A new in-store video tech set has been launched to help bricks and mortar retailers fight back against online competitors.
WingArc Retail Analytics’ predictive technology helps retailers to plan their staff rostering in advance so they always have enough people on the floor to meet demand.
“We think this will be a real lifeline for high street retail,” says Steven Hulse, CEO of WingArc Australia.
“For online there’s Google Analytics. Now physical stores can use data to understand the customer journey, improve the experience and make sure there are always enough people on duty to help.”
WingArc uses video analytics on the store’s CCTV camera feed to count customers and track their movements on a viral heatmap, helping stores to increase revenue through insights into customer behaviour. It also integrates with point of sale data to build detailed reports on the store’s performance.
Japanese retailer MUJI has been trialling the solution in Australia over the last few months.
“We wanted to make strategic decisions based on data,” says Takeshi Fujimoto, managing director of MUJI Australia.
Indeed, the solution shows how well the store is capturing passing foot traffic, as well as which areas inside are most popular with customers, and when. That means management can assess the effectiveness of window displays and in-store marketing and make changes in near real time, based on hard data.
“We knew that in-store analytics would give us the insight we need to optimise our store layout and marketing to meet the needs of the Australian consumer. The WingArc solution ticked all the boxes for us.”
