Benefits of People Counting

Dec, 2020

In the words of Lord Kelvin, a physicist and mathematician of the last century, “What is not defined cannot be measured. What is not measured, cannot be improved. What is not improved, is always degraded.”

This age old advice holds true even now, in fact, especially now. Management gurus have time and again used this adage to drill in the benefits of keeping score and reporting to improve performance in all aspects of business. Nowhere is this more apt than in retail. That is where people counting comes in.

Having a people counter is essential for retailers of any size, but it is especially important for small businesses that don’t have the benefit of analyzing data from numerous locations when making crucial decisions. When used intelligently, a people counter can shape your business in many ways other than just providing information on foot traffic.

Retail people counters provide valuable visitor analytics

People counting devices placed at strategic locations in a retail store can be used to collect valuable customer data. When this data is interpreted, it gives managers a better idea of how their store is performing and which areas need improvement.

For example, data from street counters can show how many people walked past your store, while people counting devices tell you how many people visited. This informs the manager of the need to perhaps make the store more attractive to passers-by.

Visitor analytics helps retail stores understand their physical locations better vis-à-vis customer interaction. When utilized correctly, the data collected can be used to provide real value.

It provides insight into customer behavior

A budget-friendly door counter placed near the entrance of your store will allow you to analyze foot traffic data on customer walk-ins on particular days of the week and the time of day.

Using this information, you can implement much-needed changes such as hiring additional staff for the peak times, adjusting your staff’s leaves or adjusting your store’s operating hours.

Allows you to understand how external factors affect your business

A people counter isn’t just useful for calculating day-to-day visitor numbers; it can also be a key tool for understanding larger trends that affect your business. The longer you amass store traffic data, the better you’ll be able to see which factors affect your business beyond your control.

You will be able to see if any particular event in the neighbourhood brings in more traffic to your store. With this insight you’ll be able to decide if you should optimize your advertising in the lead up to such events.

It gives you real time data on usage of space

It can also help institutions gain better perspective of how a given space is being used. For example, The University of Rochester's River Campusbegan usingpeople at the beginning of the fall semester in five spaces within the Rush Rhees libraryto help students see, in real-time, how many other people are in a space before deciding where to study.

These are just some of the use cases of having credible information and hard data at hand. If you’d like to explore more ways to optimize your business and operations using this technology, do get in touch with us.