Footfall analytics is an ace in your hand if you work in the retail sector. Imagine having insights into how your customers interact with your shop floor, what routes they take and how many people visit at different times. All of that is possible with footfall monitoring. 

As the go-to experts in footfall analytics technology, Exposure Analytics has been on the cutting edge of this industry-redefining technology for over a decade. Let’s get into the specifics of exactly how footfall analytics can be game-changing for retail. 

What Is Footfall Analytics?

You might have some idea of what footfall analytics is already, or you might be entirely new to the concept. Either way – let’s quickly explain what this tech is and what it does.

In essence, footfall tracking takes metrics from monitoring systems such as sensors and translates them into data insights. With historical and real-time data at your fingertips, you can make data-backed decisions about how your store or event is laid out, what’s selling well and which routes are best for flow. 

How Can Footfall Tracking Data Impact Retail Merchandising?

When it comes to making the most of your store, having a deep understanding of your customers’ behaviour is invaluable. That’s where footfall analytics comes into play, providing you with a powerful lens into how shoppers truly experience and interact with your physical space. Here’s how.

Optimising Product Placement 

Have you ever wished you could see your store through your customers’ eyes, revealing their every move and the areas that capture their attention? That’s the power of footfall monitoring when it comes to optimising product placement.

With detailed traffic patterns and hotspot data, you can strategically place your merchandise. High-traffic zones become the perfect place for your bestsellers, promotions, and attention-grabbing displays. After all, why let your top products go unnoticed when you can position them front and centre, right in the paths of maximum foot traffic?

Supermarkets have been taking advantage of visual merchandising by using customer flow mapping for years – why not let your store benefit from the same strategic advantages?

  • Identifying blind spots or dead zones with low foot traffic and optimising displays and merchandising in those areas to revitalise them
  • Removing slow-moving products from premium shelf space and repositioning them in less prime areas

Enhancing In-store Experience

It doesn’t matter how meticulously you plan out your store’s layout, you’ll never be able to experience it objectively like a brand new customer. However, footfall analytics can show you exactly how customers experience your layout so you can finetune the experience. 

Perfect flow paths and any potential bottlenecks through heat maps. Adjust the position of merchandise as well as displays to ensure that there are no areas in your store that are underused.  

In a competitive market with increasing rents for retailers, it’s crucial that you make every square inch of your retail space work hard for you. With footfall analytics, you can see exactly which areas need improvement and ensure they’re optimised. 

Potential Impact:

  • The ability to position displays and high-value promotions in the highest traffic flow paths
  • Adjusting inventory levels and reordering quantities for products based on areas with high or low demand

Maximising Revenue Opportunities

Footfall Analytics can power data-driven merchandising decisions that help to increase your store’s revenue. Capture areas – and products – that need improvement. By using data on the underperforming areas that need your attention to revitalise them you can boost sales of those underperformers.

 In addition, if you can reveal potentially underperforming categories or products in your store, you have powerful insights when it comes to reordering inventory.

Potential Impact:

  • Using heat flow maps to ensure your store is correctly staffed for the level of customers so you never lose out on sales or experience overstaffing
  • Moving underperforming products to more visible areas to boost sales

Meet Apex, Exposure Analytics’ Footfall Analytics Solution

For simple-to-install and set-up footfall tracking that’s enormously accurate, we’d recommend Apex. Use it to find out:

  • How many people enter and exit your space
  • Find out occupancy rate in any time period 
  • Find high and low traffic areas 
  • Reveal route flow maps through your store

Apex captures data from experiential events, retail stores, supermarkets – essentially anywhere that customers move around a space. From there, every move is tracked and translated into vital retail metrics.

Together with Dashboard, our bespoke reporting tool, you can capture data and then customise it to receive your data in reports that show exactly what you need, the way you want to see it. That way your footfall tracking tech can help you to make reactive decisions. 

Got questions about our industry-leading footfall analytics technology? Ready out FAQ section for answers to common questions. 

To ask questions of your own or start your own footfall analytics journey, speak to our expert team, or call us on 0203 982 0997.