Store increases sales by using live footfall counts

Alshaya is a world-class retailer with over 2200 stores across 19 countries. Their stores transmit point-of-sale data, in real-time, to their headquarters in Kuwait. Alshaya wanted to integrate footfall counts alongside their sales data, so that they could calculate sales conversion figures throughout the day. They needed an accurate, networked, people counting system which regularly transferred data into their MySQL central database. Our Video Turnstile system suited Alshaya because it was accurate, expandable and could provide them with people counting information when they needed it.

Alshaya decided to run a pilot in their American Eagle Outfitters store, which sells fashion clothing to young adults.

Initially Alshaya required hourly bi-directional breakdowns of footfall. Then they realised the power of the information and requested counts every 15 minutes. Finally they asked if the counts could be sent every 5 minutes. This was easy to do: the Video Turnstile software lets you choose the epoch length – the length of time over which the counts are totalled.

We were curious as to why Alshaya should need data every 5 minutes but all became clear when our CEO, Asad Syed, visited them. The footfall data was incorporated into their graphical and mapping software showing real-time counts alongside point-of-sale figures.

Ten minutes into a 15 minute epoch, data is sent back from headquarters to the store manager’s PC. This shows how close he is to his sales conversion target for that quarter of an hour. The manager has an earpiece connected to every staff member and tells them that they have 5 minutes to make the store’s 15 minute target, based on current footfall recorded by Video Turnstile. When Asad visited the store he remarked upon the flurry of activity which this aroused. The target-based incentives meant that sales rocketed.

To find out more about real-time footfall data get in touch.