Large Retail Space Looks to Real-Time Occupancy Data to Improve Shopper Experience

Creating a pleasant, frictionless shopping experience that optimizes square footage is a leading concern of retailers. Understanding how guests enter and move through your space and the resulting data-driven insights from this knowledge can impact guest experience, loss prevention, space monetization, and vendor negotiation.

As a large retail space, they found it difficult to track real-time granular foot traffic and occupancy. Furthermore, the repercussions of making business decisions based on assumptions can be risky. They were looking for the data to support real-time alerting to inform customer service, security staff, signage location, sponsored space negotiation, and other insights from the customer journey.

The client’s expected outcomes included the ability to:

• Determine guest experience journeys within the retail space
• Provide real-time occupancy tracking across all entrances, exits, and key areas
• Improve business decision-making and operations through analysis of guest movement
• Reduce assumptions with granular, accurate people counting

WaitTime Analytics and Operations Dashboard Deliver Valuable Insights

WaitTime is real-time and historical artificial intelligence software that uses state-of-the-art imaging techniques to monitor crowd behavior. The data generated from WaitTime software uses operations and guest engagement platforms to enable real-time, smart decision-making, inform operations management, and engage guests.

To collect and analyze the necessary data, cameras were mounted and centered over each entrance and key area. By leveraging entry/exit and queuing algorithms, utilizing an operations dashboard, sharing end-of-day reports, and using real-time (API) data, the retailer could apply immediate changes to the environment and alert service staff and security on surges in occupancy.

The WaitTime Analytics and Operations Dashboard can also be paired with digital displays to support way-finding, directing customers to checkout areas and other services with shorter waits.

The solution included:

• WaitTime Analytics
• WaitTime Operations Dashboard
• Strategically located surveillance cameras