Footfall counter accuracy levels
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Posts
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It would be interesting to know what footfall counter the Council have installed — as this article comparing systems shows there can be up to a 50% error rate in the statistics gathered.
https://www.ipsos-retailperformance.com/resources/blog/people-counter-systems-aware/
I am not saying that the figures the Council give are not accurate but do need clarifying. I am not aware that they have installed any form of facial recognition system to identify ‘unique’ numbers of people rather than the same person passing on multiple occasions.
A number of retailers I have spoken to are indicating that it is very hard trading at the moment and only holding ‘steady’. That being the case either retailers in Wrexham are not offering what the consumer wants as statistically, they should have seen a proportionate upturn in trade in relation to footfall increases. Smaller retailers, in particular, are reluctant to share their financial position but the nationals tend to give reports on general trends.
A close look at the retail experience as indicated in the article is crucial to boost the spend – if the overall experience of a shopper is good then their spend will increase. Is the overall offer in Wrexham what a visitor would regard as good will be quite doubtful apart from when there is something on in the town.
One of the places that can ‘draw’ the people along Hope Street and High Street is St Giles – the programme of activities and concerts has increased dramatically with concerts on nearly every week – sometimes with over 300 people attending.
The figures should also be split between daytime and evening as there are clearly two separate types of trader that can benefit be depending what time of day they are trading. I’ve added this in as some smaller independents may be wondering what do they need to do to see an extra trade from the increased numbers when a large portion of the increase has come from trading hours that are not the same as their own.
Additional data could be gathered from those shops that have their own customer counting systems either at the door or transaction counting- if this was provided anonymously it would start showing if there is a trend between street level counting and that of the actual retailers.
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