Intel, WaitTime and Cisco are delivering artificial intelligence (AI) to provide real-time capacity, crowd density and shopper experience insights to Mall of America in Minnesota.

Using the data, Mall of America can make informed business decisions and improve shopper experiences, while maintaining the privacy of individual visitors.

Mall of America is the largest shopping and entertainment complex in North America with more than 520 retail stores and restaurants; Nickelodeon Universe, the nation’s largest indoor theme park; Sea Life Minnesota Aquarium; FlyOver America; Crayola Experience; and more. The mall opened in 1992 and is in Bloomington, Minnesota, minutes from downtown Minneapolis and St Paul and next to the MSP International Airport.

“With the help of WaitTime, Intel and Cisco, we can remove the guesswork about how and where shoppers are spending their time and make real changes to improve the shopping experience,” said Aaron Nielsen, vice president at Mall of America. “The insights gained are invaluable, especially when we connect the dots to wifi and directory usage.”

Michigan-based WaitTime produces patented technology that is used by entertainment venues around the world for crowd intelligence and crowd management. Mall of America became the first retail venue to leverage the technology when Covid-19 made clear the value of accurately understanding when, where and how many shoppers were enjoying the vast complex, while maintaining the privacy of individual visitors.

At Mall of America, WaitTime is enabled by Cisco UCS servers optimised for Intel Xeon scalable processors with built-in AI accelerators. This will provide Mall of America with actionable information regarding the number of shoppers entering and exiting the mall plus where people are spending their time.

Nielsen added: “As we have started to see the data, we have seen a few things that surprised us, and since WaitTime has an API, we can tie the information we’re getting from them into our existing data around wifi and directory usage and see a more holistic picture.”

WaitTime uses artificial intelligence to count the number of people precisely in a given area and determine whether they are congregating or passing through. It also provides detailed analytics that operators can use to provide better shopper experiences.

“Mall of America has such a strong vision for the future of retail, and WaitTime is one exciting part of that vision that will allow them for the first time to truly understand how people enter and flow through the complex,” said Zachary Klima, CEO of WaitTime. “With our technology, they will have access to information they have never had before, providing the opportunity to make data-informed decisions that will lead to enhanced shopping experiences.”

Rose Schooler, corporate vice president at Intel, added: “WaitTime’s real-time, AI-based crowd management enables the Mall of America to make informed business decisions on how and where people spend their time shopping. Fuelled by Intel Xeon scalable processors with built-in AI acceleration, in combination with analytics and Cisco Meraki technologies, Intel Xeon scalable processors maintain the real-time bandwidth requirements of WaitTime’s AI algorithm, reducing costs and complexities.”

Looking to the future, WaitTime, Intel and Cisco plan a continued collaboration, aiming to scale the retail technology to malls across the USA, as well as sports arenas and other venues where crowd insights are key to improving business outcomes.