The Technologies Behind People Counting System

Do you know you are being counted almost everywhere you go, and this is becoming a widespread practice? Do you know why? Let's take a look at what the market calls People Counting technology to understand the scenario better. 

People Counting is a tracking system that combines people counter devices and an Intelligent Platform responsible for processing the data they collect from the devices to reveal actionable business insights. 

Without insight into customer behavior, your retail sales conversion and marketing tactics are all but useless. You need to understand your customers’ motivations, preferences, and desires to meet their demands and increase sales effectively. Consider that there is only a 20 to 30% chance that the average customer will purchase in your store. With the odds already stacked against you, you need to do everything you can to understand a customer’s behavior to increase the purchase probability. Short of asking your customers directly about their behavior (which is invasive, rude, and not recommended!), what tactics can you use to understand who they are and what they want?  

Sensor technology is only responsible for collecting customer data. When tracking behavior, you must learn what to do with the data. Data analytics software’s job is to present you how to view all the acquired information in context. It takes data and turns it into insights to help retail store owners make better and more informed decisions. For example, customer count data alone are just numbers. Vemcount Analytics platform visualizes that data in context, showing when your peak hours are, the recommended staff to customer ratio, how many sales conversions occur during those hours, and just about any other customizable KPI you can imagine.

A people counter is an electronic tool used to measure the number of people crossing a particular passage or entrance. It can be anything that counts, from a simple manual clicker, smart-flooring technologies, infrared beams, thermal imaging systems, WiFi trackers to video counters with advanced machine learning algorithms. Many industries today are using people couting. Retail stores are using people counting systems for calculating conversions rate, and staff planning.  Shopping malls are using it for monitoring high-traffic areas and public transportation for occupancy throughout the route.

On the other side of the system, we have the brain operating the data collected by these devices. The Intelligent Platform is a data analytics software, playing with the numbers and crossing any other information people input into the system to produce reports full of valuable insights into business performance. Therefore, People Counting is the process of tracking the number of humans in an area and analyzing behavioral and movement patterns in context. This data analysis will guide business decisions effectively, from daily operations to marketing strategies.  

How Everything Started & Where We Are Now 

The People Counting system has evolved intensely. Until arriving at the stage we are today, with the implementation of Artificial Intelligence into the devices, it was a long way. In the beginning, people were counting manually, meaning that a store employee would stand near the facility's entrance and click on a counting device each time a person entered the store. Of course, this soon was considered inaccurate due to the high level of human error and inefficient usage of human resources. At that time, they also tried to use pressure-sensitive sensors that count walk-ins based on the number of footsteps on a pressure-sensitive platform. 

In 1988 in the UK, Meadowhall Centre was the first store to try beam counters. They were covering 14 entrances and recording footfall of 20 million shoppers per annum. This counter was using a single, horizontal infrared beam across the entrance. When someone crosses the laser, a tick is 'recorded,' and the visitor counted. This first generation of counters has an expected accuracy level of 60% to 80%. 

The second generation of counters arrived around 2005, with thermal counters. It uses array sensors to detect heat sources. These systems are typically mounted overhead. They can be inaccurate as thermal counters have difficulty measuring the dwell time of targets beyond a few seconds, giving them an average accuracy of 80% to 85%. 

In 2012, video and WiFi counting arrived in the market, becoming the 3rd-generation of people counter. Video counters use complex algorithms and camera imaging to count the number of people directly from a videotape. WiFi counting functionality collects signals from shoppers' smartphones, including outside the store. This adds several important metrics for businesses, especially for the retail industry, such as determining how effective a window marketing campaign is. With video counting technology, the expected accuracy rate of the device is 80% to 98%. 

The Uses of People Counting Technologies 

Now that you already have an overview of technology development, you might be asking yourself: why businesses want to count people? Well, they became commonly used by retail establishments to judge the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, building design and layout, and the popularity of particular brands. And this is just the tip of the iceberg! 

How can they have all of that by just counting visitors? Let's organize things and put them all into the right perspectives and contexts. When the assistance of an intelligent platform entered the game, counting people and tracking their flow got all the benefits of "Data Analytics." And it revealed a new complete world for many industries, not only retailers. 

Many industries use footfall analytics in different contexts and for different reasons. One of the main factors driving the growth of people counting technology was the COVID-19 pandemic and the related safety requirements to prevent the spread of the virus, as the need to track the number of visitors inside their facilities.  

But footfall analytics has been useful far beyond managing businesses' capacity. A comprehensive data analytics platform analyzes the information from the counters so businesses managers can: 

Monitor Occupancy & Traffic Flow 

- Access the total and the current number of visitors in a location.  

- Identify the traffic outside (passersby) for a clear overview of how many customers are drawn into a store and how window displays are converting into sales.  

- Get zone-specific information on customer occupancy and average dwell time, and traffic patterns to optimize store layout and understand customer journey and behavior.  

- Receive real-time data on current and average waiting times, customer interaction times, and queue length and abandonment to enhance the customer experience. 

Improve Facility & Staff Management 

- Identify peak times during the day, week, month, or year to allocate staff and resources more efficiently and save money. 

- Understand and respond to the need for real-time services, such as checkout, fitting room, bathroom, and security staff. 

Track room-specific occupancy to maximize energy efficiency by integrating automatic lighting and HVAC systems, controlling noise, humidity, and much more. 

Adjust Marketing Strategy 

- Compare and rank your locations based on performance through hourly or daily updated top/bottom lists. 

- Visualize gender distribution and height filtration (child vs. adult) to target marketing campaigns that match customer profiles.  

- Measure the commercial potential of an area or the impact of window displays. 

- Discover how sensitive your traffic is to fluctuations in the weather.  

- Integrate footfall data with Point of Sales (POS) System to calculate the conversion rate, sales per visitor, sales per square meter, average basket size, fitting room conversion, and more. These KPI's can be used for small, medium -or lager business to expanding and optiziming they're revenue share. The Data Analytics impact every area of the retail business, from marketing, sales and customer experience. 

People Counting has been demonstrated to be a system rich in useful metrics not only for retailers & malls but also for supermarkets, pharmacies, public institutions and areas, educational centers, offices, banks, hotels, and many entertainment services. 

It is helping businesses thrive by increasing their marketing results, streamlining operations, and improving facilities management. It all because by counting people, companies understand their customers' behaviors. After all, people count! We are finally the protagonists, getting much better experiences.