In the past, businesses had a difficult time predicting what their customers would like. Decisions like which products to list and which store layout customers found most convenient were made through a combination of trial and error and constantly asking customers their preferences. Therefore, implementing changes in a bid to make their services more customer-friendly took painstaking work and a lot of time.

To enhance customer experience, businesses first need to understand how customers behave in their store. This knowledge can then be used to predict how they will behave in the future.

Luckily for the businesses today, the world has evolved to the extent that customer behavior can be tracked without disturbing the customers or infringing on their privacy. Technological solutions have made it possible to analyze and predict customer actions; allowing retailers to optimize their in-store operations and meet the needs of all customers. Here are some of the best customer behavior analytics solutions in the market:

 

People counting technology

With people counting devices installed in their physical locations, retailers can now count how many people entered their store and how many people are in every section at any particular time. Consequently, businesses can analyze this data to predict customer behavior in the future.

If, for example, a retailer knows the section of a store that people are more likely to visit, they may place new products there to maximize exposure. With people counters, they can estimate the store’s conversion rate, the number of people who visited the store after a new ad campaign, and the ratio of people that walked past the store against those that entered. All these can be used to streamline the store’s operations, attract new customers, keep current customers satisfied, and boost conversion rates.

 

Heatmap

Heatmap technology provides in-depth analytics of how customers move around in a physical store. While people counters tell you how many visited your store and checkout data shows which products were bought, heatmap allows you to take a deeper dive into the data. It shows visitor flow and tracks their journey in the store; from entry, to the sections they visited, the products they looked at and touched, the ones they bought and finally, check-out.

Therefore, heatmap data can be used to improve store layout and simplify the customers’ journey in the store. It also allows retailers to measure and improve the performance of different sectors in the store. Product placement will no longer be based on guesswork but backed by customer behavior data.

 

Demographic Analysis

Demographic Analysis technology allows you to analyze the demographics of people that visit your store, i.e., their genders and which age group they belong to. This information can be used to predict how they will shop and which products will appeal to them. If, for example, you sell women’s clothing and MAG shows you that majority of your customers are young ladies below 23, you can stock your shelves with trendy items for people in that age group.

By knowing how happy visitors are in your store, and the percentage of customers that left in a good mood, you can tell whether your services are satisfactory or there are some issues that need improving.

All the technologies above have multiple use cases for growing businesses. People counters help retailers test new ad campaigns and boost conversion rates, heatmap technology can be used to improve product placement and in-store operations; and Demographic Analytics technology, to optimize product listing. Any of the solutions above is enough to revolutionize how a store operates. However, combining 2 or more of them for your business would be excellent. All decisions will be supported by customer behavior analytics and the effectiveness of every new strategy can be measured; this opens up a world of possibilities.

With V-Count, these possibilities are attainable. We are the leading provider of visitor analytics solutions in the world, and retailers stand to benefit greatly from our people counting, heatmap, and Demographic Analysis technologies. We also provide queue management solutions and a cloud-based business intelligence platform that converts collected data into actionable business reports. Contact us today to discuss your business needs and how V-Count can help you attain your goals.