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.
Door Counting Sensor- 3 wc blog 267
Customer Counting System-4
Retail Traffic Counting System-3
Customer Counting Systems Can Help Convert Foot Traffic Into Improved Sales And Reduced Shrink Part 2
In Part 1 of this 2 part series I discussed the potential for customer counting systems to help improve in-store marketing efforts by taking advantage of data that can be provided by a VisiPlus people counting system. Overhead sensors can be strategically installed in locations where high profile displays or endcaps may be set up to attract customers and generate sales. If information from these sensors determines that foot traffic is not increasing or garnering the attention intended by managers, the display can be changed out rather than taking up space. New displays can be set up or changed out to get the desired effect. Another advantage that a VisiPlus retail traffic counting system offers is being able to determine electronic article surveillance activity at your entrance/exits. If you can take steps to make your theft prevention efforts more effective, you not only drive down merchandise shrink, you send thieves to other stores.
I’ve spent a lot of time already talking about advantages of a retail counting system, specifically Checkpoint’s VisiPlus customer counting system, but I do need to take a minute to explain what it is. VisiPlus is a retail traffic counting system that is attached to your Checkpoint electronic article surveillance (EAS) antennas and collects information on the number of customers entering and exiting the store, and EAS alarm activity that takes place. You will receive reports that break down patron traffic by time of day. The information can aid a management team in creating better scheduling models to help make a better customer service environment. More employees at the times of heaviest customer traffic translate to improved sales as cashiers are available to checkout patrons with less wait time. There will also be more employees available to assist on the salesfloor. This in turn improves the ability to help customers find what they are looking for and increased salesfloor coverage also serves to deter shoplifters who seek out stores where there is little or no attention paid to customers. The VisiPlus system also has overhead sensors that can be installed in strategic salesfloor areas to assist in tracking foot traffic near promotional displays.
I now want to get back to the topic of a door counting sensor reducing shrink and improving profits. If a store is practicing good electronic article surveillance alarm response at the front doors, they are keeping a log of alarm activations and the causes of those alarms. Having worked as a Loss Prevention Manager for many years, I know that many alarms were not recorded in our log book. I rarely had a true picture of exactly how many alarms were activated during the day and, therefore, could not measure whether our supervisors or cashiers were responding to alarms properly. It also made it difficult to determine if I was experiencing any malfunction issues with our EAS antennas. The VisiPlus door counting sensor records EAS alarm activations in a daily report. Management can use the report information compared to the alarm response book and determine if alarms are being properly addressed. If not, retraining can be conducted for front end employees. They can also look for indications of excessive alarms that could be indicative of system problems. Since the report breaks down activity by time of day, possible theft trends can be determined and action plans created to stem the issues.
A door counting sensor doesn’t have to be limited to the traditional idea of a retail traffic counting system only numbering the people entering and leaving your business. A customer counting system can help you increase sales and decrease theft with accurate data reporting and timeline breakdowns. Count on more from your customer counting system than just people, count on sales growth too!
Need information on a retail traffic counting system? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
In Part 1 of this 2 part series I discussed the potential for customer counting systems to help improve in-store marketing efforts by taking advantage of data that can be provided by a VisiPlus people counting system. Overhead sensors can be strategically installed in locations where high profile displays or endcaps may be set up to attract customers and generate sales. If information from these sensors determines that foot traffic is not increasing or garnering the attention intended by managers, the display can be changed out rather than taking up space. New displays can be set up or changed out to get the desired effect. Another advantage that a VisiPlus retail traffic counting system offers is being able to determine electronic article surveillance activity at your entrance/exits. If you can take steps to make your theft prevention efforts more effective, you not only drive down merchandise shrink, you send thieves to other stores.
I’ve spent a lot of time already talking about advantages of a retail counting system, specifically Checkpoint’s VisiPlus customer counting system, but I do need to take a minute to explain what it is. VisiPlus is a retail traffic counting system that is attached to your Checkpoint electronic article surveillance (EAS) antennas and collects information on the number of customers entering and exiting the store, and EAS alarm activity that takes place. You will receive reports that break down patron traffic by time of day. The information can aid a management team in creating better scheduling models to help make a better customer service environment. More employees at the times of heaviest customer traffic translate to improved sales as cashiers are available to checkout patrons with less wait time. There will also be more employees available to assist on the salesfloor. This in turn improves the ability to help customers find what they are looking for and increased salesfloor coverage also serves to deter shoplifters who seek out stores where there is little or no attention paid to customers. The VisiPlus system also has overhead sensors that can be installed in strategic salesfloor areas to assist in tracking foot traffic near promotional displays.
