Retail traffic counting -3 wc blog 673
Customer Counting Device-4
Effective Payroll Management With The Help Of A Customer Counting Device
Retail traffic counting is important when store managers are trying to maintain profitable stores. It is no easy task to balance payroll, staffing and how many and when to schedule employees to work. Do you assign a person to cashier AND work the salesfloor? Do you assign one person to the salesfloor and merchandise stocking? What time of the day should you have an extra person come in to work? Is it easiest to simply make a schedule that is recycled every week except during holidays, such as during a Black Friday event? You can choose the easy way and just make a set schedule but you are probably doing yourself a disservice in the long run. A cut and paste schedule does not take into account when customers are in the store shopping. If foot traffic is heaviest at specific times of the day and specific days of the week your system of scheduling employees may not be serving the needs of the customers OR the financial interests of the business.
Store sales can be increased through improved scheduling and that doesn’t mean just throwing more dollars at the payroll dart board hoping to hit a bullseye. In order to have a more effective payroll management strategy a customer counting device installed in an electronic article surveillance tower is a must. The Integrated EAS Traffic Counter from Sensormatic can be installed in compatable Sensormatic pedestals allowing merchants to continue to reap the benefits of merchandise protection while tracking customers as they enter and leave the store. Data obtained from a retail counting device can include the time of day and the day of the week of activity taking place. Think about the implications that can have for your sales and how you staff your store. Knowledge is power so the saying goes and knowing your customer shopping trends is power!
For those who may not see the correlation between the customer counting device and payroll allocation think about the reporting tools you will have available. You can see the times customers are in your store and it takes the guessing out of the equation. If shoppers tend to come in to your establishment at noon and then again around 6:00pm those will be the times you want to have the most salesfloor coverage and cashiers available. It is going to drive your sales if you have employees available to assist your customers. Not only will they help the customers find what they need but it provides the opportunity for suggestive selling. As a side note, if you are not training your staff on this skill you need to make it a focus but that is a topic for another discussion. The addition of cashiers when foot traffic is highest will help speed up the checkout process which will increase customer satisfaction and ultimately customer loyalty.
You can also use the numbers generated from a customer counting device to plan for other work projects. You don’t want to stock merchandise or set new planograms and displays when most of your customers are shopping. Customers must always be the priority for your business. Using the information from a retail traffic counting system you can strategize when it will be best to get tasks completed. You may choose to have stockers in the store from 8am-11am and transition to a client oriented service from 11am until your next slow period. You may also determine that Saturdays are better for project completions than a Monday or Tuesday. All of these factors can play a part in improving payroll allocation.
Retail traffic counting can help improve scheduling effectiveness and in turn increase income for stores. If your business doesn’t have a Sensormatic security system, invest in one and get it with the customer counting device included. You’ll improve profits through increased sales AND decreased theft.
Retail traffic counting is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
Retail traffic counting is important when store managers are trying to maintain profitable stores. It is no easy task to balance payroll, staffing and how many and when to schedule employees to work. Do you assign a person to cashier AND work the salesfloor? Do you assign one person to the salesfloor and merchandise stocking? What time of the day should you have an extra person come in to work? Is it easiest to simply make a schedule that is recycled every week except during holidays, such as during a Black Friday event? You can choose the easy way and just make a set schedule but you are probably doing yourself a disservice in the long run. A cut and paste schedule does not take into account when customers are in the store shopping. If foot traffic is heaviest at specific times of the day and specific days of the week your system of scheduling employees may not be serving the needs of the customers OR the financial interests of the business.
Store sales can be increased through improved scheduling and that doesn’t mean just throwing more dollars at the payroll dart board hoping to hit a bullseye. In order to have a more effective payroll management strategy a customer counting device installed in an electronic article surveillance tower is a must. The Integrated EAS Traffic Counter from Sensormatic can be installed in compatable Sensormatic pedestals allowing merchants to continue to reap the benefits of merchandise protection while tracking customers as they enter and leave the store. Data obtained from a retail counting device can include the time of day and the day of the week of activity taking place. Think about the implications that can have for your sales and how you staff your store. Knowledge is power so the saying goes and knowing your customer shopping trends is power!
