News and Blog

Analysing footfall: How to leverage the evolving retail landscape to deliver an exceptional customer journey

The global retail landscape has witnessed a significant transformation, propelled by a surge in technology and the demand for enhanced customer experiences. Amidst this evolution, footfall measurement stands as a longstanding cornerstone, offering invaluable insights for retailers and advertisers to comprehend customer behaviour through data-driven analysis.

In an era marked by laborious manual footfall counting, characterised by its limitations in yielding elementary data, pioneering brands recognised the potential for innovation. This transformation has ushered in a wave of sophisticated technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Beacons and smartphones. These advancements facilitated real-time and precise data collection, providing early adopters with information about customer interactions and behaviours.

Footfall Measurement: The Bridge Between Online and Offline

At the heart of this paradigm shift lies footfall measurement, connecting the dots between online and offline customer journeys. Its role as a vital link has been demonstrated by those at the forefront, leveraging its capabilities to gain a comprehensive understanding of customer behaviour across multiple channels.

Footfall measurement, the technology-driven tracking of customer traffic in physical stores, has emerged as a powerful tool for retailers to gain valuable insights into customer behaviour and optimise their operations. Footfall data can reveal insights into customer demographics, dwell times, movement patterns, and conversion rates. Brands, particularly those with large footprints, can understand how customers move through the store and what products they are interested in while also analysing the customer’s interaction with marketing efforts. All this information can be used to optimise store layout, product placement, and marketing campaigns, which can also improve store performance. 

By gaining an understanding of the customer’s purchasing journey across various online and offline touchpoints, brands can then strategise a holistic and cohesive customer experience. This is imperative in today’s customer-centric environment, where customers expect a seamless and unified experience across all interactions. 

This is incredibly important as even with the expanding realm of eCommerce, over 85 per cent of transactions continue to take place in physical stores, as reported by Internet Retailer. This underscores the ongoing significance of attracting in-person foot traffic. Additionally, there has been a substantial increase of over 150 per cent in mobile searches using the term ‘near me’. But how do we implement this?

Successful Implementation of Footfall Measurement

Integrating Footfall Measurement involves several crucial steps for a successful implementation. To successfully implement footfall measurement, brands should consider these 4 key steps:

  1. Clear and Measurable Goals
    Establish measurable objectives aligned with brand needs. Whether it’s maximising seasonal campaigns, driving traffic to specific areas, or enhancing customer lifetime value, defining clear goals helps identify relevant metrics for tracking progress.
  2. Data Collection and Analysis
    To effectively bridge the gap, brands should prioritise building a first-party data strategy. Collecting and organising customer data across touchpoints, such as online campaigns and tracking in-store visits, allows for a deeper understanding of individual preferences and behaviours. With a robust data strategy, you can target and engage customers more effectively, regardless of their chosen channel.While every company aspires to be data-driven, Forrester’s findings indicate that merely 29% of brands can effectively link analytics to actionable insights.Be the exception, not the rule.
  3. Utilisation and Personalisation
    Leverage the gathered data to tailor personalised ads and offers. By employing Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO) strategies, you can personalise your marketing messages and experiences to cater to the needs of various audience segments. Understanding the preferences and shopping habits of customers who prefer online versus in-store experiences can inform strategies, call-to-actions (CTAs), key performance indicators (KPIs) and more, tailoring them to each group. Segment customers based on preferences and where they are in their journey, enhancing the likelihood of engagement and repeat visits.
  4. Integration and Collaboration
    Break down silos between offline and online teams. It is important to foster better communication, planning and understanding between digital and traditional media and marketing teams.  Integrating these strategies ensures consistent messaging, and unified efforts, and maximises marketing ROI. By aligning goals and fostering communication between teams, brands can create a unified approach towards customer engagement.

Digital advertising offers brands the chance to convey personalised messages that connect with their intended audience. Through the utilisation of data analytics and customer insights, brands can create personalised advertisements that speak to the unique needs and interests of prospective customers. The major takeaway: you must marry digital strategies with offline marketing goals to succeed.

In this global evolving retail landscape, footfall measurement stands as a beacon, guiding brands toward a deeper understanding of customer behaviour. Its implementation, when approached systematically, provides a comprehensive view of online and offline interactions, paving the way for personalised, efficient, and cohesive customer experiences. By embracing footfall measurement, brands can bridge the divide between physical and digital realms, driving success in an increasingly competitive market.

Just as the retail industry has adapted and evolved, so too has the approach to understanding customer behaviour. With a strategic and informed approach to footfall measurement, brands can navigate the evolving retail landscape to better cater to the needs and expectations of their customers.

To learn more about how Crimtan’s solutions can help your business drive success through footfall measurement, contact our team today. Additionally, download our detailed case study on how we helped an automotive accessories retailer optimise their in-store performance through advanced footfall tracking and analysis here.