People counting is the use of sensor technology to obtain and measure the number of people entering and leaving a certain space. 

 Also known as footfall and walk-in traffic counting, people counting is more important than ever to monitor and regulate the number of people entering and leaving a building. Whether you’re a retailer, building owner, or manager, you face the task of ensuring the safety of all individuals within your space. But monitoring the volume of occupants is no easy job – managing staff and trying to count occupancy can leave plenty of room for error. Luckily, to meet the current regulations of store volume, there is people counting technology designed to relieve you of this stressful task by ensuring the safety of citizens, while also optimising space flow and allowing you to accurately measure sales.

How does people counting work?

People counting has become more common amongst businesses who want to gain insight into the way customers use their space. Why is that important? The technology allows you to determine the greatest layout for the most efficient flow of traffic based on where your occupants spend the most time and how they move. The data allows you to create the ultimate space for your occupants, and increase sales and productivity.

The people counting sensors interpret the volume density of space within that area to reveal where the most amount of people are spending their time. The data also detects the flow of traffic, giving building owners and managers the ability to observe and alter the space to achieve optimal efficiency. The technology varies from security cameras to motion detectors and can be fitted into any interior or exterior space.

People counting features:

  • Gain total control of your environment

  • Protect everyone in your space

  • Keep statistics anonymous

Gain total control of your environment

The data obtained by the sensors travels directly to a user-friendly interface, allowing managers to measure the statistics in real-time, making for a faster solution. The display monitors usually provide graphs that measure the number of sales to the number of store occupants. This gives management the ability to reflect and make changes to the rostering system to improve sales and meet customer demands.

Protect everyone in your space

People counting technology sends real-time alerts of potential security and safety breaches. If a person is spending an unusual amount of time in a space, the data is sent as an alert to management. It also notifies store and building owners of breaches of social distancing regulations by determining high density areas.

Keep statistics anonymous

The sensors used as people counting technology only detect movement and traffic, there is no invasion of space. People remain anonymous as their faces and features are blurred and not detected. This ensures the privacy of the people within your space, meaning you can gain your data without impacting confidentiality of your occupants.

People counting benefits:

  • Happier staff for greater productivity

  • Identify potential savings through unused space

  • Avoid risk of infection

Happier staff for greater productivity

People counting technology provides insight into the flow of traffic in your space, allowing you to monitor queue wait times and volume density. This gives you the chance to alter the streamline, so staff and customers can move about their space more efficiently. The technology can also work with the building management system (BMS) to determine the perfect amount of airflow for the right amount of people, making a more comfortable environment for the inhabitants. With the workers happy and customers relaxed, you can expect to see greater productivity.

Identify potential savings through unused space

Because people counting technology can identify the flow of traffic within a space, building and store owners are able to identify any unused areas. Allowing owners to optimize every inch of the room, and ensuring even distribution and flow of traffic. This also means there’s no wasted energy or heating in unused rooms, as the data can identify where to reduce and redirect the heating, ventilation, air-conditioning (HVAC). Visualising where energy can be reduced can save building owners up to 30% in heating and electricity bills. 

Avoid risk of infection

People counting technology ensures you’re always monitoring the safety of occupants.  Optimise a healthy workplace by utilising cleaning schedules, which you can determine through data alerts that let you know the maximum number of usage before it needs to be cleaned. Some people counting technology uses heat detectors, which can send an alert if a person’s body temperature is high. Being able to identify large number of levels within your space will also ensure you can distribute groups of people to mitigate the risk of infection.

How Abakus Analytics can help you

Abakus Analytics has over 30-years of experience in providing the most accurate and advanced people counting technology. Our solutions can be tailored to any space, whether it’s commercial, retail or public. We will ensure your space is used to its full potential. With the best reporting capabilities, highest levels of accuracy, easy-to-interpret data, and simple and convenient dashboards, you will never lose sight of the literal ins and outs of your business. If you want to understand your customers and your space like never before, get in touch with us today, and take the stress out of managing your numbers.