SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF CONTROLLING THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRODUCTS IN RETAIL SHOPPING FACILITIES

1 . A retail store inventory management system, comprising:

a point of sales system comprising multiple point of sale devices at a retail store and configured to track sales of products purchased at the retail store;

a plurality of sensor systems distributed throughout the retail store; and

an inventory control circuit communicatively coupled with the point of sales system, the plurality of sensor systems, and memory storing code executed by the inventory control circuit, wherein the inventory control circuit is configured to:

receive, based on sensor data from a set of at least one sensor of the plurality of sensors, customer monitoring data representative of locations of customers within the retail store as the customers move through the retail store;

identify, from an aggregate of the customer monitoring data corresponding to a plurality of different customers passing through a first area within a first customer travel area, that a threshold number of the plurality of different customers had a dwell time in the first area of at least a threshold dwell time;

identify a first set of at least one product positioned adjacent the first area;

evaluate correlated sales data of each product of the first set of at least one product and identify that a sales trend over time, relative to the sales data of a first product of the first set of at least one product, has a predefined relationship with at least a first trend threshold corresponding to the first product; and

identify a first action to be performed relative to the first product as a function of the sales trend relative to the sales data of the first product.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensor systems comprise a plurality of cameras distributed through the retail store and each oriented to capture image data of an area of at least one customer travel area of multiple customer travel areas on a sales floor wherein each of the multiple customer travel areas are proximate multiple different products offered for sale at the retail store; and

a product database comprising product identifiers for each of the multiple different products and corresponding locations on the sales floor;

wherein the inventory control system is configured to receive the image data and is communicatively coupled with the product database and in identifying the first set of at least the one product configured to identify the first set of at least one product based on a threshold distance relationship between a location within the retail store of the first area and location data of products defined with the product database.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the inventory control circuit is configured to cause repositioning of multiple items of the first product that are located at a first location of a product support device to a different second location on the product support device when the sales trend has the predefined relationship with the first trend threshold.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the inventory control circuit is configured to:

evaluate inventory management data and identify a previous task associated with the first product that was indicated as being performed;

determine, based on the sales trend having the predefined relationship with the first trend threshold, that the previous task associated with the first product was not performed; and

cause the previous task to be performed.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the inventory control circuit is configured to direct, as the first action, a worker to audit a quantity of the first product adjacent the first area to confirm that the previous task was not performed.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the inventory control circuit is configured to direct, as the first action, an evaluation of competitors relative to the first product.

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the inventory control circuit is configured to identify when pricing of the first product by the at least one competitor is a threshold difference from a pricing of the first product at the retail store, and to cause a change in pricing of the first product at the retail store.

8 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the inventory control circuit, in identifying that the sales trend has the predefined relationship with at least the first trend threshold, is configured to identify that a quantity of sales of the first product has changed by at least the first trend threshold from a predicted sales quantity.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the inventory control system in identifying the first sales trend is configured to compare sales of the first product retrieved by customers adjacent the first area to sales of the first product retrieved by customers at a different location within the retail store.

10 . A method of managing inventory at a retail store, comprising:

by an inventory control circuit:

identifying, from an aggregate of customer monitoring data corresponding to a plurality of different customers passing through a first area within a first customer travel area, that a threshold number of the plurality of different customers have a dwell time in the first area of at least a threshold dwell time;

identifying a first set of at least one product positioned adjacent the first area;

evaluating correlated sales data of each of the first set of at least one product;

identifying a sales trend over time, relative to the sales data of a first product of the first set of at least one product, having a predefined relationship with at least a first trend threshold corresponding to the first product; and

identifying a first action to be performed relative to the first product as a function of the sales trend relative to the sales data of the first product.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving image data from a plurality of cameras distributed through the retail store and each oriented to capture image data of an area of at least one customer travel area of multiple customer travel areas on a sales floor wherein each of the multiple customer travel areas are proximate multiple different products offered for sale at the retail store; and

wherein the identifying the first set of at least one product comprises identifying the first set of at least one product based on a threshold distance relationship between a location within the retail store of the first area and location data of products defined with the product database.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the identifying the first action to be performed comprises identifying that the first product is to be moved; and

causing repositioning of multiple items of the first product that are located at a first location of a product support device to a different second location on the product support device when the sales trend has the predefined relationship with the first trend threshold.

13 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

evaluating inventory management data and identifying a previous task associated with the first product that was indicated as being performed;

determining, based on the sales trend having the predefined relationship with the first trend threshold, that the previous task associated with the first product was not performed; and

causing the previous task to be performed.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

directing, as the first action, a worker to audit a quantity of the first product adjacent the first area to confirm that the previous task was not performed.

15 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

directing, as the first action, an evaluation of competitors relative to the first product.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein directing the evaluation of the at least one competitor comprises identifying when pricing of the first product by the at least one competitor is a threshold difference from a pricing of the first product at the retail store; and

causing a change in pricing of the first product at the retail store.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the determining that the sales trend has the predefined relationship with at least the first trend threshold comprises identifying that a quantity of sales of the first product has changed by at least the first trend threshold from a predicted sales quantity.

18 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the identifying the first sales trend comprises comparing sales of the first product retrieved by customers adjacent the first area to sales of the first product retrieved by customers at a different location within the retail store.