I now want to get back to the topic of a door counting sensor reducing shrink and improving profits. If a store is practicing good electronic article surveillance alarm response at the front doors, they are keeping a log of alarm activations and the causes of those alarms. Having worked as a Loss Prevention Manager for many years, I know that many alarms were not recorded in our log book. I rarely had a true picture of exactly how many alarms were activated during the day and, therefore, could not measure whether our supervisors or cashiers were responding to alarms properly. It also made it difficult to determine if I was experiencing any malfunction issues with our EAS antennas. The VisiPlus door counting sensor records EAS alarm activations in a daily report. Management can use the report information compared to the alarm response book and determine if alarms are being properly addressed. If not, retraining can be conducted for front end employees. They can also look for indications of excessive alarms that could be indicative of system problems. Since the report breaks down activity by time of day, possible theft trends can be determined and action plans created to stem the issues.
A door counting sensor doesn’t have to be limited to the traditional idea of a retail traffic counting system only numbering the people entering and leaving your business. A customer counting system can help you increase sales and decrease theft with accurate data reporting and timeline breakdowns. Count on more from your customer counting system than just people, count on sales growth too!
Need information on a retail traffic counting system? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Retail Traffic Counting: 5
People Counting Systems: 4
How To Improve Your Marketing Capability Through The Use Of Retail Traffic Counting Technology.
I work in retail and part of my job involves advertising, managing store displays, and increasing revenue through effective marketing. This may not sound too tough for those who haven’t been tasked to complete it, but if you are involved in this process, you know how difficult this can be. Have you ever wondered whether your advertising or your displays are effective in drawing in customers or increasing sales? Obviously it is easy to calculate sales, but how do we measure the effectiveness of our displays? How do we determine what is working and what isn’t? Which displays do we bring back and which ones do we want to leave buried in the closet? I have also pondered placement of displays and other advertising and how that affects customer contacts and security. As a member of the retail industry, these are all questions I have asked myself a hundred times, but have never been able to answer until now. New innovations in retail traffic counting have offered us the ability to change how we do business.
People counting systems provide us with the information we need to make better marketing decisions. There are so many factors that go into these types of decisions, such as: visibility, close proximity to other related merchandise, high traffic areas, space limitations, and availability and security, among various other things. The Visiplus overhead people counting systems can be installed anywhere in your store to give you real time information on the effectiveness of your marketing and displays. This particular device measures people flow through thermal imaging to reduce unnecessary activity and provide concise data. Retail traffic counting can identify high traffic areas for you so you can better manage your merchandise placement and reduce missed opportunities. People counting systems can also help you address staffing needs and assist you in managing your resources more effectively. As the holiday’s approach, and our inventory more than doubles, I know that I will be relying heavily on the information I am gathering from my Visiplus people counting technology, to help me better manage my inventory and my resources. I have found that these systems have improved my sales and reduced my overhead, by providing me with the knowledge I need to better manage my employee effectiveness, and improve customer satisfaction.
Through the use of retail traffic counting devices, I have quickly learned what is working and what isn’t. We recently had a new videogame that we wanted to display, but we were limited on space, so we placed the display near the front of the store to increase initial visibility. It only took me one day to realize that the display location was not effective. As people entered the store they simply bypassed the display without much delay. We decided to rearrange inventory so we could place the item in the electronics department, near the other gaming devices and accessories. The following day we noticed a substantial increase in activity in that area, and a subsequent review of our sales showed not only a high number of sales for that item, but an increase in additional gaming related sales during the same timeframe. What would have normally taken me a week to determine, now only took a day to discover. This ultimately increased my sales and allowed for very little delay in making the adjustments needed to improve visibility and increase sales.
