Why Retailers Need a Good People Counting System

People counting technology, which can include anything from sensors to video cameras, is designed to count people as they enter, move through, and exit the queue. For retailers, this data can be used to improve customer satisfaction, maximize customer flow, and improve productivity. Retailers need a good people counting system for these key reasons:

• To predict backups before lines get too long, in order to head off customer frustration and lost sales.
• To monitor customer arrival rates — knowing how quickly people are arriving can help predict future service allocation.
• To assess queue length, in order to identify queues that may have extra capacity or those that are being overloaded with customers.
• To gauge service rate, to better understand speed of service and cashier productivity.

With information from a good people counting system, the benefits of customer satisfaction, customer flow, and productivity can be realized. The right system will capture real-time data and turn it into meaningful insight for managers to head off problems before they escalate and better manage the overall customer experience.

Managing customer expectations

There is always an opportunity to improve the waiting experience in a retail environment. Technology makes it possible to publish projected wait times for queue(s), an effort that helps keep customer expectations in check while also balancing service loads. A customer can clearly see from the digital display which line is currently offering the shortest projected wait and choose that service area for their needs.

Managing business results

With the right people counting system, managers can receive real-time alerts via text or email in order to better control queues and stop problems before they escalate. They’ll know immediately, for example, if a queue has exceed the pre-set desired maximum wait time or if too many customers are in a queue, resulting in the need for a reallocation of resources. The right system will offer powerful, customized reports and dashboards, eliminating guesswork where the waiting line is concerned. People counting technology offers actionable data, measuring queue length, wait time, customer count, arrival rate, service rate, open service points, and empty queues. Can your retail business benefit from people counting technology to optimize service allocation and stay on top of customer flow? Learn more by downloading your complimentary copy of the Retail Guide to Intelligent Queue Management.