There are many benefits to holiday people counting. In your retail location, people counting can help you determine when and where you see the most foot traffic in your store. When you know where people are likely to be, you can determine where additional or fewer employees may be needed.
Below, we have listed four specific ways people counting can help your retail location.
1- Determine increase in shoppers during the holiday season
You should notice an increase in shoppers around the holidays. Use holiday people counting to roughly determine how many people are in your store in real time and how much of an increase your business sees in foot traffic during this season. To make an accurate comparison, you will need to know how much traffic your store receives normally.
Most retail locations provide promotions specific to the holidays. The traffic from the holiday promotion can be measured for effectiveness by being compared with the traffic your store sees during the holiday season and during the off-season.
2- Which sections of your store get the most traffic?
With holiday people counting, you can determine which areas of your store receive the most traffic. Not only can people counters be placed in entrances, but they work great when placed in specific sections of your store as well—such as electronics or toys—to measure the traffic that flows through those areas. The area of the store with the most traffic may be the obvious choice, such as the aforementioned toys or electronics, but it may also be an area you might not have expected. Place the people counters in different sections to determine the traffic that passes through that area. You won’t know where most of your customers are unless you properly track the traffic flow.
Don’t forget to take location into consideration when holiday people counting. If traffic flow is missing certain sections of your store, it may be time to consider this area for a promotional display. When using holiday people counting to know where your store sees the most traffic, you can determine where extra employees should be staffed to ensure every customer is helped. When a customer fails to receive help, they may look to one of your competitors for their holiday retail needs.
A great trick is to place popular retail items closer to the back of the store, ensuring that the customers have to walk past other retail offerings on their way to get the item they are looking for.
3- Determine approximately how much of your holiday traffic converts to sales
Holiday people counting can help you find an approximate number of store visitors that convert to sales by measuring the number of people entering your store and tracking sales transactions that directly correspond with that number. It’s also a great way to determine the ROI of your promotions. If you have high traffic in your store but a low conversion rate, that’s your cue to try and find where the problems may lie. The problem could be that training needs to be increased or possibly that more staff needs to be on the floor.
4- Plan for future holiday events and promotions
Determine whether your store can handle a high volume of shoppers while finding trends that may occur at certain times of the year with holiday people counting. Maybe your store had a regular flow of customers at the beginning of December that went down by the time that January rolled around; holiday people counting can help you determine this.
Use traffic trends to determine how many visitors your store may get during next year’s holiday season. When you have enough historical data, you can even determine when and where holiday promotions work best, where to place popular items, and when to expect the most foot traffic in your store. You can also determine what entrances customers are more likely to use and what dates and times to staff for peak customer volume.
It’s a great idea to conduct holiday people counting for your retail business. The traffic counts can help you determine when and where your store receives the most foot traffic. You can even determine promotional effectiveness by tracking how many people move through the section displaying the promoted item. Prepare for this holiday season and future holiday retail traffic by using holiday people counting in your store!