Customer counting systems-4 WC Blog 276
Door counting sensor-3
Customer counting device-3
Customer Counting Systems Can Provide Information To Improve Staffing And Generate Additional Sales
One of the things I love about retail is the ability to help someone who knows they need something, but can only describe what they want to do, not what it is they need. OR the person who comes in with something very specific that we don’t have, but I can help them find a better alternative we DO have (especially if I can save them money in the process!). As a sales specialist, driving sales is a measure of success as well as customer satisfaction. Similarly, you can judge the success of your store by the number of people you are attracting and how many transactions that take place at the registers. But do transactions alone tell the whole story of how successful a store is? They don’t tell you the number of potentially missed sales you missed because you did not know store browsers were not converted to purchasers. Wouldn’t it be great to turn those “window shoppers” into buyers? By using a customer counting system, it is possible to find out how many people are actually in the store during the day. Subtracting the number of transactions that took place from the foot traffic a door counting sensor reports and you can get a good feel for how many more transactions might have been generated that day.
Customer counting systems today provide retailers with information from a door counting sensor that reports how many people have entered and exited a building during the day and at what times. A customer counting device can also be used to track electronic article surveillance alarms (EAS) if your store is using an EAS system with antennas and EAS tags to prevent theft. Store management can review daily reports to see how many alarm activations there were during the day and at what times. In other words, customer counting systems don’t just count people they provide useful data that can help manage the resources of a store. One other thing I should mention, as someone with nearly 20 years of Retail Loss Prevention experience, I strongly suggest ALL stores have an EAS system installed in order to significantly reduce merchandise shortage. That being said, if a store does not have an EAS system for whatever reason, customer counting systems such as Checkpoint’s Visiplus people counters can be free standing without the EAS system in place.
I know there may be some skeptics who think that all a door counting sensor is going to do is give more information to sift through daily. But I would like to show that the data from a customer counting system can benefit the store if used properly. I was working on the salesfloor a few weeks ago and had a couple come in and look around the furniture department. They came in looking for a desk our company only sold online but they did not know that. I was able to explain this and offered an alternative desk that was on sale and would meet their needs. After spending time with the couple, listening to their needs and finding out they would be adding another desk later, I found another desk that would be on sale the next day (when our new ad started). I also showed them some chairs and they decided they could use one with the new home office arrangement. The total purchase for this couple was around $1,100.
Had I not greeted and spent time with them, this couple would have left the store empty handed, we did not have the desk on hand they thought they wanted to look at. Our store uses a customer counting device and we would do track customer transactions versus door counts. This would have been a case of two more people visiting our store and one less transaction. If a store manager only looks at daily transactions, there is no gauge to determine if opportunities are being missed. Customer counting systems can give breakdowns of foot traffic by time of day and if this information is used correctly, a manager can plan extra staffing based on prior history and reduced staffing for hours when there are fewer people visiting. Those extra employees may make the difference between a customer walking in and out and a customer discovering something in the store they didn’t know they needed or wanted. Generate more sales by staffing based on customer counting device data.
Get more information on customer counting systems. Contact us or call1.770.426.0547 today.
One of the things I love about retail is the ability to help someone who knows they need something, but can only describe what they want to do, not what it is they need. OR the person who comes in with something very specific that we don’t have, but I can help them find a better alternative we DO have (especially if I can save them money in the process!). As a sales specialist, driving sales is a measure of success as well as customer satisfaction. Similarly, you can judge the success of your store by the number of people you are attracting and how many transactions that take place at the registers. But do transactions alone tell the whole story of how successful a store is? They don’t tell you the number of potentially missed sales you missed because you did not know store browsers were not converted to purchasers. Wouldn’t it be great to turn those “window shoppers” into buyers? By using a customer counting system, it is possible to find out how many people are actually in the store during the day. Subtracting the number of transactions that took place from the foot traffic a door counting sensor reports and you can get a good feel for how many more transactions might have been generated that day.
Customer counting systems today provide retailers with information from a door counting sensor that reports how many people have entered and exited a building during the day and at what times. A customer counting device can also be used to track electronic article surveillance alarms (EAS) if your store is using an EAS system with antennas and EAS tags to prevent theft. Store management can review daily reports to see how many alarm activations there were during the day and at what times. In other words, customer counting systems don’t just count people they provide useful data that can help manage the resources of a store. One other thing I should mention, as someone with nearly 20 years of Retail Loss Prevention experience, I strongly suggest ALL stores have an EAS system installed in order to significantly reduce merchandise shortage. That being said, if a store does not have an EAS system for whatever reason, customer counting systems such as Checkpoint’s Visiplus people counters can be free standing without the EAS system in place.
I know there may be some skeptics who think that all a door counting sensor is going to do is give more information to sift through daily. But I would like to show that the data from a customer counting system can benefit the store if used properly. I was working on the salesfloor a few weeks ago and had a couple come in and look around the furniture department. They came in looking for a desk our company only sold online but they did not know that. I was able to explain this and offered an alternative desk that was on sale and would meet their needs. After spending time with the couple, listening to their needs and finding out they would be adding another desk later, I found another desk that would be on sale the next day (when our new ad started). I also showed them some chairs and they decided they could use one with the new home office arrangement. The total purchase for this couple was around $1,100.
Had I not greeted and spent time with them, this couple would have left the store empty handed, we did not have the desk on hand they thought they wanted to look at. Our store uses a customer counting device and we would track customer transactions versus door counts. This would have been a case of two more people visiting our store and one less transaction. If a store manager only looks at daily transactions, there is no gauge to determine if opportunities are being missed. Customer counting systems can give breakdowns of foot traffic by time of day and if this information is used correctly, a manager can plan extra staffing based on prior history and reduced staffing for hours when there are fewer people visiting. Those extra employees may make the difference between a customer walking in and out and a customer discovering something in the store they didn’t know they needed or wanted. Generate more sales by staffing based on customer counting device data.
Get more information on customer counting systems. Contact us or call1.770.426.0547 today.
