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Press Release 5-30-2007
 Download as PDF
Is it the
weather? Wal-Mart? My ad agency? Retailers turning to HeadCount’s customer
traffic analysis for answers
Trading “gut
instinct” for the science of traffic and customer conversion provides a more
complete picture of what’s affecting the day-to-day sales in stores
May 30, 2007 (Toronto) – Big Box
outlets, shrinking margins and dwindling returns keep many Canadian retail
executives up at night. Yet everyday
retailers are allowing critical sales data to walk out the door — their
customers. Mark Ryski, CEO and Founder of Edmonton-based HeadCount, will
present his case that the retail industry needs to add traffic counting
analysis to their sales strategies as a featured speaker at STORE 2007 – Canada’s Retail Conference (www.storeconference.ca)
held June 4-5 in Toronto.
Electronic traffic counting technology has been around since
the 1970s, but the penetration of the technology in retail outlets is estimated
to be less than 20 per cent, says Ryski, who authored a book, When Retail Customers Count, to put the
science of customer traffic counting and conversion back into the retailers’
hands.
“In researching the subject, I realized the traffic counting
industry itself was partially to blame,” says Ryski. “Retailers had been sold
the technology to count traffic, but what they actually needed were the
insights from traffic counting packaged in a way they could affordably apply to
practical, everyday problems.”
As a result, a majority of retail establishments in North
America are simply not privy to how many prospects visit their stores, as well
as the percentage of prospects that visit, but don’t make a purchase, says
Ryski, who in 2003 started HeadCount, which now provides its unique monthly service to many of Canada’s top retailers,
including Home Depot, lululemon, London Drugs, and Sleep Country Canada.
“At Sleep Country we are constantly striving to offer an
exceptional experience to our customer and that means measuring our
effectiveness and looking for new opportunities,” says Christine Magee,
Co-Founder, Sleep Country Canada. “The analysis and information we receive from
HeadCount helps us do that.”
Joel Aylon, General
Manager Retail of Hallmark Canada,
which has begun implementing the HeadCount service at 31 of its corporate
locations, agrees. “Compiling the HeadCount analysis on top of our other key
performance indicators stands to dramatically enhance our ability to make more
informed decisions down to a store-by-store basis.”
Aylon says access
to the new data results provides an important new tool. He can now work with
individual store managers to “move the needles” on a weekly basis while taking
into account the unique flow of customer traffic at each location. Advertising
efforts can be measured against store traffic, sales training and incentives
better tracked, and Hallmark even expects the new data may lead to improved
lease arrangements by proving to property managers how much traffic a specific
mall location generates.
Aylon will join
Ryski on stage at the STORE 2007 Conference to provide an overview of
the customer conversion process. The
Conference organizer, Retail Council of Canada, recently signed a deal to offer HeadCount services, at a
discounted rate of $139 per month per store, to its members.
HeadCount is also
in discussions with the University of Alberta’s new School of Retailing to incorporate a component of traffic and customer conversion in its course
content.
About the Science of Traffic
Analysis and Customer Conversion
Without traffic
data, store level managers are often left to rely on “gut instinct” over
readily available customer traffic information in determining why results don’t
meet expectations. But installing store counting technology enables retailers
to compare detailed customer traffic metrics separately or even combine them
with existing data such as transaction and sales information from existing
point-of-sale (POS) systems.
HeadCount
Corporation analysts add a critical next step, by delving deeply into traffic
and customer conversion data, then interpreting the results to find insights
that are passed on to their clients on a weekly and monthly basis. Armed with
the analysis reports, retailers can better manage costs, measure results and
drive performance in new ways.
About HeadCount
HeadCount is one of
North America’s leading providers of store
traffic and customer conversion analysis. HeadCount’s key differentiator is the
low cost-of-entry provided by its unique monthly service and reporting program,
which is implemented by some of North America's leading retailers including Home Depot, lululemon, London Drugs, and Sleep
Country Canada.
For more
information please visit www.headcount.com/
Media Contact
Stephen Rouse
Carouse
Communications
416-402-6876
stephen@carouse.ca
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