How AI Powers SuNing’s Unmanned Stores: From Face Detection to Smart Retail

Since September, SuNing has been delivering a series of digital store empowerment courses, covering technologies from face recognition to precise traffic algorithms, showcasing its forward‑looking exploration in store digitization that achieves intelligent product display, behavior visualization, seamless experience, precise marketing, diversified shopping methods, and comprehensive online‑to‑offline coverage.

In the final lecture, Wang Junjie, director of SuNing Retail Technology Research Institute, compares unmanned stores with traditional shops, discusses technology application areas, and presents SuNing's unmanned store solutions.

Three key value comparisons:

Data operation value: Data‑centric approach that connects online and offline user profiles.

Product selection marketing value: Product‑centric approach that improves omni‑channel conversion rates.

Customer experience value: Customer‑centric approach that reconstructs retail experience scenarios.

Traditional stores lack robust data collection; unmanned stores break this limitation by using pedestrian recognition and big data to bind user IDs, in‑store trajectories, and preferences, enabling comprehensive user profiling.

Traditional stores rely heavily on operator experience for site selection, stocking, and sales, leading to inconsistent performance. Unmanned stores collect user‑product interaction data (e.g., pick‑up counts) to enable intelligent product selection and replenishment, improving inventory turnover and reducing management costs.

Unmanned stores enrich shopping scenes with interactive technologies such as smart fitting mirrors, facial interaction, and virtual shoe try‑ons, enhancing user loyalty.

When examining the store lifecycle, unmanned stores differ from traditional ones in four stages:

Pre‑opening preparation: SuNing’s proprietary “Gold Mine” site‑selection system uses big‑data analysis of commercial circles, user preferences, and product rankings to guide location, product planning, and marketing.

Operating hours: Unmanned technology enables 24‑hour service by extending operating time through data‑driven customer interaction, with dual‑mode stores switching to self‑service after regular hours.

In‑store shopping experience: Technologies such as smart fitting mirrors, robotic assistants, AR photo booths, smart carts, cloud shelves, and seamless payment (PAD self‑checkout, mobile QR, facial payment) provide data that traditional stores lack.

Post‑sale marketing: Integrated online‑offline data and advanced facial recognition enable intelligent after‑sale operations, precise marketing, and continuous optimization.

Face detection technology applications include:

Self‑service terminals (e.g., smart ATMs, interactive mall screens, beauty mirrors).

Facial access control for security.

Identity verification and face‑to‑ID comparison in travel, hotels, and high‑speed rail.

Attendance tracking at events and company sign‑ins.

Target tracking applications span five categories:

Intelligent video surveillance for security and traffic monitoring.

Human‑computer interaction enabling natural gesture and posture recognition.

Robot visual navigation for autonomous object handling.

Virtual reality where motion capture drives realistic avatars.

Medical diagnosis, improving ultrasound and MRI analysis through continuous frame tracking.

Image recognition applications are divided into three major areas:

Military and criminal investigation (target reconnaissance, automatic fire control, forensic image analysis).

Biomedical (automated pathology image analysis for disease detection and early screening).

Machine vision (3D image understanding for biometrics, scene, object, and video recognition across security, medical, and daily life).

Core computer‑vision technologies powering the unmanned store include full‑scene 3D reconstruction, multi‑camera pedestrian tracking, ReID algorithms, and high‑precision facial recognition with over 99.99% accuracy and robust liveness detection.

Accurate customer flow statistics enable three major benefits:

Guiding store development through precise foot‑traffic analysis and strategic planning.

Analyzing shopping behavior (new vs. returning customers, dwell time) to inform marketing and layout decisions.

Real‑time trajectory and attribute analysis for personalized recommendations and inventory optimization.

Industry‑specific solutions include smart fitting rooms, intelligent guides, and scenario planning for apparel; temperature‑checking facial gates, smart inspection, and membership services for pharmacy; and container‑based unmanned stores deployable via 5G for rapid rollout.

Future outlook: The next decade will be the “decade of scenario retail,” and SuNing aims to share its fourth‑generation fully digital visual unmanned store technology with the industry to accelerate smart retail transformation.