Clyde McConaghy, executive director of people counting specialist Beonic, said advanced retailers were using predictive modelling of customers for far more than just post-sale transaction analysis.

“Retailers are deploying sophisticated sensors and people counting analytic software to identify patterns in pre-sale in-store customer behaviour,” he said. ”Recognising these patterns can predict how changes to store layout and promotion can influence that behaviour favourably.

“It’s well accepted that it is easier to generate extra revenue from current customers than to win new customers. This is supported by recent research from the UK which reports that women decide whether to do a ‘big shop’ or a ‘top up’ only a minute or two before they shop – when they enter the store and look at the queues!”

Beonic people counting sensors and reports reduce queues by enabling leading retailers such as IKEA to track the number of people entering store entrances. This gives store managers an early warning to ensure that sufficient staff are on the checkouts as customers are about to leave.

Beonic’s world-leading retail intelligence system assists retailers to learn how to convert store visitors into actual customers. Beonic’s highly accurate people counting technology integrates with its smart software to measure the relationship between visitor numbers and actual sales. Beonic reports enable retailers to make more effective decisions about marketing, merchandising and service levels, leading to happier customers, more sales and greater profit.

Clients using Beonic technology include IKEA, Telstra Shops, Angus & Robertson Bookshops, Jeans West and Harvey Norman as well as Lend Lease, AMP, Gandel and Centro shopping centres, the Sydney Opera House, Sydney's Queen Victoria Building and Melbourne’s Federation Square.

Beonic has achieved outstanding success in selling its flagship Traffic Insight people counting solution to retailers that use Beonic sensors to count store visitors during the day and for security surveillance after hours. Hutchison ‘3’ phone stores are a leading example of this solution.

Mr. McConaghy said retail intelligence systems such as Beonic were powerful tools for tracking and predicting customer behaviour. “They can identify ‘dead’ areas of a store and measure how changes to store layout and promotion can improve visitor traffic and sales in those areas,” he said.

“Post-sale predictive modelling is a powerful tool that can assist the retailer to attract visitors to their store. However, retail intelligence systems that enable live pre-sale predictive modelling offer a management tool that can turn that store visitor into a customer.”

For more information about Beonic, visit www.beonic.com. For media assistance, call John Harris at Impress Media Australia on 08 8431 4000 or email jharris@impress.com.au.