As a business looking to increase the number of in-store visits it helps to have a clear picture of what your daily foot traffic looks like. Retail stores use people counters to understand traffic patterns, especially their peak business hours. By monitoring foot traffic retailers can better appreciate their customer conversion rate and whether there were any lost sales opportunities.
How does people counting work?
At the most basic level, a retail store can implement people counting by having someone manually count shoppers using a pen and paper, or with a tally counter. Alternatively, they can go the more productive and less labor intensive route of using an electronic people counting system which has a 95%-99% rate of accuracy.
People counters deploy different kinds of technology to detect human traffic passing through a specific area. Here are a few examples:
1. Infrared people counters
They project infrared beams and count whenever the beam is broken by traffic movement. They can be fitted as overhead or horizontal sensors as follows:
- Overhead sensors are mounted above store entrances or exits to identify foot traffic.
- Horizontal sensors are installed on either side of a door and work by projecting a break beam across the doorway.
An example of a people counting device that uses infrared technology and is well suited for retail stores is the PEARL Wireless People Counter.
2. Video-based counters
They combine specially designed cameras and image-processing algorithms to automatically count and analyse traffic flow within an area. Some are capable of differentiating between adults and children.
3. Thermal people counters
Thermal traffic counters rely on human heat signatures to count people. They use thermal imaging technology which is especially useful in low light and difficult environmental conditions.
4. Wi-Fi people counter
A wi-fi people counter relies on signals emitted by smartphones to count the human traffic flow in an area.
5. Pressure sensor people counters
Where infrared sensors are unable to cope with the level of human traffic, pressure sensor counters can be installed. The pressure sensor is fitted under a path surface and foot fall is analysed by measuring the downward pressure applied by pedestrians.
People counters operate in a 3 step process, namely:
- Data capture: sensors detect and collect data on human traffic movement.
- Data Processing: data is filtered to eliminate irrelevant movements retaining an accurate people count.
- Storage and Analytics: count data is saved in a database or cloud system where it can be analysed for report building.
How can people counting help retail stores?
Brick and mortar store owners can benefit a lot from people counting systems as follows:
- Understanding customer behavior and trends.
- Optimizing staff allocation and store layout.
- Improving operational efficiency.
- Enhanced customer experiences and satisfaction.
- Evaluating marketing campaign success.
- Effecting data-driven decision-making through metrics like conversion rates, average transaction value, and customer acquisition cost.
- Enhancing loss prevention.
Leverage the power of people counting for your business
To see first-hand how our people counting technology can help you book a free demo with the Storetraffic team today.
