Covid has changed the way we shop forever. With more than 85% of Australians’ making purchases online, it’s clear the future of shopping is shifting more towards the virtual world.

These statistics could be daunting if you’re a shop owner struggling to find ways to bring customers back into your brick-and-mortar store. It may seem that there is no way to compete with the convenience of shopping from the comfort of a computer. Online shopping and in-store retail therapy does not have to be mutually exclusive experiences, in fact they can nicely compliment each other.

Never fear, customers will always be drawn to the real-world shopping experience. Smelling the new products, trying on the clothes, and engaging with a friendly expert will always be a human-centric experience that cannot be replaced by simple clicks of the finger.

So how do we make that experience better for customers? It’s hard enough to juggle staff and shoppers while ensuring you are meeting everyone’s expectations, but people counting technology gives you the chance to finally understand the service needs of your customers and what they want.

Strategies to Boost Retail Foot Traffic

What is people counting technology?

People counting technology has been around for a while, but most businesses are yet to understand its importance in boosting a store’s productivity. The technology is easy to use, automated and accurate. Now let’s get into how it works and how it can uncover your customer’s habits and expectations.

How do people counting solutions work?

People counting technology uses advanced and highly accurate sensors to count and monitor the number of people within a space. The sensors range from motion detectors, lasers, and security cameras.

They can be installed anywhere, from outside your store or inside, meaning you can count the people leaving and entering, and how long they spend in a specific area. It provides a clear understanding of how your customers move and what keeps them interested.

It allows you to measure sales conversions to the number of people entering the store, it also allows you to ensure the safety of staff and customers, and it provides insight into how your store can be customised to accommodate the flow of traffic. We’ve created 6 alluring ways that people counting technology will help keep your customers coming back to your store.

1. Read your customer’s minds

Data analytics gives you a birds-eye view of your customer’s movements within the store. With it, you can interpret how your customer moves and what most attracts their attention.

It identifies peak times, so you can determine opening hours and whether to hire additional staff to meet demands. You can identify where they move within the store, what hours are the busiest, and how long they spend looking in specific areas. This is a goldmine of information about customer expectations, and it will ensure you understand their common needs.

2. Design the perfect store

By visualising and mapping the flow of traffic within your store, you can identify where people are spending the most time and the direction they move. This gives you the chance to optimise your store for the smoothest flow of traffic.

You can design your store to form a streamline, and with the data you inherit from determining dwell time, you can place all the popular items perfectly within that line. The sensors can detect the dwell time in the shop window, so you can experiment with what window items are pulling dwellers into the store. You completely rule out any unnecessary and unpopular space.

3. Keep difficult customers satisfied

Data analytics reveals the peak times of store occupancy, meaning you can determine when more staff is needed. Having the proper number of staff means all customers are attended to and cared for. By determining the highest and lowest times for customers, you can optimise your rostering schedule to meet demands and not be overstaffed on those quiet days. With people counting technology, you’ll always be ready for the crunch of peak hours.

4. Eliminate any congested queues

Reduce customer wait times in lines by ensuring you have the appropriate number of staff to meet the number of customers. You can also alter the store layout to accommodate for line formation, so it’s not impeding on the shoppers, and flows fast and smoothly. People counting also allows you to determine how long people are spending in queues to change rooms, which allows you to determine whether you need to install additional rooms.

5. Make sales while it’s quiet

People counters allow you to see the lowest store occupancy times during the day. You can measure this data against external factors like the weather or opening times for neighbouring stores. With this information, you can decide the best times to promote online deals or advertisements to draw people into your online store and optimise sales while your physical store is quiet.

6. Control all your stores from one interface

You can access data across all stores through a centralised interface that works on any phone, tablet or computer. If one store is doing well, but others aren’t, you can assess the factors contributing to that store’s success, and you can implement those contributors into your struggling stores. This ensures all your stores are meeting customer expectations and are optimising sales.

Why choose Abakus Analytics?

With over 30 years of experience, Abakus Analytics are the renown people counting experts. We make understanding people counting technology easy, providing a lucid and holistic approach to your business’s unique needs.

There are no secrets, and there’s no fuss. Our technology can be tailored to any retail, commercial or public space, with accurate reporting capabilities. Our data analytics will empower you to give customers the ultimate shopping experience that they’ve missed during lockdown.

We oversee every step of the operation, ensuring you are not left in the dark. Once our solution is providing insight into your customer’s needs, we continue to provide support, making sure our technology is working to its highest efficiency. If you want to better understand your space and the people who use it, contact us here today.