Visual Merchandising Enhanced With A Door Counting Sensor Part 1

 

Retail Traffic Counting System –3                                                                                                 WC Blog 683
Door Counting Sensor-3
Visual Merchandising Enhanced With A Door Counting Sensor Part 1
     I walked into my favorite grocery store today and saw the new weekly sales displayed at the front of the store and it started my mind churning about a retail traffic counting system. I began thinking about the role that customer counting has in relationship to visual merchandising and advertising. This store puts out a weekly flyer on Wednesdays and has weekend sales specials they advertise in it. Now I recognize that there is a certain customer base that will always come in. You have the loyal customers, the customers on the way home from work and then the shopper who responds to advertising and merchandising. The goal of every store owner, regardless of what you sell should be to increase foot traffic and in the process increase sales. To do that you can’t depend on just your loyal customer and the customer making a quick stop for a specific item (although if you merchandise properly you could turn this customer into a new “regular” shopper). IF the goal of advertising and visual merchandising is to draw in people, doesn’t it only make sense to measure/count the number of people coming to the store? A door counting sensor makes customer tracking easy for any retailer.
     The Integrated EAS Traffic Counter from Sensormatic can be placed on the Sensormatic electronic article surveillance pedestals. This retail traffic counting system tracks people entering AND exiting the store and is not affected by shadows or weather. That means your counts are going to be accurate. It also means that you will have real numbers to use in assessing and interpreting sales activity. Is your store without an EAS system? Are you interested in preventing shoplifting, reducing shortage, improving profits and increasing sales? Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. can help you do ALL of these things with the installation of a Sensormatic system and yes, track customers as well.
     Before we go further you might want to know why visual merchandising is so important to your store. I used to think it was annoying when the stores I worked in would rearrange planograms or move merchandise around. Sure, a new endcap display made sense to me but other aspects seemed counter-intuitive. Don’t customers like to go directly to where they know merchandise is located in a business? Some may, but here are some other points to consider when it comes to merchandising.  Here are some tips from snapretail.com, “11 Visual Merchandising Tactics To Increase Sales”:
1. Window Displays Make First Impression – They suggest making a story out of the window display, even giving the illusion of movement.
2. Appeal to Desires – “Display nearest the entrance should feature solely desires” (as opposed to needs).
3. Create a Connection – The idea they want conveyed is to put items together to show what it may look like as part of a set. The writer mentions having a scarf displayed as part of an outfit or a Stand mixer on a counter with baking goods.
4. Keep it Fresh – They suggest changing displays every two weeks and keep the seasons in mind. Don’t leave holiday displays up after the holiday is over.
5. Regularly Update POS Displays – “Your regular customers will remember what’s on display as they check out and are more likely to grab an extra item if the display is fresh.”
These are my top favorites from the website’s article but I encourage readers to review it for the other tips they offer. What I will add is that this can be very time and labor intensive. How do you know if that window display was worth the effort you and your team put into it? Did sales increase? If they did was it only because your regular customer came in and happened to purchase an item that was displayed? Sales data won’t give you that information. A door counting sensor can provide more insight into the people flowing into your shop.
      Assuming you can now see the advantage a retail traffic counting system can have in assessing your sales data you may still be wondering if you really need a Sensormatic EAS system. You could increase your sales with the displays and bring in more people but if some of those people intend to steal from you they will look for signs of a merchandise protection. The first sign is the Sensormatic EAS pedestals at the front doors. In Part 2 of this article I want to talk more about the correlation a door counting sensor, visual merchandising and marketing have with each other and how they can improve sales.
Get more information on retail traffic counting systems contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
     
      

I walked into my favorite grocery store today and saw the new weekly sales displayed at the front of the store and it started my mind churning about a retail traffic counting system. I began thinking about the role that customer counting has in relationship to visual merchandising and advertising. This store puts out a weekly flyer on Wednesdays and has weekend sales specials they advertise in it. Now I recognize that there is a certain customer base that will always come in. You have the loyal customers, the customers on the way home from work and then the shopper who responds to advertising and merchandising. The goal of every store owner, regardless of what you sell should be to increase foot traffic and in the process increase sales. To do that you can’t depend on just your loyal customer and the customer making a quick stop for a specific item (although if you merchandise properly you could turn this customer into a new “regular” shopper). IF the goal of advertising and visual merchandising is to draw in people, doesn’t it only make sense to measure/count the number of people coming to the store? A door counting sensor makes customer tracking easy for any retailer.

