Footfall is also known as 'Walk-in' in the number of people walking into a retail store for the respective period be it a day, week or month. With the advent of technology and IOT, it has become easier for retailers to track footfall attributes accurately. It lets a retailer understand the success of the retailer's marketing strategy and brand power. There are huge benefits in analysing the footfall and its attributes. The below are few of the analysis that can be done by collecting footfall information (in brief) :
- Direction Analysis
- Gender Analysis
- Age Group Analysis
- Time Analysis
- Conversion Rate
- Location Analysis
- Loyal Customer Walk-ins
1.Direction Analysis:
Customer tend to move towards a direction, either right, left or straight when they walk into a store. Display of mannequins, gondola display, store layout can force customers to move it a specific direction which will cause drop in sales to the areas of the stores which get minimal footfalls.
2.Gender Analysis:
Brick and mortar stores have limitations with respect to space, which cannot be expanded. So analysing the percentage of male and female walking into your store will help you plan your assortment such as few stores may require better assortment and range of products suiting female customers compared to male customers. This is more important in fashion retailing.
3.Age Group Analysis:
This analysis helps retailer under the age group it is catering to by understanding what percentage of walk-in is kids, millennials, baby-boomers/senior citizens, etc. Classification of age group can be coupled with gender to give better meaning to your analysis so that assortment and display can be planned accordingly. For example if a store has more of senior citizen walk-in then display has to be structured in such a way that their respective products are kept at reachable heights and easily accessibly aisles of the store to give a comfortable shopping experience. Also retailer can provide facilities like wheelchairs, electric carts with shopping basket attached, etc.,
4.Time Analysis:
This analysis helps retailer understand the peak hours, peak days and peak seasons. Based on the analysis outcomes in-store promotions can be planned to liquidate inventory and make the best use of peak walk-in. Shifts for staffs can be planned according to the peak hours during the day, weekend or sale season so that customer service is not compromised due to staff shortage. Retailers also higher contract staffs for bagging and for visual merchandising during off-sale to maintain the shopping environment and visual merchandising standards. For example if the walk-in is more in the evening then the retailer can plan for clearance price in fruits and vegetables after 6 PM to clear the unsold ones from the morning so that fresh stock can be stocked the following day there by reducing wastage and retaining freshness in Fruits and Vegetable section.
5.Conversion Rate:
This analysis will let the retailer know what percentage of customers who walk in to the store actually buy from them. Conversion rates are usually low in Mall Store formats and high in Stand alone stores. But by understanding what is the actual reason for drop or increase in conversion rate during various time frame will help retailer to take necessary action to sustain higher conversion rate.
6.Location Analysis:
This analysis will let the retailers understand which stores in their chain has highest walk-in. This coupled with conversion rate will give insights into which store has high walk-in compared to which stores are actually converting this walk-in into sales. ATL and BTL marketing activities can be conducted to increase walk-in.
7.Loyal Customer Walk-In:
With advance in technology and IOT, retailers can differentiate between Loyal customers and new customers who can be converted into a loyal customer. In-store routers and mobile app can assist retailers achieve this. If there is high percentage of loyal customers coming into a store and the store is also a top performer in location analysis then the store team is hitting the right cord with the customers there by maintaining high level of customer satisfaction.
- Direction Analysis
- Gender Analysis
- Age Group Analysis
- Time Analysis
- Conversion Rate
- Location Analysis
- Loyal Customer Walk-ins
1.Direction Analysis:
Customer tend to move towards a direction, either right, left or straight when they walk into a store. Display of mannequins, gondola display, store layout can force customers to move it a specific direction which will cause drop in sales to the areas of the stores which get minimal footfalls.
2.Gender Analysis:
Brick and mortar stores have limitations with respect to space, which cannot be expanded. So analysing the percentage of male and female walking into your store will help you plan your assortment such as few stores may require better assortment and range of products suiting female customers compared to male customers. This is more important in fashion retailing.
3.Age Group Analysis:
This analysis helps retailer under the age group it is catering to by understanding what percentage of walk-in is kids, millennials, baby-boomers/senior citizens, etc. Classification of age group can be coupled with gender to give better meaning to your analysis so that assortment and display can be planned accordingly. For example if a store has more of senior citizen walk-in then display has to be structured in such a way that their respective products are kept at reachable heights and easily accessibly aisles of the store to give a comfortable shopping experience. Also retailer can provide facilities like wheelchairs, electric carts with shopping basket attached, etc.,
4.Time Analysis:
This analysis helps retailer understand the peak hours, peak days and peak seasons. Based on the analysis outcomes in-store promotions can be planned to liquidate inventory and make the best use of peak walk-in. Shifts for staffs can be planned according to the peak hours during the day, weekend or sale season so that customer service is not compromised due to staff shortage. Retailers also higher contract staffs for bagging and for visual merchandising during off-sale to maintain the shopping environment and visual merchandising standards. For example if the walk-in is more in the evening then the retailer can plan for clearance price in fruits and vegetables after 6 PM to clear the unsold ones from the morning so that fresh stock can be stocked the following day there by reducing wastage and retaining freshness in Fruits and Vegetable section.
5.Conversion Rate:
This analysis will let the retailer know what percentage of customers who walk in to the store actually buy from them. Conversion rates are usually low in Mall Store formats and high in Stand alone stores. But by understanding what is the actual reason for drop or increase in conversion rate during various time frame will help retailer to take necessary action to sustain higher conversion rate.
6.Location Analysis:
This analysis will let the retailers understand which stores in their chain has highest walk-in. This coupled with conversion rate will give insights into which store has high walk-in compared to which stores are actually converting this walk-in into sales. ATL and BTL marketing activities can be conducted to increase walk-in.
7.Loyal Customer Walk-In:
With advance in technology and IOT, retailers can differentiate between Loyal customers and new customers who can be converted into a loyal customer. In-store routers and mobile app can assist retailers achieve this. If there is high percentage of loyal customers coming into a store and the store is also a top performer in location analysis then the store team is hitting the right cord with the customers there by maintaining high level of customer satisfaction.
