AI – Traffic Prediction in Retail Stores

by Martin Hildgen Web Analyst

Retail Industry has faced its worst financial year during 2017. According to Fung Global Retail Technology, more than 6,700 retail stores have been closed down. Therefore, it is inevitable to think about possible future plans in order to keep the retail industry going. But what exactly does future hold for retailers?

We are living in the era of big data and augmented reality. We locate ourselves between screens and metrics to understand and be informed about our surroundings. Each and every day, there is news about artificial Intelligence and the sectors that have started to benefit from its perks. What about retail industry?

For any retail business that seeks success both in customer relations and in the means of profit, it is of great importance to be able to know how many potential customers enter or pass by that physical store and what strikes their attention. Thanks to traffic prediction technologies, it is now possible to know how a business is affected by footfall of potential customers and how many visitors your store attracts every day/month/hour.

However, there are many different technologies that can be used to predict traffic. Here are the two of the most common traffic prediction technologies and the advantages they bring to any kind of brick and mortar retail store: people counting and heat map analysis.

People Counting Technology

Counting people matters. Regardless of what type of service or product a retail business offers, it is highly important for business owners to know how many potential customers enter their store and how many of them actually make a purchase. With people counting technology, retail business owners will not only be able to obtain the data of entering and exiting customers. They will also be able to see the effects of variables such as, but not limited to, seasonality, weather conditions and holidays on the traffic.

With the help of a sophisticated people counter manufacturers, people counting system, business owners can tell how their real time traffic changes as they count the number of people entering, exiting and pass by their stores. The peak hours would be determined, hence a better staff allocation would also be possible in order to increase customer satisfaction and cut costs in order to increase profitability.

Heat Map Analysis

It is as crucial to follow and analyze the paths your customers follow in your store as the traffic inwards and outwards. That’s the point when heat map analysis comes in handy. With the help of heatmap technology, business owners can easily track and record the path and behaviors of their customers in their stores.

Moreover, heatmap analysis allows business owners to optimize most popular areas in terms of customers’ dwell-time and to create in-store campaigns accordingly. With the data obtained from heatmap analysis tools, a more optimized and concise staff allocation would also be possible in order to increase customer satisfaction and reduce the amount of time they lose on finding the goods they look for.

In short, traffic prediction is essential for any business in retail industry. With the help of technologies such as people counting systems and heatmap analysis tools, business owners are now able to track their customers’ in-store behavior as well as the flow of traffic into and out of their stores. Having access to such information allows business owners to have a crucial competitive advantage that will help them to get ahead of their competitors by increasing profitability through optimizing costs, testing marketing effectiveness and being prepared for the seasons/times at which traffic will increase, to make sure any chance of generating revenue is not missed.