The Integrated EAS Traffic Counter from Sensormatic can be placed on the Sensormatic electronic article surveillance pedestals. This retail traffic counting system tracks people entering AND exiting the store and is not affected by shadows or weather. That means your counts are going to be accurate. It also means that you will have real numbers to use in assessing and interpreting sales activity. Is your store without an EAS system? Are you interested in preventing shoplifting, reducing shortage, improving profits and increasing sales? Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. can help you do ALL of these things with the installation of a Sensormatic system and yes, track customers as well.

Before we go further you might want to know why visual merchandising is so important to your store. I used to think it was annoying when the stores I worked in would rearrange planograms or move merchandise around. Sure, a new endcap display made sense to me but other aspects seemed counter-intuitive. Don’t customers like to go directly to where they know merchandise is located in a business? Some may, but here are some other points to consider when it comes to merchandising.  Here are some tips from snapretail.com, “11 Visual Merchandising Tactics To Increase Sales”:

1. Window Displays Make First Impression – They suggest making a story out of the window display, even giving the illusion of movement.

2. Appeal to Desires – “Display nearest the entrance should feature solely desires” (as opposed to needs).

3. Create a Connection – The idea they want conveyed is to put items together to show what it may look like as part of a set. The writer mentions having a scarf displayed as part of an outfit or a Stand mixer on a counter with baking goods.

4. Keep it Fresh – They suggest changing displays every two weeks and keep the seasons in mind. Don’t leave holiday displays up after the holiday is over.

5. Regularly Update POS Displays – “Your regular customers will remember what’s on display as they check out and are more likely to grab an extra item if the display is fresh.”

These are my top favorites from the website’s article but I encourage readers to review it for the other tips they offer. What I will add is that this can be very time and labor intensive. How do you know if that window display was worth the effort you and your team put into it? Did sales increase? If they did was it only because your regular customer came in and happened to purchase an item that was displayed? Sales data won’t give you that information. A door counting sensor can provide more insight into the people flowing into your shop.

Assuming you can now see the advantage a retail traffic counting system can have in assessing your sales data you may still be wondering if you really need a Sensormatic EAS system. You could increase your sales with the displays and bring in more people but if some of those people intend to steal from you they will look for signs of a merchandise protection. The first sign is the Sensormatic EAS pedestals at the front doors. In Part 2 of this article I want to talk more about the correlation a door counting sensor, visual merchandising and marketing have with each other and how they can improve sales.

 

Get more information on retail traffic counting systems contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
     

      

 

 

Effective Payroll Management With The Help Of A Customer Counting Device

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.

 

Count On People Counting Systems To Help Improve Sales

People Counting Systems-5                                                                                                      WC Blog 532
Retail Traffic Counting System-3


Count On People Counting Systems To Help Improve Sales

     It came to me recently that social media uses people counting systems of a sort as a measurement tool. Consider that there are thumbs up, thumbs down, emoji symbols, hearts and other things to show how many people like or don’t like a post or tweet or whatever else it may be called. I know there are analytics involved in determining website hits and page visits and in a way this is similar to what a retail traffic counting system does for stores. Let me explain myself. If I post a thought on my social media page I may get reactions from friends, family and even people I don’t know if a friend of a friend sees a reposting of my comment. I can see the names of the people who have reacted but I don’t know all of the people who may have seen my post and chosen not to comment. Retail can be somewhat the same. You may have analytical measures that indicate how much you sold in a day but you may have absolutely no idea how many people came into your store that never made a purchase. Is there an invisible clientele you are not reaching because you don’t even know they were there? People counting systems can aid you in finding out if you are missing customers who have walked in and out of your store without buying anything.

     A retail traffic counting system is a measurement tool that tracks the number of people who walk in and out of a store. A counter is mounted near a door and possibly on a Checkpoint electronic article surveillance tower. The device records the number of patrons entering a store and keeps record of the day of the week and the time of day they are coming in to visit. For those stores that do utilize electronic article surveillance to prevent shoplifting, people counting systems also track alarm activations. The information is used to review situations where alarms sounded and look at possible patterns such as times of day. It can also be used in conjunction with closed circuit television recording to look for repeat offenders and alarm responses.

