Frequently Asked Questions

About people counting and people counters

A people counter can be anything from a simple manual counting clicker to a highly sophisticated automatic counter.

Manual counter - a person stands by an entrance and uses a clicker to count people in/out over a period of time. Expensive, time consuming and questionable reliability.
Beam break counters - simple devices mounted on the side of entrances and count how many times a beam across the entrance-way is broken. Technically simple but very inaccurate when busy or counting groups/families.
Video counters (mono video, stereo video) - these devices are mounted above entrances and use video analysis to count people. In well lit conditions, accuracy is good, however many end users and customers have concerns over privacy.
Thermal counters - use advanced thermal arrays to detect the presence and movement of people by tracking their body heat. An anonymous solution, this method has a similar accuracy to video counters.
Infrared counters - mounted above the entrance-way, these devices use infrared light to accurately count people moving in and out. By using infrared light, privacy of everyone coming and going is protected as no personally identifiable information is captured. Accuracy is extremely high, in excess of 99%.

Irisys specialise in thermal and infrared counters. Both offer high accuracy and both do it anonymously, protecting privacy.

Find out more about our thermal people counter, Gazelle 2.

Find out more about our infrared people counter, Vector 4D.

Irisys people counters are some of the most accurate counters available - our Vector 4D people counter has an unrivaled count accuracy in excess of 99%.

The unique sensors in Irisys people counting devices mean they can cope with variable lighting conditions, climates, temperatures and operate seamlessly both indoors and outdoors.

Irisys sensors are installed all over the world, from Sweden to Dubai, from California to Japan, and achieve market leading reliability, with an average product lifetime of around 20 years, delivering high reliability, high accuracy, low maintenance counting.

Businesses must respond to the needs of their customers, so an objective measure of when their customers need help is a huge bonus to planning workforce scheduling.

Sometimes customers need one to one assistance to make their purchase choices, and for stores with this problem a way of measuring trends and giving an exact number to the volumes of visits to the store means that you can prepare the right number of staff in advance.

You can also use a people counting system like this to schedule maintenance in your customer washrooms, and do so on the basis of actual usage rather than at arbitrary times throughout the day.

Your conversion rate can be calculated by dividing the number of sales you make, by the number of people that visit your store.

Conversion rate = number of sales ÷ number of people

Tips for utilising your conversion rate:

Get an accurate measure of the number of people entering and leaving your store.
Take an accurate measure of the value of sales for the same time period.
Analyse the data. Consider different ways of approaching it.

Other useful retail analytics metrics are:

Average basket size = total value of sales ÷ number of sales

Size of retail opportunity for the period = total number of people x average basket size.

Making sure that you convert as many of the visitors to your store into paying customers is vital for all retailers - here are some tips on how retail analytics can help you improve:

Make sure you know when the busiest times for your store are, and schedule accordingly.
Measure the impact of marketing campaigns on footfall, and identify the ones that have a positive effect on conversion.
Experiment with different merchandise layouts. Measure customer flow patterns throughout the store to give you some ideas.
Give each store their own target based on their real performance. See what the best stores in your estate are doing to achieve their successes and share this best practice.
Deliver the best customer service. With a queue management system you can maintain you can reduce waiting times, and estimate the labour hours required to meet your service promise, and plan appropriately.

A wide range of support documentation and downloads can be accessed through our Partner Portal.

Existing (and new) partners and customers can sign up for a free account.

Yes, Irisys continues to support many of our legacy products.

If you need downloads or documentation, please visit the Partner Portal, otherwise please check out our support page for more information.

Infrared is a type of light with a wavelength that is longer than visible light. It cannot be seen, but it can be detected. We can sense it – as heat. Even objects that we think of as being very cold, such as an ice cube, emit infrared.

Irisys has a range of counters, some of which do emit infrared light.

Our Gazelle range of people counters, and models developed before this, all use a passive infrared array to detect and count people.

However, our newest product, the Vector 4D, uses infrared time-of-flight technology, which does emit infrared light.

Irisys' thermal people counter, Gazelle 2, can achieve a count accuracy greater than 98%.

No. Our thermal people counters can cover a wider area than most video solutions, and we can monitor entrances of up to 25m across using a very small number of sensors. With our wide tracker technology, our systems can be seamlessly networked to cover entrances of virtually any width.

Yes. The minimum height for a thermal people counter is more or less standard, irrespective of whether it is a thermal device, a video solution or infrared time of flight.

The minimum mounting height for a thermal people counter is about 2.1m - any lower and people would be walking into it!

Weather will affect any people counting system, but Irisys have successfully installed systems for users in a diverse range of climates, from Dubai to Finland, the UK to Hawaii. In fact, our range of thermal people counters includes several that are specifically designed for outdoor use.

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