For those who may not see the correlation between the customer counting device and payroll allocation think about the reporting tools you will have available. You can see the times customers are in your store and it takes the guessing out of the equation. If shoppers tend to come in to your establishment at noon and then again around 6:00pm those will be the times you want to have the most salesfloor coverage and cashiers available. It is going to drive your sales if you have employees available to assist your customers. Not only will they help the customers find what they need but it provides the opportunity for suggestive selling. As a side note, if you are not training your staff on this skill you need to make it a focus but that is a topic for another discussion. The addition of cashiers when foot traffic is highest will help speed up the checkout process which will increase customer satisfaction and ultimately customer loyalty.
You can also use the numbers generated from a customer counting device to plan for other work projects. You don’t want to stock merchandise or set new planograms and displays when most of your customers are shopping. Customers must always be the priority for your business. Using the information from a retail traffic counting system you can strategize when it will be best to get tasks completed. You may choose to have stockers in the store from 8am-11am and transition to a client oriented service from 11am until your next slow period. You may also determine that Saturdays are better for project completions than a Monday or Tuesday. All of these factors can play a part in improving payroll allocation.
Retail traffic counting can help improve scheduling effectiveness and in turn increase income for stores. If your business doesn’t have a Sensormatic security system, invest in one and get it with the customer counting device included. You’ll improve profits through increased sales AND decreased theft.
Retail traffic counting is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
People Counting Systems-4 WC Blog 537
Customer Counting Device-5
People Counting Systems Can Help Safety Results
People counting systems assist stores in delivering improved sales results but there is another application that may be overlooked and can improve store safety and impact profitability. There can be areas in a store that may not receive as much foot traffic as other areas of a building. I harken back to my days as a Manager On Duty. I would walk the store checking on endcaps, merchandise presentation, full shelves, etc. My walks would include the entire store but it was evident from the presentation of merchandise in a few sections that not many customers walked by these areas. This would also indicate to me that there probably were not too many managers walking through those areas either. If an area is out of sight it is out of mind and so if there happen to be any safety issues in that department they could easily be overlooked by employees. A customer counting device can be set up in areas that seem to be off the beaten path in order to determine what the actual traffic counts are for that area of the store.
It is appropriate at this point to talk about what people counting systems are and how they work. Counting systems measure the number of people who pass by a device. Often the devices are attached to an entrance door. The data from a Checkpoint Visiplus System includes day and hourly information that owners and supervisors can use to help manage the business. Visiplus can also be attached to a Checkpoint tower and benefit stores in evaluating electronic article system alarms and responses. In these stores the customer counting device is helping to measure data that is useful in increasing sales as well as data that can help reduce shortage. If there is a need for it a device can be set up in a location within a store to track customer traffic. This is where a unit may be helpful in locating potential points where safety could be a concern for owners and managers.
When I was a Loss Prevention Manager I had several incidents of purse snatchings take place in my store. The customer left a purse or tote bag in a shopping cart and walked several feet away. The perpetrator would see the exposed bag and walk by, pick up the purse and walk away. Often the incidents took place in areas of the store where there was less patron activity. This meant there was minimal risk that a witness would be in the area who would see the crime take place. Knowing where these low activity areas were by analyzing the information from a customer counting device might have been useful. We could have alerted our other managers that this was an area they should frequent during the shift. An alternative would have been to send employees to walk through known low traffic areas as a deterrent to potential crime.
Another way the customer counting device can improve safety is that by identifying those low traffic areas your team may do more walk-throughs and find a safety concern that could be overlooked. The safety issues I am thinking of are spills that are not cleaned up leading to slip and fall accidents. They are broken floor tile or carpet that is in poor condition that could pose trip hazards. All it takes is for one customer to have an accident because something is not done to correct a safety problem and you are shelling out big money for a claim.
You should also note that if you can identify low traffic areas by using people counting systems you can try to find ways to direct more customer flow in that direction. It could be the use of signing to direct shoppers to a new display in those areas. Maybe moving popular categories of merchandise to those locations is a means to entice customers in that direction. Knowing what the actual patron foot print is in those areas means you can proactively address the issue of slow turnover merchandise.
Loss Prevention Systems Inc. recognizes the importance of store safety to the bottom line of retail businesses. They can help reduce risk in your establishment and improve sales with the purchase of a customer counting device. Install people counting systems and plan for decreased safety issues and increased profits.
