How Can I Squeeze More Money from my Retail Store?

There are two key ways to generate more cash from a retail store: increase income or make efficiency savings.

Data can have an important role to play in informing both of these options. More accurate data leads to better, more efficient decision making and also contributes to identifying opportunities for expanding income. So, if you’re looking to squeeze more money from your retail store, data is going to be the first step.

Collecting data from your bricks-and-mortar store

We are used to hearing about data and metrics when it comes to online stores – and how to use them to optimise performance and improve efficiency.

However, it’s also possible to collect data from a bricks-and-mortar store that can be used in much the same way. One of the simplest ways to collect key data from a bricks-and-mortar store is via people counting. This cutting edge technology provides essential insight, not just into the numbers of visitors to a store, but also information such as the way that customers use a store and when they visit.

Benefits of people counting

People counting generates data, and with the benefit of that insight you can:

• Track the number of visitors to your store. This data can be used to optimise staff schedules so that peak volumes are catered for and staff are not present and being paid when they are not really required. The result is better customer service that can help to improve conversions, as well as the opportunity to reduce unnecessary spend.
• Analyse footfall patterns and movement throughout the building. Insight such as this provides brick-and-mortar stores with key information on how the store is used. It can be employed to improve the available space and create an effective and pleasant environment that improves shopper experience and generates more opportunity for conversions along the customer journey.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of store layout and marketing initiatives. People counting data insights will reveal where high trafficked locations are in the store, enabling displays and placement in those areas to be designed to optimise conversion. Marketing initiatives can also be monitored – high traffic to a particular display area containing products that are the subject of a recent marketing initiative provides a good measure of marketing success.
• Conversion analysis. With people counting data, you can compare the number of people entering and leaving the store with the number of conversions during the same time period. With this data, conversion analysis can be calculated in a number of ways, such as multiplying the average basket size (total value of sales ÷ number of sales) by the total number of visitors to see the average spend per visit.
• Improve customer service. People counting data will reveal key numbers, such as how many people are standing in line during peak and non-peak times, providing the opportunity to improve customer service, by implementing better queue management, for example.

How does it work?

People counters are advanced retail analytics tools that are designed to provide key data on customer behaviours and store performance. Irisys people counters are fitted to the ceiling of a store and use thermal or Time-of-Flight technology to count the people who pass underneath. The sensors detect the heat emitted by people passing underneath as infrared radiation.

There are a variety of retail analytics tools that can help any business owner to make smarter in-store decisions. People counters are an advanced way to gather in-depth data and insights into how your store and customers operate so that you can safeguard its progress into the future – and help create more income right now.