I saw a commercial on television the other day that made me start to think about integrity and retail traffic counting companies. The commercial was geared towards consumers who are thinking about purchasing a new phone. The business offers free phones but fails to mention the contracts involved or the various fees associated with the purchase of the phone. The commercial has a saleswoman holding a phone contract and a person you assume to be a lawyer standing behind her. Every time she uses the word “free” the lawyer puts up air quotes. The gist of the commercial is that a customer may not be given all of the information for a smart decision. What is perceived to be free really has hidden costs and fees associated with the contracts. Business owners are no different than any other customer when they are making purchases for their stores. Whether it is a point of sale system, an inventory management software suite or people counting systems offered by Loss Prevention Systems Inc., an owner has to be confident he/she is going to get what is promised.
Retail traffic counting companies are businesses that provide sensors that track customer foot traffic in and out of stores. The idea behind people counting systems is that they assist managers in identifying how many customers have been in a store. They should be able to provide day of week and hourly breakdowns of foot traffic. Knowing when patrons are visiting the store can improve scheduling efficiency and optimize sales. By having more associates on the selling floor at peak times customers are more likely to get the help they need in finding products they want. It even increases the likelihood that purchases can be accessorized or a sales clerk upsells a purchase. The dilemma for store owners is determining which are the retail traffic companies that are going to deliver what they promise? Purchasing a system based on pie-in-the-sky promises that sound too good to be true is a bad idea. Unfortunately many sales people do that and there is never a lawyer standing behind them using “air quotes”.
Loss Prevention Systems Inc. is a business that has been around since 1983 and with good reason. It is a company that delivers what it promises. When they sell people counting systems they are able to provide more than a door counting sensor. They can equip stores that have electronic article surveillance (EAS) towers with the LPSI-Evolve store app for real time EAS alarm activity. The aps allows managers to see how many customers are entering and leaving the store at any given moment and they can also be alerted to an EAS alarm activation. Think about the potential this has for impacting sales and shortage in your store.
Suppose you have a mobile device and as you are working you receive an alert indicating a customer has entered your store. You can greet that customer and assist them in finding what they need. If the customer is actually a shoplifter and the EAS tower didn’t make them change their mind about trying to steal when they walked in the building the immediate customer service will. It is a fact that customer service and EAS technology are strong deterrents to theft. Retail traffic counting companies that only tell you how many people visited your stores are giving you old data with limited value. Bill Bregar, founder of Loss Prevention Systems Inc. (LPSI) is aware of the impact live, actionable information can have for stores. Since it is the business of LPSI to assist stores in increasing profits and driving down shortage you can be sure they aren’t over-selling or under-delivering people counting systems and the LPSI-Evolve store app.
Retail traffic counting companies are ready to sell you their systems and their sales staff will promise you what they think you want to hear. Are they reliable or do they have the integrity to stand behind their promises? Remember there won’t be any lawyer there to “air quote” each over-inflated guarantee they try to hook you with. Give LPSI a try and see just how people counting systems really can add to your bottom line.
For more information on people counting systems, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
Door Counting Sensor- 5 WC Blog 499
Retail Traffic Counting-4
Senseless Arguments Against A Door Counting Sensor
When you hear the mention of a door counting sensor in retail what comes to your mind? Do you think only in terms of measuring your foot traffic and that’s it? Are you dismissing the importance of retail traffic counting because you are concerned that it will just be more data you have to file away? I was surprised to learn that two objections some business owners have to counters are the appearance and that they count children who those owners don’t consider important because they don’t spend the money. If these are concerns you have had and it has discouraged you from investing in a door counting sensor for your business this article is for you.
I know that some readers are familiar with the concept of retail traffic counting but may not know how it is done so I am going to digress briefly for the uninitiated. The basic idea is that a store uses a door counting sensor to identify the number of people entering the business. We will discuss how that information may be used a bit later. The sensor itself can be a stand-alone unit or in stores that utilize electronic article surveillance pedestals to prevent shoplifting a sensor can be attached directly to the pedestals. It’s that simple!