There are various types of people counting systems available to serve your retail needs. These retail traffic counting devices have saved me many headaches and hours of lost sleep. They are an inexpensive way to track activity, manage resources and identify missed opportunities. They have paid for themselves many times over, in my opinion, and I would highly recommend you look into these devices as a means to improve your sales and marketing capabilities.
Get more information on retail traffic counting devices, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
I work in retail and part of my job involves advertising, managing store displays, and increasing revenue through effective marketing. This may not sound too tough for those who haven’t been tasked to complete it, but if you are involved in this process, you know how difficult this can be. Have you ever wondered whether your advertising or your displays are effective in drawing in customers or increasing sales? Obviously it is easy to calculate sales, but how do we measure the effectiveness of our displays? How do we determine what is working and what isn’t? Which displays do we bring back and which ones do we want to leave buried in the closet? I have also pondered placement of displays and other advertising and how that affects customer contacts and security. As a member of the retail industry, these are all questions I have asked myself a hundred times, but have never been able to answer until now. New innovations in retail traffic counting have offered us the ability to change how we do business.
People counting systems provide us with the information we need to make better marketing decisions. There are so many factors that go into these types of decisions, such as: visibility, close proximity to other related merchandise, high traffic areas, space limitations, and availability and security, among various other things. The Visiplus overhead people counting systems can be installed anywhere in your store to give you real time information on the effectiveness of your marketing and displays. This particular device measures people flow through thermal imaging to reduce unnecessary activity and provide concise data. Retail traffic counting can identify high traffic areas for you so you can better manage your merchandise placement and reduce missed opportunities. People counting systems can also help you address staffing needs and assist you in managing your resources more effectively. I know that I will be relying heavily on the information I am gathering from my Visiplus people counting technology, to help me better manage my inventory and my resources. I have found that these systems have improved my sales and reduced my overhead, by providing me with the knowledge I need to better manage my employee effectiveness, and improve customer satisfaction.
Through the use of retail traffic counting devices, I have quickly learned what is working and what isn’t. We recently had a new videogame that we wanted to display, but we were limited on space, so we placed the display near the front of the store to increase initial visibility. It only took me one day to realize that the display location was not effective. As people entered the store they simply bypassed the display without much delay. We decided to rearrange inventory so we could place the item in the electronics department, near the other gaming devices and accessories. The following day we noticed a substantial increase in activity in that area, and a subsequent review of our sales showed not only a high number of sales for that item, but an increase in additional gaming related sales during the same timeframe. What would have normally taken me a week to determine, now only took a day to discover. This ultimately increased my sales and allowed for very little delay in making the adjustments needed to improve visibility and increase sales.
There are various types of people counting systems available to serve your retail needs. These retail traffic counting devices have saved me many headaches and hours of lost sleep. They are an inexpensive way to track activity, manage resources and identify missed opportunities. They have paid for themselves many times over, in my opinion, and I would highly recommend you look into these devices as a means to improve your sales and marketing capabilities.
Get more information on retail traffic counting devices, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
Door counting sensor-4 wc blog 242
Retail traffic counting system-3
Get A Better Sense For When Your Customers Are Shopping; Invest In A Door Counting Sensor
It’s the middle of the afternoon; you have lines of people at your checkout counters and two cashiers to check them out. Isn’t it wonderful to see this kind of business in your store? Someone on the sales floor needs help but you can’t assist them just now, it’s too busy. Get the checkout lines down a little bit and THEN you can see what the customer wanted assistance with. The thought crosses your mind that you don’t recall ever seeing it this busy when it isn’t a holiday. Is that really true or is it just your perception at the moment? I suppose it doesn’t matter the store is hopping and there have to be a gazillion people in here shopping. When things calm down a bit, did you notice the shopping cart filled with merchandise pushed to the side? Did you question why there is so much stray merchandise just plopped down all over the place? Just signs of what a busy day you have had, right? How many people were in your store for that rush? Does it matter? A door counting sensor would have been a great tool to answer that question, but you haven’t invested in one. A retail traffic counting system can give you data that can help you staff the store to better serve your customers.
