Footfall

Why footfall is the number that matters

Takings are down: fewer people, or the same people buying less? A quiet Tuesday might be a staffing opportunity; a busy Saturday with flat sales is a different problem entirely. Footfall is the denominator under almost every retail decision, which is why shops that measure nothing else still count the door.

How footfall is measured

The traditional kit is a sensor over the entrance (infrared beams, thermal counters, pressure mats), each another box to buy and mount. Increasingly the counting is done by the cameras already installed. The CCTV covering the entrance sees everyone who walks in, and AI that reads the footage can count them; in Svid this is the Footfall & Dwell Time check, switched on for the entrance camera.

What footfall feeds

Staffing rotas can be matched to the hours people actually come in, and opening hours tested against reality rather than habit. A layout change gets checked by whether people still walk through. Paired with dwell time, footfall starts to explain behaviour rather than just count it: how many came in, and how long they stayed.