As I said earlier, there are two major objections I found that are used as excuses not to invest in a retail traffic counting system. The first objection was that some units have the appearance of a cctv camera and owners and managers are afraid it will make customers uncomfortable. Hogwash! There are very few retailers in this day and age which do not employ some type of video surveillance. It may be a Public View monitor at the entrance to a store or in an area known to be vulnerable to theft. As a Loss Prevention Manager I have seen them used in high end department stores at the entrance to fitting rooms. I would argue that the extensive use of cctv has actually de-sensitized shoppers to cameras and video monitors to the point they have negligible effects on deterring shoplifters. The other rebuttal to this objection is that when the unit is tied in to an EAS pedestal it is barely noticeable. Shoppers hardly notice pedestals when they enter or leave (unless it alarms) so adding a small accessory to it won’t cause any distractions.
The other argument against a door counting sensor is that they count small children who won’t be spending money. That is to say the results are skewed and therefore irrelevant. Well, Mr. or Ms. Grocery Store Owner, don’t you think that those children are influencing their parents while the parents are shopping? Do you display children’s cereals on endcaps? Do you have gum, candy and soft drink coolers at your checkout stands? Why do you think food manufacturers spend so much money on advertising and packaging? In many cases it is to appeal to the children who will influence parents spending habits. Clothing retailers, the same goes for you. There is a reason commercials are made to make clothing for kids to look “cool” and popular. Toy store retailers, I don’t think I should even have to say anything to you. How many children are buying your merchandise? That’s right, very few. It is the parents and usually a response to what their children have asked for on birthdays, holidays and just pointed out while watching a television ad. If you are striving to get people to visit your store you are going to reach out to as many folks as possible and that includes families with children.
I mentioned I would discuss how information from a Retail Traffic Counting system could benefit your store. Let’s suppose you advertise a new line of product you are carrying. You may use a number of media venues and door and window signage to get out the message. You create a new product display in a prominent location. The success of the new product can’t be measured just in sales dollars. A traffic counter will tell you how many people entered your store. When you have previous information to compare to you can see whether your new product drew in more people. That measure of success is something you can build on to keep new customers coming back time after time.
A door counting sensor isn’t just another source of useless data. If employed properly and the information understood correctly it can be a powerful tool for measuring success of merchandising. It can also be used to improve your payroll allocation, but that is for another article.
For more information about a door counting sensor contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
When you hear the mention of a door counting sensor in retail what comes to your mind? Do you think only in terms of measuring your foot traffic and that’s it? Are you dismissing the importance of retail traffic counting because you are concerned that it will just be more data you have to file away? I was surprised to learn that two objections some business owners have to counters are the appearance and that they count children who those owners don’t consider important because they don’t spend the money. If these are concerns you have had and it has discouraged you from investing in a door counting sensor for your business this article is for you.
I know that some readers are familiar with the concept of retail traffic counting but may not know how it is done so I am going to digress briefly for the uninitiated. The basic idea is that a store uses a door counting sensor to identify the number of people entering the business. We will discuss how that information may be used a bit later. The sensor itself can be a stand-alone unit or in stores that utilize electronic article surveillance pedestals to prevent shoplifting a sensor can be attached directly to the pedestals. It’s that simple!
As I said earlier, there are two major objections I found that are used as excuses not to invest in a retail traffic counting system. The first objection was that some units have the appearance of a cctv camera and owners and managers are afraid it will make customers uncomfortable. Hogwash! There are very few retailers in this day and age which do not employ some type of video surveillance. It may be a Public View monitor at the entrance to a store or in an area known to be vulnerable to theft. As a Loss Prevention Manager I have seen them used in high end department stores at the entrance to fitting rooms. I would argue that the extensive use of cctv has actually de-sensitized shoppers to cameras and video monitors to the point they have negligible effects on deterring shoplifters. The other rebuttal to this objection is that when the unit is tied in to an EAS pedestal it is barely noticeable. Shoppers hardly notice pedestals when they enter or leave (unless it alarms) so adding a small accessory to it won’t cause any distractions.