For more information about people counting systems contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
People counting systems assist stores in delivering improved sales results but there is another application that may be overlooked and can improve store safety and impact profitability. There can be areas in a store that may not receive as much foot traffic as other areas of a building. I harken back to my days as a Manager On Duty. I would walk the store checking on endcaps, merchandise presentation, full shelves, etc. My walks would include the entire store but it was evident from the presentation of merchandise in a few sections that not many customers walked by these areas. This would also indicate to me that there probably were not too many managers walking through those areas either. If an area is out of sight it is out of mind and so if there happen to be any safety issues in that department they could easily be overlooked by employees. A customer counting device can be set up in areas that seem to be off the beaten path in order to determine what the actual traffic counts are for that area of the store.
It is appropriate at this point to talk about what people counting systems are and how they work. Counting systems measure the number of people who pass by a device. Often the devices are attached to an entrance door. The data from a people counter includes day and hourly information that owners and supervisors can use to help manage the business. Visiplus can also be attached to an EAS tower and benefit stores in evaluating electronic article system alarms and responses. In these stores the customer counting device is helping to measure data that is useful in increasing sales as well as data that can help reduce shortage. If there is a need for it a device can be set up in a location within a store to track customer traffic. This is where a unit may be helpful in locating potential points where safety could be a concern for owners and managers.
When I was a Loss Prevention Manager I had several incidents of purse snatchings take place in my store. The customer left a purse or tote bag in a shopping cart and walked several feet away. The perpetrator would see the exposed bag and walk by, pick up the purse and walk away. Often the incidents took place in areas of the store where there was less patron activity. This meant there was minimal risk that a witness would be in the area who would see the crime take place. Knowing where these low activity areas were by analyzing the information from a customer counting device might have been useful. We could have alerted our other managers that this was an area they should frequent during the shift. An alternative would have been to send employees to walk through known low traffic areas as a deterrent to potential crime.
Another way the customer counting device can improve safety is that by identifying those low traffic areas your team may do more walk-throughs and find a safety concern that could be overlooked. The safety issues I am thinking of are spills that are not cleaned up leading to slip and fall accidents. They are broken floor tile or carpet that is in poor condition that could pose trip hazards. All it takes is for one customer to have an accident because something is not done to correct a safety problem and you are shelling out big money for a claim.
You should also note that if you can identify low traffic areas by using people counting systems you can try to find ways to direct more customer flow in that direction. It could be the use of signing to direct shoppers to a new display in those areas. Maybe moving popular categories of merchandise to those locations is a means to entice customers in that direction. Knowing what the actual patron foot print is in those areas means you can proactively address the issue of slow turnover merchandise.
Loss Prevention Systems Inc. recognizes the importance of store safety to the bottom line of retail businesses. They can help reduce risk in your establishment and improve sales with the purchase of a customer counting device. Install people counting systems and plan for decreased safety issues and increased profits
.For more information about people counting systems, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
Customer Counting Systems-5 WC Blog 286
People Counting Systems-4
Door Counting Sensor-3
Set New And Profitable Goals For Your Store By Using People Counting Systems
I think back to 1990 when I first started working in retail as a Loss Prevention Associate. It was here that I learned not only about the ins and outs of merchandise theft, I started learning about store operations as well. I learned that the corporate office gave sales goals for the day and that the store managers based a successful day on meeting or exceeding those goals. As I progressed in my career with other companies I became a Loss Prevention Manager, then a Loss Prevention Manager with Manager On Duty Responsibilities followed by a stint as a Logistics Manager. I still work in retail after 26 years. One thing I have learned is that every company I work for bases successful days on meeting and exceeding sales goals. Fair enough. You have to have goals in order to know where you want to go otherwise a company stagnates or worse yet wanders aimlessly since they have nothing to shoot for except a non-specific goal of “To Be Successful”. But then what does that look like? I have been rethinking sales goals recently especially as the company I work for has focused some store measurements on patron “conversion” rates and also as I have investigated People Counting Systems.
People counting systems or customer counting systems as they are sometimes referred to, use a door counting sensor to track how many people enter and exit a business or building during the day. Reporting data from these customer counting systems can provide managers with data showing how many people entered and exited by the hour of the day. Stores that have measures in place to stop shoplifting and reduce merchandise shrinkage with a Checkpoint Security System can have a Visiplus customer counting device attached to the Checkpoint electronic article surveillance (EAS) antennas. Using the Smart Alarm Management tool, those stores can monitor EAS alarm activity and compare the information to door counting sensor numbers to better manage EAS activity levels.
