Every digital business runs on an operating system. A platform that connects data, logic, and action. For years, the physical store, one of retail’s biggest assets, had none. Decisions relied on gut feeling, spreadsheets, and scattered data. But that’s changing. A new layer is emerging: an Operating System for the Physical Store. A system that transforms camera feeds and behavioral signals into continuous insight, guiding how stores attract, serve, and flow. We call it Storal

Online retailers know their numbers by heart: conversion rate, time on page, cart abandonment. Ask a physical store manager for the same metrics, and you’ll often get a shrug. But that’s changing fast. Thanks to in-store intelligence, the physical store is finally catching up with the digital one.

When retailers hear AI and cameras in the same sentence, the first reaction is often the same: “That’s not legal.” But here’s the truth: it actually is, if done right. Modern AI in retail doesn’t have to watch people. It can understand spaces.

In retail, every second counts. Literally. Because time spent = money earned (or missed). Retailers have long measured who enters their stores. But few measure how long those visitors actually stay. Or what that time means for revenue. And yet, in the language of behavior analytics, dwell time is the currency of attention.

For years, retailers have accepted that what happens inside their stores is largely invisible. They can count how many people walk in. They can see how much revenue comes out. But everything that happens in between — the browsing, hesitation, engagement, or distraction — remains a black box. That’s where in-store intelligence comes in...