The other argument against a door counting sensor is that they count small children who won’t be spending money. That is to say the results are skewed and therefore irrelevant. Well, Mr. or Ms. Grocery Store Owner, don’t you think that those children are influencing their parents while the parents are shopping? Do you display children’s cereals on endcaps? Do you have gum, candy and soft drink coolers at your checkout stands? Why do you think food manufacturers spend so much money on advertising and packaging? In many cases it is to appeal to the children who will influence parents spending habits. Clothing retailers, the same goes for you. There is a reason commercials are made to make clothing for kids to look “cool” and popular. Toy store retailers, I don’t think I should even have to say anything to you. How many children are buying your merchandise? That’s right, very few. It is the parents and usually a response to what their children have asked for on birthdays, holidays and just pointed out while watching a television ad. If you are striving to get people to visit your store you are going to reach out to as many folks as possible and that includes families with children.
I mentioned I would discuss how information from a Retail Traffic Counting system could benefit your store. Let’s suppose you advertise a new line of product you are carrying. You may use a number of media venues and door and window signage to get out the message. You create a new product display in a prominent location. The success of the new product can’t be measured just in sales dollars. A traffic counter will tell you how many people entered your store. When you have previous information to compare to you can see whether your new product drew in more people. That measure of success is something you can build on to keep new customers coming back time after time.
A door counting sensor isn’t just another source of useless data. If employed properly and the information understood correctly it can be a powerful tool for measuring success of merchandising. It can also be used to improve your payroll allocation, but that is for another article.
For more information about a door counting sensor contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
People Counting Systems -5 WC Blog 471
Door Counting Sensor – 4
Improve Sales and Shrink With People Counting Systems
People counting systems may be more than just headcounters for stores. Consider the fact that not everyone entering your retail establishment is there to shop. Many stores have theft issues that are causing inventory control problems that have not been identified. It may be happening in your own locations. How many times do you look around and see people entering the store and leaving empty handed? The end of the day register tallies may indicate that sales are not too bad but there is little to judge that information against except the prior year sales records.
People counting systems track the number of people entering a store during the course of a day. A door counting sensor is not complicated it simply measures how many people tripped it as they walked in. What they do not do is provide any sales data but when daily transactions are compared to the number of customers who entered it paints a good picture of what may or may not be transpiring on the sales floor. Managers who use the information properly will analyze the information and assess if there is a reason for the people leaving without making a purchase. Does the issue lie with unidentified shoplifting, a customer service problem or a merchandising issue? Door counting sensors will not give the answers but they will identify a problem.
Is there theft taking place and that is why people counting systems show a disparity between sales and traffic? It is possible. To make a determination several steps would need to take place. First managers would need to look at electronic article surveillance (EAS) alarm responses. Stores that have EAS towers should be tracking alarm activations in a logbook. After answering an alarm employees write the information in the log and give the reason for the alarm and if merchandise was recovered. Did tagged merchandise set off the alarm and prevent a theft? For stores without an electronic article surveillance system the difference between door counts and sales transactions is probably due to theft and in turn causing empty shelves sending customers other places for purchases. Stores with a Checkpoint System have an additional benefit that electronic article surveillance (EAS) alarm activations are tracked in a Smart Alarm Management system. This feature provides managers with an alarm activity report that is useful for tracking and managing the number of alarms and employee responses to those alarms.
Consider that a door counting sensor will show people are coming and going but the traffic does not reflect in your sales data. It could be that customers are not making purchases because the merchandise just is not on your sales floor. Why is the floor empty when sales do not seem to match the amount of empty space you see? Customers could be leaving because shoplifters are stealing and therefore emptying your shelves. The EAS Smart Alarm Management tool would provide that data and you could begin to address theft issues.
Another issue that stems from shoplifting is that employees may not be refilling the empty holes on the shelves resulting from the theft. Patrons are not bothering to seek assistance and staff are not offering customer service to see what it is that patrons are looking for. People counting systems will not directly provide the information but it can be readily assessed from the reported data. It all ties in to the disparity between foot traffic and sales data but you HAVE to have the information and tools that will give head counts to get that information in order to act on it.