Here is where my recent thinking has been taking me. We get excited over meeting a sales goal, usually a number based on historical sales information like the prior year sales for that same day. Adjustments may be made based on an overall picture of how the economy is performing or whether an event the prior year may have impacted sales. An example of this would be a store that had to close due to a hurricane evacuation the prior year is not going to have a sales goal based off of last year’s sales data. If a store has a daily sales goal of $10,000 and makes $11,000 the management team is going to be pleased and that would properly be something to be happy about. But let me toss out a new idea. What if the stores used people counting systems and found that they had 400 customers enter the store during the day and only had 300 transactions. What in the world happened to those other 100 customers? What could have been done to get those 100 people to purchase something before leaving the store? Without using customer counting systems you would never know you missed selling opportunities to another 100 customers.
All your information is from sales transactions and yes, you beat your sales goal by $1,000 but could you have beaten it by $1,100 or more? By using a door counting sensor you could set new goals, you had 400 customers in your store last Wednesday, how will you attract 410 THIS Wednesday. You missed 100 potential sales last Wednesday, what will you do differently to try to help more customers find what they need or can use while in the store? Can you entice your customers to make an impulse purchase with a cool display of food or drinks at the font of the store? Maybe the new goals you set for your store are dollar related AND customer driven.
It is one thing to aim for increased sales dollars it’s another thing to find ways to draw in more customers. If you can attract those customers then your goal is to get them to buy and that is a challenge but one that is necessary if you want your business to grow. The only way to know how many customers are visiting your store is by using customer counting systems. Invest in people counting systems today and see a whole new set of goals to achieve and with it, more growth and profit.
Get more information on People Counting Systems, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
I think back to 1990 when I first started working in retail as a Loss Prevention Associate. It was here that I learned not only about the ins and outs of merchandise theft, I started learning about store operations as well. I learned that the corporate office gave sales goals for the day and that the store managers based a successful day on meeting or exceeding those goals. As I progressed in my career with other companies I became a Loss Prevention Manager, then a Loss Prevention Manager with Manager On Duty Responsibilities followed by a stint as a Logistics Manager. I still work in retail after 26 years. One thing I have learned is that every company I work for bases successful days on meeting and exceeding sales goals. Fair enough. You have to have goals in order to know where you want to go otherwise a company stagnates or worse yet wanders aimlessly since they have nothing to shoot for except a non-specific goal of “To Be Successful”. But then what does that look like? I have been rethinking sales goals recently especially as the company I work for has focused some store measurements on patron “conversion” rates and also as I have investigated People Counting Systems.
People counting systems or customer counting systems as they are sometimes referred to, use a door counting sensor to track how many people enter and exit a business or building during the day. Reporting data from these customer counting systems can provide managers with data showing how many people entered and exited by the hour of the day. Stores that have measures in place to stop shoplifting and reduce merchandise shrinkage with a Checkpoint Security System can have a Visiplus customer counting device attached to the Checkpoint electronic article surveillance (EAS) antennas. Using the Smart Alarm Management tool, those stores can monitor EAS alarm activity and compare the information to door counting sensor numbers to better manage EAS activity levels.
Here is where my recent thinking has been taking me. We get excited over meeting a sales goal, usually a number based on historical sales information like the prior year sales for that same day. Adjustments may be made based on an overall picture of how the economy is performing or whether an event the prior year may have impacted sales. An example of this would be a store that had to close due to a hurricane evacuation the prior year is not going to have a sales goal based off of last year’s sales data. If a store has a daily sales goal of $10,000 and makes $11,000 the management team is going to be pleased and that would properly be something to be happy about. But let me toss out a new idea. What if the stores used people counting systems and found that they had 400 customers enter the store during the day and only had 300 transactions. What in the world happened to those other 100 customers? What could have been done to get those 100 people to purchase something before leaving the store? Without using customer counting systems you would never know you missed selling opportunities to another 100 customers.
