For a few years after the emergence of e-commerce stores, brick-and-mortar retailers struggled to keep up with the changing landscape. They were losing millions of customers to these online stores and they could not keep up. Some of the biggest and most-popular retail companies in the world had to close up branches, and the physical retail sector was reeling.
The major problem for physical stores at the time was that online stores could easily collect customer data and analyze it to predict how the customers would behave in the future. Online data also told them which products the customers wanted, which brands they avoided, which adverts were effective, which part of their service delivery needed to be improved, and so on.
To match up favourably, retail stores needed a way to track how customers behaved in their physical locations. They needed to collate customer data so that they too could notice current trends and predict future behaviour. V-Count provides retailers with the retail management software they need to do this.
About V-Count
V-Count is the number one retail management software company in the world. We provide retailers with platforms to measure how customers behave in their physical stores. Visitor data is collected and analyzed using the V-Count Business Intelligence Platform. As a result, we are able to offer retail store owners simplified reports about their conversion rates, in-store trends, the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns, and so much more.
Within 30 days of leveraging V-Count’s retail analytics solutions, stores generally report a marked improvement in their bottom line.
V-Count is the trusted technology partner of some of the biggest brands in the world including Bosch Siemens, Ford Motors, Marks & Spencer, Philip Morris International, Sephora, Samsonite, and Samsung. Our solutions are being utilized by 700+ brands in 34,000 locations in 120 countries all over the world.
Solutions Provided by V-Count
Here are the retail management and analytics solutions that V-Count provides, along with how retail stores and shopping malls stand to benefit from them:
People Counting: people counting devices are placed in physical locations and they record how many people enter the space. V-Count offers retailers the software they need to make the most of these devices. People Counting gives out real-time data from the devices, showing how many people are in the store at any particular time.
Historical data from the devices can be analyzed to find out the store’s peak hours, and it can be combined with store checkout data to determine how many people visited/how many people made purchases. If people counters are placed just outside the store, the data from those devices report how many people walked past the store. If more people walked past than enter the store, it signals a need to improve marketing.
Queue Management: this software works with queue management devices to determine when the wait lines in the store are getting too long. It could be checkout queues or bottlenecks to access certain sections of the store. V-Count’s software collects data from the devices and notifies the store managers when a queue is about to form. Long queues lead to cart abandonment and lost sales opportunity, and they lead to a reduction in conversion rate and subsequently, profits.
Furthermore, historical data from the Queue Management system can be used to optimize staffing in the future; with fewer attendants deployed during historically slow periods and vice versa.
Heatmap: V-Count Heatmap reports how customers behave in a store; the sections they visit the most, the products they engage with, how they move around the store, and how much time they spend in each section. When this data is analyzed, the report paints a picture of the shopping habits of store visitors; what they search for, what motivates them to buy, and how you can improve your in-store operations to maximize sales.
Demographic Analytics: V-Count’s Demographic Analysis solution helps retail stores figure out their visitor’s demographic, making it easier to deliver a customized shopping experience to every visitor. The BIP platform tells store owners the age range of their visitors, their genders, and how happy (or sad) they were when they left the store. If more visitors are men over 30, the store stocks their shelves with products that cater to that demographic.
Additionally, the Demographic Analysis software can be used to optimize in-store display and adverts. Display screens around the store are programmed to show only adverts that are relevant to the person standing in front of the screen. Therefore, the advert being shown to a 21-year-old woman will be different from that shown to a 50-year-old man.
Business Intelligence Platform: the business intelligence platform brings everything together, and it is the reporting tool for all the solutions listed above. Firstly, the platform collects data from all the software and saves them securely in the cloud. Furthermore, stored data is analyzed using the latest artificial intelligence and machine learning tools. Therefore, V-Count is able to provide stores with easy-to-understand reports outlining how customers behave in their physical space.
The reports show the performance of each store department and the effectiveness of in-store operations (product listing, queue management, customer service, etc.). Additionally, store owners are given actionable reports on how they can overhaul operations, boost conversion rates, improve product listings and store layout, and optimize marketing campaigns.
Through V-Count’s technological solutions, brick-and-mortar retailers and shopping malls are given the tools they need to compete favourably with e-commerce stores. Many retailers are already making the most of these technologies to devastating effect.