Don’t rely on sales information as a reliable source of information for how your business is and could be performing. People counting systems can help you see what your potential sales might be and if there is a theft issue or customer service problem or both that could be hurting sales. Add profit by adding a door counting sensor and a Checkpoint system with Smart Alarm Management.
Need information on People Counting Systems? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
People counting systems may be more than just headcounters for stores. Consider the fact that not everyone entering your retail establishment is there to shop. Many stores have theft issues that are causing inventory control problems that have not been identified. It may be happening in your own locations. How many times do you look around and see people entering the store and leaving empty handed? The end of the day register tallies may indicate that sales are not too bad but there is little to judge that information against except the prior year sales records.
People counting systems track the number of people entering a store during the course of a day. A door counting sensor is not complicated it simply measures how many people tripped it as they walked in. What they do not do is provide any sales data but when daily transactions are compared to the number of customers who entered it paints a good picture of what may or may not be transpiring on the sales floor. Managers who use the information properly will analyze the information and assess if there is a reason for the people leaving without making a purchase. Does the issue lie with unidentified shoplifting, a customer service problem or a merchandising issue? Door counting sensors will not give the answers but they will identify a problem.
Is there theft taking place and that is why people counting systems show a disparity between sales and traffic? It is possible. To make a determination several steps would need to take place. First managers would need to look at electronic article surveillance (EAS) alarm responses. Stores that have EAS towers should be tracking alarm activations in a logbook. After answering an alarm employees write the information in the log and give the reason for the alarm and if merchandise was recovered. Did tagged merchandise set off the alarm and prevent a theft? For stores without an electronic article surveillance system the difference between door counts and sales transactions is probably due to theft and in turn causing empty shelves sending customers other places for purchases. Stores with a Checkpoint System have an additional benefit that electronic article surveillance (EAS) alarm activations are tracked in a Smart Alarm Management system. This feature provides managers with an alarm activity report that is useful for tracking and managing the number of alarms and employee responses to those alarms.
Consider that a door counting sensor will show people are coming and going but the traffic does not reflect in your sales data. It could be that customers are not making purchases because the merchandise just is not on your sales floor. Why is the floor empty when sales do not seem to match the amount of empty space you see? Customers could be leaving because shoplifters are stealing and therefore emptying your shelves. The EAS Smart Alarm Management tool would provide that data and you could begin to address theft issues.
Another issue that stems from shoplifting is that employees may not be refilling the empty holes on the shelves resulting from the theft. Patrons are not bothering to seek assistance and staff are not offering customer service to see what it is that patrons are looking for. People counting systems will not directly provide the information but it can be readily assessed from the reported data. It all ties in to the disparity between foot traffic and sales data but you HAVE to have the information and tools that will give head counts to get that information in order to act on it.
Don’t rely on sales information as a reliable source of information for how your business is and could be performing. People counting systems can help you see what your potential sales might be and if there is a theft issue or customer service problem or both that could be hurting sales. Add profit by adding a door counting sensor and a Checkpoint system with Smart Alarm Management.
Need information on People Counting Systems? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Retail traffic counting may be more significant to your business than you might think. There was major remodel of a store I worked for and it affected sales for the business. The front of the store was being repainted which affected where customers could walk. Painter scaffolding was blocking portions of the entrances and we were forced to redirect traffic. A large area of our parking lot was fenced off and storage trailers occupied the space impacting vehicle parking. Inside the doorway plastic sheeting was hung down and our customers had to walk through cut out doorways. Further inside the store full departments were combined with other departments and space between fixtures was restrictive to say the least (downright claustrophobic is more appropriate). Floor tile and carpet were pulled up in areas and made walking around a cement floor uncomfortable. We did not have a door counting sensor to take an actual headcount of how many shoppers were entering the store but the information could have been useful to the company before jumping into other remodeling projects.
