Why do retailers miss easy opportunities to grow sales?

Many retailers collect people counts, but few use the information to its full potential. Here’s why they are missing out on easy opportunities to grow sales.

It’s not the number of people going into the store on which they need to focus, but what the potential customers do when they get there.

Converting more browsers into customers, increasing the amount they spend and upping the number of items they buy can massively increase sales from the shop visitors they already have. This is achievable in just three months.

Step 1 – Collect the Data

The first step is to install a video counting system and collect data on, for example,

• Number of people entering the store
• The most popular areas visited by shoppers
• Conversion rate
• Average transaction value
• Average number of items in a shopping basket
• Average shopping time
• Time until first contact between staff and customer
• Any significant differences in values between different days of the week or hours or the day

Some Initial Data

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Step 2 – Analysis

What do the figures tell us? Which can be the easiest improved? A quick glance to experienced eyes shows that both average shopping time and staff contact with customers are very low and should be easy to improve.

Step 3 – Improvements and Implementation

Average shopping time can be improved by better signs and, most importantly, good service. Focusing on the data – getting the staff to interact more with customers will bring about a longer average shopping time and increases in the key parameters of conversion rate, average transaction value and number of items per basket will follow.

Of course, the staff will have to buy into the process but incentives for raising the values over which they have direct control – like average shopping time and number of interactions between staff and shoppers – have good results. Focusing on the small details brings great improvements in the big picture.

Step 4 – Monitoring

Have the changes worked? What do the figures say now?

Data after Three Months

Step 5 – Repeat from Step 2

By now the improvements in sales will be clear and it’s not long until the people counting system has more than paid for itself. But there will be other opportunities to grow sales. The system provides continual improvements over time.

The Results

An increase in conversion rate of 2% may not sound like a lot, but it actually resulted in a 30% increase in sales. Let me explain.

An average of 404 people visited the store each day.
An 8.1% conversion rate of 404 gives 33 people buying something.

After the improvements, conversion rate rose to 10.1%.
10.1% of 404 gives 41 people buying something – 8 more people per day.

Assuming that the amount spent per person remained the same, that gives a 24% increase in sales (8/33).

But people on average spent €2 more. So the takings jumped from
33 people spending  €42 per day – €1386 to
41 people spending €44 per day – €1804

This means that the improvements resulted in an extra €418 a day being spent in the store: which is a massive 30% increase in sales.

To find out if we can help you increase your sales with a video people counting system, email [email protected] or call +44 (0)161 839 6437