Retail Traffic Counting-3 WC Blog 488
People Counting Systems-5
People Counting Systems Aid In Business Planning
People counting systems should be playing a part in your plans for strategizing to improve sales. It may not seem like a big deal on the surface but knowing how many people are in your store and the times of the day they are there can go a long way in improving the sales of your business. Let me give you an example of a recent incident which my wife experienced at a major retailer and it made her extremely angry. Since I bore the brunt of her anger it made me angry as well. My wife had gone to this store for a special sale they were having. She picked out her merchandise and got some very good deals that would have saved us a LOT of money. She got into this store’s self-checkout line and was waiting patiently. After being in line for a few minutes the store shut the self-checkouts down and forced patrons to go to a single cashier. My wife told me there was a long line of customers queued up at this single register. When she finally got to the register to make her purchase she was told the sale prices were no longer in effect because it was now past midnight. She reminded them that it was not her fault that they closed down the self-check while she was in line. The front end manager told my wife there was nothing she could do, it was a corporate decision (don’t get me started on my rant about what I think of the “we can’t help it, it is a corporate decision” excuses). This incident could have been avoided if the store had knowledge of how many people were in the building (and used some common sense before closing registers down since they operate on a 24/7 basis). Retail traffic counting has more uses than simply providing managers information on how popular their store is…or isn’t. My wife put the items back. An email from me did result in a sincere apology from the front end manager and they honored the prices from the sale.
A people counting system is a tool that is usually attached somewhere near a store entrance to count the number of patrons entering the establishment. They can be stand-alone units or for stores with an electronic article surveillance system it may be attached to the pedestals. A good retail traffic counting system will provide information on how many people have entered the store at specific hours of the day. So let’s say a store is having a special sale that ends at midnight, management could look at the foot traffic for the past several hours. Prior to hitting midnight they can get an idea of how many people are in the building before they close registers down and anger their customers (hint, hint). A better system will also provide information about electronic article surveillance alarms and employee responses. This information can be used to look for potential patterns that may indicate theft is taking place at certain times of the day. As a former Retail Loss Prevention Manager I can also say that stores that utilize a digital video surveillance system can easily review this alarm activity from the people counting systems to the cameras. Digital camera systems make it easy to review activity by time of day.
While I am taking a poke at the store that inconvenienced my wife the fact is retail traffic counting can be helpful to retailers who use the information to improve sales. If a store runs a special ad it is important to know how many people visited. Did the number of transactions match the traffic counted? If not, why? Did the store run out of product? Did the sales floor not get replenished from the stockroom? Were there an inadequate number of registers open to serve everyone? As a positive statistic can you compare an increase in the amount of customers that visited on the special sale day over any other day? If there is an increase in customers and sales, what can you do to build on that momentum? People counting systems become a key component in your business planning.
Shoppers will come to your store but you may not always know how many or what brought them in. Using people counting systems will aid you in comparing your traffic by day and even seasons. Have a sale and see if customer traffic increases. Is one day regularly slower than the others? Try to drive sales that day or determine if you can save some payroll by adjusting your staffing to better serve customers during the times they are in the building. Make your business more prosperous by knowing your shopper’s habits.
For more information about people counting systems contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
People counting systems should be playing a part in your plans for strategizing to improve sales. It may not seem like a big deal on the surface but knowing how many people are in your store and the times of the day they are there can go a long way in improving the sales of your business. Let me give you an example of a recent incident which my wife experienced at a major retailer and it made her extremely angry. Since I bore the brunt of her anger it made me angry as well. My wife had gone to this store for a special sale they were having. She picked out her merchandise and got some very good deals that would have saved us a LOT of money. She got into this store’s self-checkout line and was waiting patiently. After being in line for a few minutes the store shut the self-checkouts down and forced patrons to go to a single cashier. My wife told me there was a long line of customers queued up at this single register. When she finally got to the register to make her purchase she was told the sale prices were no longer in effect because it was now past midnight. She reminded them that it was not her fault that they closed down the self-check while she was in line. The front end manager told my wife there was nothing she could do, it was a corporate decision (don’t get me started on my rant about what I think of the “we can’t help it, it is a corporate decision” excuses). This incident could have been avoided if the store had knowledge of how many people were in the building (and used some common sense before closing registers down since they operate on a 24/7 basis). Retail traffic counting has more uses than simply providing managers information on how popular their store is…or isn’t. My wife put the items back. An email from me did result in a sincere apology from the front end manager and they honored the prices from the sale.
A people counting system is a tool that is usually attached somewhere near a store entrance to count the number of patrons entering the establishment. They can be stand-alone units or for stores with an electronic article surveillance system it may be attached to the pedestals. A good retail traffic counting system will provide information on how many people have entered the store at specific hours of the day. So let’s say a store is having a special sale that ends at midnight, management could look at the foot traffic for the past several hours. Prior to hitting midnight they can get an idea of how many people are in the building before they close registers down and anger their customers (hint, hint). A better system will also provide information about electronic article surveillance alarms and employee responses. This information can be used to look for potential patterns that may indicate theft is taking place at certain times of the day. As a former Retail Loss Prevention Manager I can also say that stores that utilize a digital video surveillance system can easily review this alarm activity from the people counting systems to the cameras. Digital camera systems make it easy to review activity by time of day.
While I am taking a poke at the store that inconvenienced my wife the fact is retail traffic counting can be helpful to retailers who use the information to improve sales. If a store runs a special ad it is important to know how many people visited. Did the number of transactions match the traffic counted? If not, why? Did the store run out of product? Did the sales floor not get replenished from the stockroom? Were there an inadequate number of registers open to serve everyone? As a positive statistic can you compare an increase in the amount of customers that visited on the special sale day over any other day? If there is an increase in customers and sales, what can you do to build on that momentum? People counting systems become a key component in your business planning.
Shoppers will come to your store but you may not always know how many or what brought them in. Using people counting systems will aid you in comparing your traffic by day and even seasons. Have a sale and see if customer traffic increases. Is one day regularly slower than the others? Try to drive sales that day or determine if you can save some payroll by adjusting your staffing to better serve customers during the times they are in the building. Make your business more prosperous by knowing your shopper’s habits.
For more information about people counting systems contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