Retail traffic counting is exactly what it sounds like. It is the tracking of the number of people entering a store not just the tracking of daily sales data. The information obtained is important because it can aid store management in assessing the impact of events on the business. Sales data is useful for replenishment of products or comparisons of how many dollars are spent in one time frame versus another. Data can be driven down to the product level to see if a special sale item was successful or not. The downside to sales data alone is that it fails to provide the end user with the actual number of people who walked in and out of the store during the day. When people are factored in a business owner or manager can compare that figure to the total number of transactions and start to analyze if there were factors that may have contributed to missed sales opportunities. How difficult is it to obtain people counts? It is done with a door counting sensor that can be a stand-alone unit or better yet if a store has a Checkpoint System with electronic article surveillance (EAS) towers at the doors it can be connected to that system. The additional benefit is that EAS alarm activity and response can be tracked and evaluated.
Consider the usefulness of tracking the headcounts for your store. Going back to my remodel situation, we saw changes in our sales as the construction process took place. But if we knew how many patrons we were down compared to the prior year we could then make suggestions in our final store recap about what we could have done better. Would better signage or directional signs aided the parking situation? Perhaps the look of the work around the store entrance scared some customers away and we could have suggested an alternate entryway for customers. Looking back on it I believe the use of a door counting sensor would have been beneficial to us and the company.
Another useful application for retail traffic counting is that it can help measure the effectiveness of store advertising signage or new window displays to attract customers. If you have a baseline established for your patron counts and then do something creative with your signage and you can validate that the number of clients increased you can reasonably attribute the increase to the signage. If foot traffic goes up but sales data remains flat then you know you have another issue you need to evaluate and address. It may be your pricing strategy, your customer service level, too few cash registers open or something else. At least you can rule out that a lack of customers is your problem.
With the appropriate application a retail traffic counting system can be a useful assessment tool for your store. Evaluate your business and how certain activities may be driving or impeding sales so you can more effectively strategize in the future. Try adding a door counting sensor and see how you may be able to open the door to increased sales.
Need information on a retail counting system? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now
Retail Traffic Counting System -3 WC Blog 470
Door counting sensor-4
Innovative Ideas Using A Door Counting System
Innovations to improve profits and service are always fascinating to me. I came across something that piqued my interest while in a grocery store with my wife. We were just starting to walk past the frozen food freezer units and I saw a light turn on. Initially I thought this was possibly a bad bulb but then I noticed that the rest of the lights in the other coolers were out. We then turned to walk down the aisle and as we progressed the lights in the units immediately in front of us came on. I thought it was cool that someone thought of this innovation to save money. But I also thought about what may be another added bonus to the system. The lights coming on as we passed by the front of the aisle attracted my attention. How many customers does this cause to turn into an aisle they may have passed by? Does this have an unintended impact on driving sales? As those questions came to my mind I thought about retail traffic counting systems as an innovation in retail. Sure, they can tell a store owner how many people are coming in a store that is the natural intent of the devices. Are there other benefits that may be considered afterthoughts to installing them as were the draw of the motion sensor lights in the freezers?
Before I explore this any further it would be a good idea to clarify what retail traffic counter systems are for the uninitiated reader. These are systems that utilize a door counting sensor to track how many people are entering a store. The information gleaned from the system is used to determine exactly what the traffic patterns in a store are by time of day and the day of the week. This information is then used by store managers and store owners to determine payroll allocations. Payroll is spent where trends indicate the busiest days and hours are from a historical perspective.
Back to my observation about side benefits how else might a store owner benefit if he/she were to place a door counting sensor at the entrance to the store? Is there more than knowing how to spend payroll more effectively? Consider what happens when a new window display is set up. Does management really know whether it was impactful to set up that mannequin or layout a new lawnmower or tool set? Using the data from retail traffic counting systems it is possible to compare days. Maybe last year 300 people entered the store on this day of the week. This year the totals were 350 people coming to visit. Barring any external factors that may have played a part such as snow or a special event in the community, something that might have drawn in people to the town, it would be fairly safe to assume the display was the draw. Note should be taken for next year on what was displayed you may have hit a jackpot.