All your information is from sales transactions and yes, you beat your sales goal by $1,000 but could you have beaten it by $1,100 or more? By using a door counting sensor you could set new goals, you had 400 customers in your store last Wednesday, how will you attract 410 THIS Wednesday. You missed 100 potential sales last Wednesday, what will you do differently to try to help more customers find what they need or can use while in the store? Can you entice your customers to make an impulse purchase with a cool display of food or drinks at the font of the store? Maybe the new goals you set for your store are dollar related AND customer driven.
It is one thing to aim for increased sales dollars it’s another thing to find ways to draw in more customers. If you can attract those customers then your goal is to get them to buy and that is a challenge but one that is necessary if you want your business to grow. The only way to know how many customers are visiting your store is by using customer counting systems. Invest in people counting systems today and see a whole new set of goals to achieve and with it, more growth and profit.
Get more information on People Counting Systems, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
Retail traffic counting companies-4 WC blog 281
Door counting sensor-4
Customer counting device-3
Don’t Let Traffic Jams And Front End Slow Downs Hurt Sales; Find Out How Retail Traffic Counting Companies Can Drive Profits
Do you ever watch your morning traffic report before you go to work? Sometimes the information we get from those reports can be useful, we learn where an accident has taken place and we can find an alternate route if necessary. We may find out road construction is tying up traffic causing delays. We even get a heads up that school buses are out so expect slow- downs stops and buses pick up children. Retail traffic counting companies can provide store owners with valuable information that can be useful for improving sales and customer service issues using reporting information from a customer counting device or door counting sensor. Much like the traffic reporter it can give the information that can help ensure you take a better, more efficient route to your destination which is running a successful and profitable business.
A door counting sensor placed at the entrance(s) of a store can provide data on how many people have entered the business during the day. Reporting can provide hourly breakdowns so an owner or manager can see when the peak periods of that day were. If a store has an electronic article surveillance system the door counting sensor can be tied into it. For stores that have taken steps to prevent theft with an electronic article surveillance system, a customer counting device can report how many alarm activations took place during the day and what times those alarms happened. In a sense, retail traffic counting companies provide valuable information that can help shop owners prepare for future traffic patterns, whether it is how many people will visit the store and may need sales advice or assistance or how many people will wait in checkout lines wanting to buy merchandise. If properly prepared, a manager may have extra sales floor help or extra cashiers that may keep customers from walking out empty handed.
Think about retail counting companies like your local traffic report in this sense, if you know in advance what to expect you can better prepare for it. If the reports you receive demonstrate you have increases in customer traffic on Friday afternoons you can evaluate your staffing model and adjust it so you have more employees working during that peak time. Conversely, if Monday mornings are particularly slow, reduce the number of employees at that time of the day. Adjust payroll to fit the traffic patterns of the store. Do you ever look at snarled and backed up lines at the registers and wonder what happened? Do you ever think to yourself, “I wish I had an extra cashier right now!”? This is one of the advantages a door counting sensor can provide. You can look at past trends and make schedules that ensure you have the right people to meet customer demand.
A customer counting device does also provide reporting data on the number of electronic article surveillance alarms a store is receiving. If the store has faulty equipment a repair ticket can quickly be submitted for a repair. If excess alarms are taking place a store owner will have a more accurate picture of it than what employees are reporting. It means quicker service calls can be placed or there may be a requirement for trying to stop a shoplifting ring or individual hitting the store on a certain day. It could also help owners identify training needs for associates on how to respond to an alarm.
By using retail traffic counting companies you can prevent those ugly lines backing up at the checkout lanes. Unfortunately for you, the only detour your customers tend to make as opposed to the driver on the road is a one-way trek out your doors without a purchase. Abandoned shopping carts of merchandise that translate to lost sales can be avoided. Customers waiting for sales floor help that never arrives can be a thing of the past. No one enjoys a traffic jam and they don’t enjoy waiting to make purchases. See how much you can improve your sales and customer service performance by finding out what retail traffic counting companies can do for you.
Need information on Retail Traffic Counting Companies? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Do you ever watch your morning traffic report before you go to work? Sometimes the information we get from those reports can be useful, we learn where an accident has taken place and we can find an alternate route if necessary. We may find out road construction is tying up traffic causing delays. We even get a heads up that school buses are out so expect slow- downs stops and buses pick up children. Retail traffic counting companies can provide store owners with valuable information that can be useful for improving sales and customer service issues using reporting information from a customer counting device or door counting sensor. Much like the traffic reporter it can give the information that can help ensure you take a better, more efficient route to your destination which is running a successful and profitable business.
