News

Experian FootFall unveils cloud-based traffic analytics tool

January 15, 2012

Experian FootFall today launched Site Analytics, its new cloud-based software for retailers and mall developers. According to the company, Site Analytics allows an industry facing considerable pressures to factor basic store insight, such as traffic counting and sales, as part of more holistic site and store-network performance measurement.

Site Analytics integrates traffic figures with key retail metrics to provide clearer focus on priorities for profit maximization and brand survival. Metrics encapsulated by the software include traffic count, sales, labor, queue and overall costs. The software delivers five different types of data (actual, forecast, target, budget and validation) for each of these collection groups and allows its users to put the data into the context of relevant promotions, weather and events. Additionally, the software proactively alerts key users when key data (like traffic or sales conversion) falls outside of pre-defined and customizable thresholds.

Examples of typical queries to which Site Analytics provides answers include:

• How is the staff-to-visitor ratio affecting sales for a particular floor?
• As costs rise for a particular department, is the same happening for sales and average transaction values?
• Is this performance typical for a floor, department or retail cluster in our business; if not what is the financial implication and how can we rectify it?
• How does average transaction value fluctuate as site traffic rises and at what point does the cost of adding more labor outweigh the financial gain?
• What is the pattern of queue wait times throughout the day and how does this impact conversion?

Key to the Site Analytics is the ability for retailers to forecast performance in their stores. Properly integrated with other key metrics, forecasting becomes a powerful tool for effectively running the business and driving performance. By using historical data to predict what could happen tomorrow, next week or next month, retailers can more accurately plan operational aspects of the store like staffing, sales and promotions, inventory levels and even store design.