One of the world’s largest people counting systems will gather Olympic retail analytics

One of the world’s largest people counting systems will gather Olympic retail analytics

With the opening of London 2012 Olympic Games, the buzz around the Opening Ceremony is also raising hopes for a boost to UK retail sales.

The Centre for Retail Research this week estimated that the net impact on retailers of the Olympics would amount to £561 million. And visitor numbers to the Olympic Park could top 60,000 on busy days.

The Olympics has already driven up online sales of home entertainment products, according to the latest e-commerce sales figures. And retailers, such fashion chain Coast, have invested in new mobile queue-busting systems alongside multilingual training, new loyalty systems and robust IT disaster recovery plans.

Westfield counts on central position

Situated at the heart of the London festivities and strategically positioned between public transportation and the Olympic Park’s main entrance, Westfield Stratford City, is looking to maximise this opportunity.

The largest shopping centre in Europe will use more than 200 infrared people counters deployed at key points. Powered by sensors from Northampton-based Irisys, the non-intrusive thermal devices detect people according to their body heat to make up “one of the world’s largest people counting systems,” according to a recent Irisys blog post by Chris Giallanza.

Guiding customer experience enhancements

“Such a high concentration of consumers creates the opportunity for advanced monitoring technology to gather some of the most intricate retail analytics in Olympic history,” he wrote. The system gathers analytics about shopping behaviour, including high and low-shopping periods and heavy and light traffic areas.

He added that management will have a view of Olympic retail patterns, which will guide ongoing improvements to improve customers’ experience, including efficient staff scheduling, effective sign placement and multimedia repositioning.

Retailers will also be able to use the people counting data to measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.

Meanwhile, the industry will also be watching the progress of the official London 2012 e-commerce store and its use of a cross-channel marketing platform.