Analytics >

Foot Traffic Counter Analytics

Analytics >

Foot Traffic Counter Analytics

A polygon style illustration displaying a male on the left and a female on right, both wearing a suit. The male is pointing as a clothing manikin. A sensor is directly above the manikin and a visual representation of its field of vision by a cone shape represents it is monitoring that area.

Is your business collecting foot traffic analytics?

Everyone knows analytic data is essential for tracking the performance of online shops. Less well known is that analytic data can be equally helpful for offline shops (“bricks and mortar” retail or wholesale buildings). This data can let you know a lot of things about the performance and security of your business.

For example:

How many people enter the store?
How many people are moving through particular areas of the store?
Is the number of people who left the same as the number of people who entered?

That last one is something that’s not usually considered, but it can be important because it can let you know if somebody that should have left the area has not done so. This could mean that they have dishonest intentions, or it could also mean they suffered some kind of mishap and were unable to leave. In either case, you need to know, so you can do something about it.

It is very important, however, to understand that the science of physical analytic counters is not 100% perfect, so there can very rarely be some instances where people are not counted entering or leaving. These could include:

Two people walking line abreast in perfect step with one another;
A parent holding a child;
A person blocking the path of the counting device for longer than expected;
A person entering and leaving multiple times in succession.

In each of these cases, two or more people could be counted as one person, or one person could be counted as more people. Usually this will not have a significant impact on the analytic information, and the information is still useful. The accuracy of information collection can be improved by installing more counting devices at each checkpoint.

A polygon style illustration displaying a left hand holding a tablet, which is displaying data management software whilst the right hand’s index finger is poised to interact with the content on the tablet.

A polygon style illustration displaying a bearded male, smiling and wearing a t-shirt and an apron holding up a thumbs-up sign with his right hand, in the background is a visual representation of a bar and line graph.

How retail foot traffic data is used

This information can tell you important things about the way you run your business and the success or failure of particular approaches. For example, it can tell you:

How many people are being attracted to enter your store each day.
How many people are attracted to particular promotional displays in your store.
The conversion rate (number entering vs number making purchase).
Which areas of the store are less popular or more popular.

From this data, you can make changes to the store layout, promotional displays, decide which products may need to be discontinued, and think about ways to attract people into the less popular areas, so you increase the purchasing potential store-wide.

A polygon style illustration displaying a male facing towards a sensor mounted on the ceiling that shows a visual representation of its field of vision by a cone shape. Both his hands are pointing towards it in a way that has both his thumbs and index fingers shaped in an “L” that join up as a square. It is implied that he is measuring or determining position.

Collect foot traffic data with a retail traffic counter device

You will find a range of high-quality counting devices available from Retail Motion. We select only the best products in each category to help our clients get the most accurate and useful data to help in their business decisions. This is how you know that when you buy from Retail Motion, you are investing in quality.

How a store foot traffic counter works

There are different types available that have various features that may improve the accuracy or reliability of the information collection. The majority are passive motion detectors, which count each time a beam of invisible light is broken by somebody (or something) passing through it.

More advanced systems include active thermal scanning and other methods to make certain that the object is at least biological. Using more counting devices and calibrating them to work in synchronous mode will improve the accuracy further, by reducing false positives and negatives.

A retail foot traffic counter will help you make better business decisions

It really can make a difference. Without this analytic data, you must simply make your best guess about some aspects of the business. When you have good analytic data, you don’t have to make so many guesses, because the data will indicate the facts with more precision.

Contact Retail Motion to find out more about getting a foot traffic counter

We will be happy to answer any questions you may have about using a retail foot traffic counter in your business. Simply call us on the number shown on this page or use our contact form to get in touch.