Global Content Lead - Tech & Consulting
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In the post-pandemic world, it only seems natural to expect a fall in the traffic flow in retail stores, especially in the face of intermittent lockdowns, occupancy limits, and stringent SOPs. As a result, people counting has become increasingly important for retailers as they aim to ensure optimal staff levels in retail outlets to improve customer service, maximize conversions, and reduce operational costs. So, how can people counting help businesses ensure an optimal service level as we deal with the retail challenges brought on by 2022?
Monitor in-store traffic in real-time to reassign staff
Having more staff hours reserved to attend to customers when the traffic is low can increase operational costs. Whereas fewer staff members during peak hours can leave customers unattended, which translates into reduced sales. Footfall analytics solutions such as Shopper Value can help retail managers analyze the customer traffic patterns in their retail stores and assess their peak hours when customers are crowding their stores. More staff can be assigned to handle direct customer service when the traffic is high. When the traffic is low, some staff can be shuffled to other operational tasks such as stocking, and inventory. This way, retail managers are not just able to close more sales but can also optimize their operational processes and costs.
Intelligent rosters to build up staff morale and reduce absenteeism
With proper store visitor trends data at hand, store managers can develop intelligent rosters to ensure optimum levels of staff in stores at all times. This will boost the morale of the staff and even reduce absenteeism.
Use dwell analytics to find customer hotspots in stores
Some retail stores have sections that are popular among customers. These are the places where customers spend most of their time, but in most cases, retail store managers are not aware of these hotspots. Store managers find these hotspots by installing service-level optimization software that features dwell analytics. Dwell analytics records and highlights areas where customers spend most of their time in a retail store. Store managers can then deploy their best sales professionals in those locations to close more sales and offer better customer service to improve retention.
Conclusion
Even though people counting solutions can capture banks of useful data, this data is only beneficial to retailers if proper action is taken based on the insights.
By analyzing reports based on traffic KPIs such as Visitor per Staff Hour (VPSH), Transaction per Staff Hour (TPSH), and Revenue per Staff Hour (RPSH), store managers can optimally appropriate staff hours and optimize service levels according to their stores’ needs. Hence, retailers can ensure staff productivity and availability to utilize business growth opportunities.