A door counting sensor placed at the entrance(s) of a store can provide data on how many people have entered the business during the day. Reporting can provide hourly breakdowns so an owner or manager can see when the peak periods of that day were. If a store has an electronic article surveillance system the door counting sensor can be tied into it. For stores that have taken steps to prevent theft with an electronic article surveillance system, a customer counting device can report how many alarm activations took place during the day and what times those alarms happened. In a sense, retail traffic counting companies provide valuable information that can help shop owners prepare for future traffic patterns, whether it is how many people will visit the store and may need sales advice or assistance or how many people will wait in checkout lines wanting to buy merchandise. If properly prepared, a manager may have extra sales floor help or extra cashiers that may keep customers from walking out empty handed.
Think about retail counting companies like your local traffic report in this sense, if you know in advance what to expect you can better prepare for it. If the reports you receive demonstrate you have increases in customer traffic on Friday afternoons you can evaluate your staffing model and adjust it so you have more employees working during that peak time. Conversely, if Monday mornings are particularly slow, reduce the number of employees at that time of the day. Adjust payroll to fit the traffic patterns of the store. Do you ever look at snarled and backed up lines at the registers and wonder what happened? Do you ever think to yourself, “I wish I had an extra cashier right now!”? This is one of the advantages a door counting sensor can provide. You can look at past trends and make schedules that ensure you have the right people to meet customer demand.
A customer counting device does also provide reporting data on the number of electronic article surveillance alarms a store is receiving. If the store has faulty equipment a repair ticket can quickly be submitted for a repair. If excess alarms are taking place a store owner will have a more accurate picture of it than what employees are reporting. It means quicker service calls can be placed or there may be a requirement for trying to stop a shoplifting ring or individual hitting the store on a certain day. It could also help owners identify training needs for associates on how to respond to an alarm.
By using retail traffic counting companies you can prevent those ugly lines backing up at the checkout lanes. Unfortunately for you, the only detour your customers tend to make as opposed to the driver on the road is a one-way trek out your doors without a purchase. Abandoned shopping carts of merchandise that translate to lost sales can be avoided. Customers waiting for sales floor help that never arrives can be a thing of the past. No one enjoys a traffic jam and they don’t enjoy waiting to make purchases. See how much you can improve your sales and customer service performance by finding out what retail traffic counting companies can do for you.
Need information on Retail Traffic Counting Companies? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Customer counting systems-4 WC Blog 276
Door counting sensor-3
Customer counting device-3
Customer Counting Systems Can Provide Information To Improve Staffing And Generate Additional Sales
One of the things I love about retail is the ability to help someone who knows they need something, but can only describe what they want to do, not what it is they need. OR the person who comes in with something very specific that we don’t have, but I can help them find a better alternative we DO have (especially if I can save them money in the process!). As a sales specialist, driving sales is a measure of success as well as customer satisfaction. Similarly, you can judge the success of your store by the number of people you are attracting and how many transactions that take place at the registers. But do transactions alone tell the whole story of how successful a store is? They don’t tell you the number of potentially missed sales you missed because you did not know store browsers were not converted to purchasers. Wouldn’t it be great to turn those “window shoppers” into buyers? By using a customer counting system, it is possible to find out how many people are actually in the store during the day. Subtracting the number of transactions that took place from the foot traffic a door counting sensor reports and you can get a good feel for how many more transactions might have been generated that day.
Customer counting systems today provide retailers with information from a door counting sensor that reports how many people have entered and exited a building during the day and at what times. A customer counting device can also be used to track electronic article surveillance alarms (EAS) if your store is using an EAS system with antennas and EAS tags to prevent theft. Store management can review daily reports to see how many alarm activations there were during the day and at what times. In other words, customer counting systems don’t just count people they provide useful data that can help manage the resources of a store. One other thing I should mention, as someone with nearly 20 years of Retail Loss Prevention experience, I strongly suggest ALL stores have an EAS system installed in order to significantly reduce merchandise shortage. That being said, if a store does not have an EAS system for whatever reason, customer counting systems such as Checkpoint’s Visiplus people counters can be free standing without the EAS system in place.