A door counting sensor keeps track of the number of visitors entering your store. It can help establish the days your store is busiest and it breaks that information down to customer traffic by the hour. A retail traffic counting system provides a store owner or management team with information that can help in creating more effective schedules for a business. As historical data is gathered, you will be able to compare apples to apples in other words a Monday afternoon on a labor day may require more scheduled workers than a Monday afternoon in February. Making informed decisions about how many people you should staff your store with and at what times makes your business more efficient and profitable.
One of the old maxims in retail is, “Time enough to lean, time enough to clean.” I’ve heard this said in a number of different stores and the idea is that when it is slow and your associates have nothing else to do, they can find things to stay busy like dusting, wiping counters, sweeping etc. I would suggest to the business owner that if this is repeated frequently in your stores, it could indicate you have too many employees working at the wrong times. Using information collected from a door counting sensor, a business manager could validate peak shopping hour trends and staff the store according to those indicators. A regular Sunday afternoon peak rush from 3pm-6pm may mean that for those 3 hours, Sundays are scheduled heavier on cashiers so there are no lengthy lines. How does this impact the bottom line? Those shopping carts filled with merchandise that I mentioned in the beginning of the article would not exist. The patron frustrated by the long line that you were so pleased with, who abandoned that purchase due to the wait time would now complete the purchase. The extra cashier would have made the difference between losing that sale and profiting from it.
How about that stray merchandise stacked up around the check lanes that you considered signals that you were having a great sales day? Many of those items may well be individual purchases that people gave up on rather than stand in a line for a single item purchase. How do I know? I have been one of those customers. I do get irritated when I have to stand too long for one or two items because a store is not staffed correctly. I have put down merchandise and left rather than spend my money. I have also seen it happen as an employee and at that point even the best customer service can’t recover that sale. Additionally, I have walked away from a potential purchase when I had to wait too long for service at a display case. If I do it, and I can be a little forgiving with my background in retail, how much more does the average customer walk away because of a lack of service? A retail counting system can help you boost sales by giving you the information you need to optimize store coverage on the floor and at checkout.
Don’t play a guessing game at properly staffing your store. Invest in a retail traffic counting system so you know when your business is busiest. Opportunity knocks, count on it with a door counting sensor!
Get more information on Door Counting Sensors, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
It’s the middle of the afternoon; you have lines of people at your checkout counters and two cashiers to check them out. Isn’t it wonderful to see this kind of business in your store? Someone on the sales floor needs help but you can’t assist them just now, it’s too busy. Get the checkout lines down a little bit and THEN you can see what the customer wanted assistance with. The thought crosses your mind that you don’t recall ever seeing it this busy when it isn’t a holiday. Is that really true or is it just your perception at the moment? I suppose it doesn’t matter the store is hopping and there have to be a gazillion people in here shopping. When things calm down a bit, did you notice the shopping cart filled with merchandise pushed to the side? Did you question why there is so much stray merchandise just plopped down all over the place? Just signs of what a busy day you have had, right? How many people were in your store for that rush? Does it matter? A door counting sensor would have been a great tool to answer that question, but you haven’t invested in one. A retail traffic counting system can give you data that can help you staff the store to better serve your customers.
A door counting sensor keeps track of the number of visitors entering your store. It can help establish the days your store is busiest and it breaks that information down to customer traffic by the hour. A retail traffic counting system provides a store owner or management team with information that can help in creating more effective schedules for a business. As historical data is gathered, you will be able to compare apples to apples in other words a Monday afternoon on a labor day may require more scheduled workers than a Monday afternoon in February. Making informed decisions about how many people you should staff your store with and at what times makes your business more efficient and profitable.
One of the old maxims in retail is, “Time enough to lean, time enough to clean.” I’ve heard this said in a number of different stores and the idea is that when it is slow and your associates have nothing else to do, they can find things to stay busy like dusting, wiping counters, sweeping etc. I would suggest to the business owner that if this is repeated frequently in your stores, it could indicate you have too many employees working at the wrong times. Using information collected from a door counting sensor, a business manager could validate peak shopping hour trends and staff the store according to those indicators. A regular Sunday afternoon peak rush from 3pm-6pm may mean that for those 3 hours, Sundays are scheduled heavier on cashiers so there are no lengthy lines. How does this impact the bottom line? Those shopping carts filled with merchandise that I mentioned in the beginning of the article would not exist. The patron frustrated by the long line that you were so pleased with, who abandoned that purchase due to the wait time would now complete the purchase. The extra cashier would have made the difference between losing that sale and profiting from it.