Another positive effect of a retail traffic counting system is it can help measure your store social media presence. It is one thing to get tweets and re-tweets or hundreds of Facebook shares but that means nothing if you don’t know if your media presence translates to sales. On the other hand a tweet about a special event in your building or a Facebook post telling everyone there is a special one-time deal being offered may drive in people but you don’t have any clue how many unless you can track that number by foot traffic. I know what you are thinking, “I always have my receipt tape to tell me how my event impacted sales.” If you think this an accurate measure you might want to reconsider that line of thought. How many customers came in but did not buy anything? Perhaps they just wanted to browse merchandise but what if they didn’t buy because no one was available to offer assistance? A door counting sensor along with sales receipt data can paint a true picture of how many people were in your store and how many actually made purchases. This information can help in creating future action plans that will make sale promotions more profitable than in the past.
Innovation often requires looking at something more than on the surface. A motion sensor can save money on energy and draw in a customer. A door counting sensor can count people and give vital information that will help in assessing social media and advertising impact along with other statistical data. See how a retail traffic counting sensor can help drive up your sales.
Need information on a door counting system? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Innovations to improve profits and service are always fascinating to me. I came across something that piqued my interest while in a grocery store with my wife. We were just starting to walk past the frozen food freezer units and I saw a light turn on. Initially I thought this was possibly a bad bulb but then I noticed that the rest of the lights in the other coolers were out. We then turned to walk down the aisle and as we progressed the lights in the units immediately in front of us came on. I thought it was cool that someone thought of this innovation to save money. But I also thought about what may be another added bonus to the system. The lights coming on as we passed by the front of the aisle attracted my attention. How many customers does this cause to turn into an aisle they may have passed by? Does this have an unintended impact on driving sales? As those questions came to my mind I thought about retail traffic counting systems as an innovation in retail. Sure, they can tell a store owner how many people are coming in a store that is the natural intent of the devices. Are there other benefits that may be considered afterthoughts to installing them as were the draw of the motion sensor lights in the freezers?
Before I explore this any further it would be a good idea to clarify what retail traffic counter systems are for the uninitiated reader. These are systems that utilize a door counting sensor to track how many people are entering a store. The information gleaned from the system is used to determine exactly what the traffic patterns in a store are by time of day and the day of the week. This information is then used by store managers and store owners to determine payroll allocations. Payroll is spent where trends indicate the busiest days and hours are from a historical perspective.
Back to my observation about side benefits how else might a store owner benefit if he/she were to place a door counting sensor at the entrance to the store? Is there more than knowing how to spend payroll more effectively? Consider what happens when a new window display is set up. Does management really know whether it was impactful to set up that mannequin or layout a new lawnmower or tool set? Using the data from retail traffic counting systems it is possible to compare days. Maybe last year 300 people entered the store on this day of the week. This year the totals were 350 people coming to visit. Barring any external factors that may have played a part such as snow or a special event in the community, something that might have drawn in people to the town, it would be fairly safe to assume the display was the draw. Note should be taken for next year on what was displayed you may have hit a jackpot.
Another positive effect of a retail traffic counting system is it can help measure your store social media presence. It is one thing to get tweets and re-tweets or hundreds of Facebook shares but that means nothing if you don’t know if your media presence translates to sales. On the other hand a tweet about a special event in your building or a Facebook post telling everyone there is a special one-time deal being offered may drive in people but you don’t have any clue how many unless you can track that number by foot traffic. I know what you are thinking, “I always have my receipt tape to tell me how my event impacted sales.” If you think this an accurate measure you might want to reconsider that line of thought. How many customers came in but did not buy anything? Perhaps they just wanted to browse merchandise but what if they didn’t buy because no one was available to offer assistance? A door counting sensor along with sales receipt data can paint a true picture of how many people were in your store and how many actually made purchases. This information can help in creating future action plans that will make sale promotions more profitable than in the past.
Innovation often requires looking at something more than on the surface. A motion sensor can save money on energy and draw in a customer. A door counting sensor can count people and give vital information that will help in assessing social media and advertising impact along with other statistical data. See how a retail traffic counting sensor can help drive up your sales.
Need information on a door counting system? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