I know there may be some skeptics who think that all a door counting sensor is going to do is give more information to sift through daily. But I would like to show that the data from a customer counting system can benefit the store if used properly. I was working on the salesfloor a few weeks ago and had a couple come in and look around the furniture department. They came in looking for a desk our company only sold online but they did not know that. I was able to explain this and offered an alternative desk that was on sale and would meet their needs. After spending time with the couple, listening to their needs and finding out they would be adding another desk later, I found another desk that would be on sale the next day (when our new ad started). I also showed them some chairs and they decided they could use one with the new home office arrangement. The total purchase for this couple was around $1,100.
Had I not greeted and spent time with them, this couple would have left the store empty handed, we did not have the desk on hand they thought they wanted to look at. Our store uses a customer counting device and we would do track customer transactions versus door counts. This would have been a case of two more people visiting our store and one less transaction. If a store manager only looks at daily transactions, there is no gauge to determine if opportunities are being missed. Customer counting systems can give breakdowns of foot traffic by time of day and if this information is used correctly, a manager can plan extra staffing based on prior history and reduced staffing for hours when there are fewer people visiting. Those extra employees may make the difference between a customer walking in and out and a customer discovering something in the store they didn’t know they needed or wanted. Generate more sales by staffing based on customer counting device data.
Get more information on customer counting systems. Contact us or call1.770.426.0547 today.
One of the things I love about retail is the ability to help someone who knows they need something, but can only describe what they want to do, not what it is they need. OR the person who comes in with something very specific that we don’t have, but I can help them find a better alternative we DO have (especially if I can save them money in the process!). As a sales specialist, driving sales is a measure of success as well as customer satisfaction. Similarly, you can judge the success of your store by the number of people you are attracting and how many transactions that take place at the registers. But do transactions alone tell the whole story of how successful a store is? They don’t tell you the number of potentially missed sales you missed because you did not know store browsers were not converted to purchasers. Wouldn’t it be great to turn those “window shoppers” into buyers? By using a customer counting system, it is possible to find out how many people are actually in the store during the day. Subtracting the number of transactions that took place from the foot traffic a door counting sensor reports and you can get a good feel for how many more transactions might have been generated that day.
Customer counting systems today provide retailers with information from a door counting sensor that reports how many people have entered and exited a building during the day and at what times. A customer counting device can also be used to track electronic article surveillance alarms (EAS) if your store is using an EAS system with antennas and EAS tags to prevent theft. Store management can review daily reports to see how many alarm activations there were during the day and at what times. In other words, customer counting systems don’t just count people they provide useful data that can help manage the resources of a store. One other thing I should mention, as someone with nearly 20 years of Retail Loss Prevention experience, I strongly suggest ALL stores have an EAS system installed in order to significantly reduce merchandise shortage. That being said, if a store does not have an EAS system for whatever reason, customer counting systems such as Checkpoint’s Visiplus people counters can be free standing without the EAS system in place.
I know there may be some skeptics who think that all a door counting sensor is going to do is give more information to sift through daily. But I would like to show that the data from a customer counting system can benefit the store if used properly. I was working on the salesfloor a few weeks ago and had a couple come in and look around the furniture department. They came in looking for a desk our company only sold online but they did not know that. I was able to explain this and offered an alternative desk that was on sale and would meet their needs. After spending time with the couple, listening to their needs and finding out they would be adding another desk later, I found another desk that would be on sale the next day (when our new ad started). I also showed them some chairs and they decided they could use one with the new home office arrangement. The total purchase for this couple was around $1,100.
Had I not greeted and spent time with them, this couple would have left the store empty handed, we did not have the desk on hand they thought they wanted to look at. Our store uses a customer counting device and we would track customer transactions versus door counts. This would have been a case of two more people visiting our store and one less transaction. If a store manager only looks at daily transactions, there is no gauge to determine if opportunities are being missed. Customer counting systems can give breakdowns of foot traffic by time of day and if this information is used correctly, a manager can plan extra staffing based on prior history and reduced staffing for hours when there are fewer people visiting. Those extra employees may make the difference between a customer walking in and out and a customer discovering something in the store they didn’t know they needed or wanted. Generate more sales by staffing based on customer counting device data.
Get more information on customer counting systems. Contact us or call1.770.426.0547 today.