How about that stray merchandise stacked up around the check lanes that you considered signals that you were having a great sales day? Many of those items may well be individual purchases that people gave up on rather than stand in a line for a single item purchase. How do I know? I have been one of those customers. I do get irritated when I have to stand too long for one or two items because a store is not staffed correctly. I have put down merchandise and left rather than spend my money. I have also seen it happen as an employee and at that point even the best customer service can’t recover that sale. Additionally, I have walked away from a potential purchase when I had to wait too long for service at a display case. If I do it, and I can be a little forgiving with my background in retail, how much more does the average customer walk away because of a lack of service? A retail counting system can help you boost sales by giving you the information you need to optimize store coverage on the floor and at checkout.
Don’t play a guessing game at properly staffing your store. Invest in a retail traffic counting system so you know when your business is busiest. Opportunity knocks, count on it with a door counting sensor!
Get more information on Door Counting Sensors, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
Having worked in retail for so many years now, I have always hated to see what I considered wasted payroll. Some stores seem to be over staffed when there is no need for it and then there are times I look around a store and can’t seem to find any help.When I get to a checkout counter and there is only one lane open and a line of customers waiting to check out, I shake my head and just wonder what is going on with that store’s payroll and scheduling. I have also been a Manager On Duty and experienced the frustration of a schedule that was too light due to an automated scheduling system that supposedly gave payroll hours based on “historical” data. How about a schedule based on numbers of patrons, not just sales data like dollars spent or someone’s perception of what payroll should be. How beneficial would it be to your store to have a customer counting system that provides actual head counts so you can staff your store effectively?
The VisiPlus retail traffic counting system gives the store the ability to make accurate decisions on how many people should be staffed and at what times. Perhaps you staff your store with 10 employees every day from open to close. No changes to the schedule, just plug in 10 people and go. Do you truly need the same 10 people at 8:00 a.m. that you have scheduled at 10:00 p.m.? What time does your customer traffic really pick up? Wouldn’t it be nice to have 12 or 13 people on the schedule during your busiest hours? A customer counting system can help you do that. A door counting system works by measuring the people entering and exiting the building. Rather than estimating the number of patrons a store has had based on transactions, real numbers of patrons are counted.
So what is the difference between estimated numbers and real customer counts through a retail traffic counting system? Estimating customer counts through sales does not take into account those customers who may have left the store without making a purchase due to frustrations at wait times. If there is inadequate staffing at peak hours, customers who may have been seeking sales floor assistance may not have received it. Customers who saw the lines of a checkout counter and left due to the anticipated wait time are not counted. Customer counting systems give actual data and can provide day of the week and time break downs to make scheduling much more effective. I may need 10 people for 3 hours to stock merchandise and run the store, but if my counts show I have low customer counts for a few hours afterwards then I can send two or three workers home when the work is done. I can use historical counts to staff 13 or 14 people for 4 or 5 hours or more, based on what my door counting system has shown as peak times. In this way, I ensure ample coverage is in place to serve the additional foot traffic shopping in the store. Those additional three or four people can ensure I am serving my customers on the floor and getting them through the checkout lines quickly. As I improve my service, my sales will go up.
As a Manager On Duty I also closed a store with far too few people to get a proper recovery done. Because of poor scheduling we would have just enough staff to help customers, but not enough at those peak times to also recover the store as it was being torn up. Sales data showed a slowdown in traffic so, why have extra help at 10:00 p.m.? Basing staffing on the results of a door counting system, proper payroll allocation can be adjusted to make sure ALL tasks get done, patrons are served AND you get your staff out on time. I can’t tell you how much payroll I see overspent because staffs are kept past scheduled hours to straighten a store.
A retail counting system can help you be smarter in payroll spending. In doing so you will be able to better serve your customers, and increase transactions and dollars. Don’t depend on sales that have been missed as a measure of your customer traffic, see what a difference a customer counting system can make for your staffing model!
Need information on a customer counting system? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
