Facial recognition technology can't make the paparazzi materialise when you arrive at your favourite shop - but it does mean the assistant on the door knows your first name... Get the message
Facial recognition software can also be useful to identify a customer's age and sex, even if it can't identify a specific individual.
For example, Chicago-based food manufacturer Mondelez International is reportedly working on "smart shelves", which can show messages targeted at specific demographics when people look at the goods on display.
If the system identifies a teenage girl picking up a diet soft drink, it could then display a message that the drink only contains one calorie, while for a middle-aged man it could offer a discount voucher in the form of a QR code.
Tesco is planning to use similar technology in its petrol stations.
So is this type of sex and age recognition effective?
"There is anecdotal evidence that the results can be quite extraordinary," says Tony Stockil, chief executive of retail strategy consultancy Javelin Group.
As an example he cites a campaign in Germany, where a retailer in a train station targeted messages at males of a certain age group, reminding them that the next day was Valentine's Day. This resulted in a high proportion of them buying last-minute gifts.
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