     The total sales dollars and number of transactions your store has in a day is akin to the reactions on a social media post. This data is the measurable numbers you can refer to in order to decide if the store had a successful day in sales dollars. The retail counting system is more like the data analytics of social media that can measure the views a site or post received. The number of sales may not be reflective of the number of visitors received in your building today. By having this comparison number you can begin to rethink your sales strategies to improve sales. What sales strategies might you change? Staffing may be one area you will review. Are you putting your staffing dollars to their best use? If people counting systems show that there are periods of low patronage then a manager may use that information to reallocate staff to busier times of the day. If a manager uses the same staffing models daily it is quite possible there are times shoppers are in the store and not being assisted. That assistance may have made a difference in persuading the shopper to make a purchase rather than walk out empty handed. 

     Another sales strategy that may be influenced by knowing the numbers provided by a retail counting system is merchandise placement. If patron counts are remaining relatively the same and sales are stagnant a new merchandise display may be in order or a planogram change to spice things up. People counting systems will indicate whether foot traffic is inching upward and along with sales data information managers can determine if merchandise strategies are having the desired effect. Bill Bregar and his staff at Loss Prevention Systems Inc. know the importance of preventing theft to drive profits but they also know how important customer flow is to a store. This is why they are keen on supplying retailers with a system that can impact both.

     Insanity has been defined as doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. If you truly want to improve your sales you must have the right information in order to make smart decisions. A retail traffic counting system can be the tool to provide that information. Install one and see your statistics in a new light.
Get more information on a retail traffic counting system, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 now.   

It came to me recently that social media uses people counting systems of a sort as a measurement tool. Consider that there are thumbs up, thumbs down, emoji symbols, hearts and other things to show how many people like or don’t like a post or tweet or whatever else it may be called. I know there are analytics involved in determining website hits and page visits and in a way this is similar to what a retail traffic counting system does for stores. Let me explain myself. If I post a thought on my social media page I may get reactions from friends, family and even people I don’t know if a friend of a friend sees a reposting of my comment. I can see the names of the people who have reacted but I don’t know all of the people who may have seen my post and chosen not to comment. Retail can be somewhat the same. You may have analytical measures that indicate how much you sold in a day but you may have absolutely no idea how many people came into your store that never made a purchase. Is there an invisible clientele you are not reaching because you don’t even know they were there? People counting systems can aid you in finding out if you are missing customers who have walked in and out of your store without buying anything.
     

A retail traffic counting system is a measurement tool that tracks the number of people who walk in and out of a store. A counter is mounted near a door and possibly on a electronic article surveillance tower. The device records the number of patrons entering a store and keeps record of the day of the week and the time of day they are coming in to visit. For those stores that do utilize electronic article surveillance to prevent shoplifting, people counting systems also track alarm activations. The information is used to review situations where alarms sounded and look at possible patterns such as times of day. It can also be used in conjunction with closed circuit television recording to look for repeat offenders and alarm responses.
     

The total sales dollars and number of transactions your store has in a day is akin to the reactions on a social media post. This data is the measurable numbers you can refer to in order to decide if the store had a successful day in sales dollars. The retail counting system is more like the data analytics of social media that can measure the views a site or post received. The number of sales may not be reflective of the number of visitors received in your building today. By having this comparison number you can begin to rethink your sales strategies to improve sales. What sales strategies might you change? Staffing may be one area you will review. Are you putting your staffing dollars to their best use? If people counting systems show that there are periods of low patronage then a manager may use that information to reallocate staff to busier times of the day. If a manager uses the same staffing models daily it is quite possible there are times shoppers are in the store and not being assisted. That assistance may have made a difference in persuading the shopper to make a purchase rather than walk out empty handed. 
     

Another sales strategy that may be influenced by knowing the numbers provided by a retail counting system is merchandise placement. If patron counts are remaining relatively the same and sales are stagnant a new merchandise display may be in order or a planogram change to spice things up. People counting systems will indicate whether foot traffic is inching upward and along with sales data information managers can determine if merchandise strategies are having the desired effect. Bill Bregar and his staff at Loss Prevention Systems Inc. know the importance of preventing theft to drive profits but they also know how important customer flow is to a store. This is why they are keen on supplying retailers with a system that can impact both.
     

Insanity has been defined as doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. If you truly want to improve your sales you must have the right information in order to make smart decisions. A retail traffic counting system can be the tool to provide that information. Install one and see your statistics in a new light.

 

Get more information on a retail traffic counting system, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 now.   

Senseless Arguments Against A Door Counting Sensor

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 Aid In Business Planning

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