Customer Counting Device -4 WC Blog 708
Door Counting Sensor-4
Expand Your Business By Using A Door Counting Sensor
By using a customer counting device in the college library where I work we were able to use data we pulled to make a justification for purchasing new library chairs. In our building we have well over 300 students using the facility from about 10am until around midnight. During those “non-peak” hours we are still serving over 100 people. Even into the wee hours of the morning we will have 10 – 30 students before we hit finals week. At finals week we will go over 500 students in our library and stay around 100 all night. It is amazing how busy we stay as a library. For administration who may not understand what we mean when we say we are “busy” having hard numbers makes a difference. How you get those hard numbers can’t be a guessing game and our library has a dual method of collecting this data. First we have an employee that hourly walks the library and does a count with an iPad. The second method is a door counting sensor we have set up in three locations.
Understanding that there are some owners and managers who may not be all that familiar with what a customer counting device is I want to spend a little time talking about them. There are a variety of styles and models a manager can choose from in selecting a door counting sensor. There are free-standing counters, some that are some tied into video cameras but the one I would recommend is the one offered by Sensormatic. Stores already operating a Sensormatic electronic article surveillance system may have the towers that can have a sensor installed. The device can be integrated in many existing towers providing not only the security of retail theft prevention but also the accurate counts of the number of people entering and exiting your store. I like the double duty that this configuration provides for the business. You reduce shortage through theft reduction by using a Sensormatic system and in the process put money back to the profit line. The counting part gives you data that you can use to make your company even more profitable (I’ll explain shortly). The point I would like people to understand is that this is a much more efficient system than looking for any other solution to tracking store customer foot traffic.
I mentioned that our library used the data we have accumulated to upgrade and improve seating in our library. Of course we have to get buy-in from college administration for the expenditure of money and the numbers we provided were a critical piece of this effort. Store owners don’t necessarily have someone else to answer to for improvements but before money is spent there should be some justification for it. Let’s say you are considering a store expansion. It would only be reasonable to want to know if there is enough patronage for it to make sense. If the vision is, “build it and they will come” you might want to rethink your strategy. Hoping people will flock in and buy only because you add square footage is crazy. Now, if you have a customer counting device and can see that the patronage justifies that expansion then you have a solid reason to grow.
I would also mention that you might use a door counting sensor and find out that you have a LOT of people coming into the store but the numbers are not reflected in the sales receipts for the day. Now you have some digging to do to see if there is a reason people are compelled to walk into your store but then leave empty handed. Maybe you need to look at freshening up store displays or perhaps you have empty shelves that are not being filled. Customers won’t always ask for something if a shelf is empty, often they just walk out. Maybe you need to revisit the customer service provided by your employees. It may be they don’t know what great service really means.
You may not be adding chairs to a library but you are building a business and a customer counting device can give a lot of insight into how successful your store is. It may also help in identifying areas of opportunity for improvement. A door counting sensor will help improve your business, count on it!
Need information on a customer counting device? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
By using a customer counting device in the college library where I work we were able to use data we pulled to make a justification for purchasing new library chairs. In our building we have well over 300 students using the facility from about 10am until around midnight. During those “non-peak” hours we are still serving over 100 people. Even into the wee hours of the morning we will have 10 – 30 students before we hit finals week. At finals week we will go over 500 students in our library and stay around 100 all night. It is amazing how busy we stay as a library. For administration who may not understand what we mean when we say we are “busy” having hard numbers makes a difference. How you get those hard numbers can’t be a guessing game and our library has a dual method of collecting this data. First we have an employee that hourly walks the library and does a count with an iPad. The second method is a door counting sensor we have set up in three locations.
Understanding that there are some owners and managers who may not be all that familiar with what a customer counting device is I want to spend a little time talking about them. There are a variety of styles and models a manager can choose from in selecting a door counting sensor. There are free-standing counters, some that are some tied into video cameras but the one I would recommend is the one offered by Sensormatic. Stores already operating a Sensormatic electronic article surveillance system may have the towers that can have a sensor installed. The device can be integrated in many existing towers providing not only the security of retail theft prevention but also the accurate counts of the number of people entering and exiting your store. I like the double duty that this configuration provides for the business. You reduce shortage through theft reduction by using a Sensormatic system and in the process put money back to the profit line. The counting part gives you data that you can use to make your company even more profitable (I’ll explain shortly). The point I would like people to understand is that this is a much more efficient system than looking for any other solution to tracking store customer foot traffic.
I mentioned that our library used the data we have accumulated to upgrade and improve seating in our library. Of course we have to get buy-in from college administration for the expenditure of money and the numbers we provided were a critical piece of this effort. Store owners don’t necessarily have someone else to answer to for improvements but before money is spent there should be some justification for it. Let’s say you are considering a store expansion. It would only be reasonable to want to know if there is enough patronage for it to make sense. If the vision is, “build it and they will come” you might want to rethink your strategy. Hoping people will flock in and buy only because you add square footage is crazy. Now, if you have a customer counting device and can see that the patronage justifies that expansion then you have a solid reason to grow.
I would also mention that you might use a door counting sensor and find out that you have a LOT of people coming into the store but the numbers are not reflected in the sales receipts for the day. Now you have some digging to do to see if there is a reason people are compelled to walk into your store but then leave empty handed. Maybe you need to look at freshening up store displays or perhaps you have empty shelves that are not being filled. Customers won’t always ask for something if a shelf is empty, often they just walk out. Maybe you need to revisit the customer service provided by your employees. It may be they don’t know what great service really means.
You may not be adding chairs to a library but you are building a business and a customer counting device can give a lot of insight into how successful your store is. It may also help in identifying areas of opportunity for improvement. A door counting sensor will help improve your business, count on it!
Need information on a customer counting device? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
