Video surveillance is useful for far more than just security. An IP camera with people-counting capabilities, for example, can help business owners make operations decisions more efficiently. Here are three ways people counting can support customer service in retail environments.

1. Monitor Lines at Cash Registers

   A people-counting camera can discern how many people are gathering in a given area, such as a checkout lane. In addition, it can keep track of how much time they have been standing there. By setting rules to trigger an alarm if, say, three or more people stand in line at the grocery store for more than three minutes, store managers can be instantly alerted when they need to send more staff to the cash registers and reduce wait times.

2. Compare Number of Shoppers with Number of Buyers

   If people-counting at the entrance of a store reveals that 100 people came into the store but POS data indicates that only forty of them made a purchase, retailers can analyze what is happening in the store that is standing in the way of conversions (sales). Are employees helping shoppers make purchasing decisions? Is the layout of the store keeping shoppers from finding what they need? Cameras with heat-mapping capabilities can give additional insight as to where in the store visitors are congregating the most.

3. Reduce Loiterers Outside the Store

   A people-counting camera can detect the number of human-sized moving objects in an assigned “no loitering zone” and keep track of the time. If too many people linger in front of the store beyond the set time period, an alert can be sent. This eliminates the need for staff to monitor for loiterers, and automatically notifies managers when they might need to intervene. In the end, this makes for a more pleasant environment for customers entering the store.

4. Track Busy Times

   It’s “power hour”: customers are streaming into the store in a seemingly endless flow, but not enough sales associates are on hand to assist them. By collecting data on foot traffic during the busiest hours of the day and times of the week, managers can be sure to schedule enough employees at peak times. This ensures that customers feel like they’re being taken care of and encourages them to return.

Interested in putting people-counting into practice? Our StereoVision camera is a 3MP, dual-sensor, people-counting camera that counts people with up to 98% accuracy, and you can read more about it here.