid taps smartphone Wi-Fi for in-store retail analytics — no hardware required

Furthering its quest to bring Google Analytics-style metrics to the real world, Palo Alto-based Euclid announced a new product today that will let retailers use their own wireless networks to grab useful analytics from any shopper with a Wi-Fi enabled smartphone.

Dubbed Euclid Zero, the product is an evolution of Euclid’s initial offering, which required retailers to purchase sensor hardware. Since Euclid Zero uses existing wireless networks, retailers don’t have to buy any new hardware. Euclid has partnered with business Wi-Fi providers like Aruba Networks, Aerohive, and Fortinet to offer its analytics with just a single click.

Euclid collects aggregated data on shoppers, including their visit duration and engagement rate, and presents it in an online dashboard for retailers. The company’s technology can grab information about a shopper even if they never connect to an in-store Wi-Fi network. Just like online metrics, Euclid’s data could help store owners learn useful details about their customers. For example, it could let a retailer know if something about their store is causing a significant amount of customers to leave quickly.

Like most companies that collect consumer data, Euclid claims all of its data is grabbed anonymously, and consumers can opt out as well.

After launching last fall and snagging $5.8 million in funding, Euclid has gone from processing a million analytics events a day to handling more than three billion, according to chief executive Will Smith. The company now powers analytics for a dozen of the top 100 retailers.

“Our data set and scale has grown tremendously,” Smith said in an interview with VentureBeat.

Euclid Zero could potentially serve as a selling point for enterprise Wi-Fi networks to retailers, so it’s no surprise to see the big Wi-Fi providers jump aboard.

Eventually, Smith notes the company could eventually bring its tracking technology to other spaces. “There are all sorts of spaces that need to be quantified,” Smith said, citing event venues and conference centers as future targets.

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