Retailers have historically been reluctant to share footfall information with centre managers, but owners of new-build shopping centres, and even existing shopping centres fitting retrospectively, are overcoming this obstacle by installing their own customer counting systems on each unit, so they can keep track of customer data.

At the same time, according to PFM Counting Solutions, an increasing number of retailers are installing their own counting systems on each of their units, which means each store can end up with two counters on its doors.

McArthurGlen is counting people into the centre and then into individual retail units, as its tenants are on conversion rents. "That relationship between retailers and shopping centres has certainly moved on in the last 12 months," says David Sturdy of PFM Counting Solutions, which installed all customer counters for the whole McArthurGlen portfolio. "We're dealing with a significant development in the UK at the moment which is looking at putting counters in every store, and some owners are considering retrofitting counters in their retail units. There's a move away from the 'them and us' mentality."

McArthurGlen is a prime example of where the owner has installed its own counting system, while many of the retailers have installed their own machines as well.

"McArthurGlen requires the information from, say, the Mexx store in Ashford, because they're trying to drive turnover there, whereas Mexx, for example, want a company-wide conversion rate, so you always have that overlap, and you're never going to be rid of it because the two companies have different systems into which they need to feed that information," says Sturdy.

Sturdy believes it's still early days in terms of owners investing in this kind of installation, with McArthurGlen being the first.

"We're talking to another owner that's going to do it, but on a smaller scale," he says, "but they're the only two that seem to like this concept and want to roll with it. One problem in the UK market is there are a lot of systems already built in, and a shopping centre is not only adding retailers into their system, but also needs to change the infrastructure, so it's a big financial commitment.

"If you consider that a shopping centre system can typically comprise about 15 detectors in a large centre, measuring individual tenant footfall means increasing that to 100 or 200 detectors. However, with new-build it's always on the agenda."

Nick Gowens, of Shoppertrak RCT, agrees that both retailers and mall owners benefit greatly from working together. He says there are a number of developers talking about installing their own counters in each of their retail units so that retailers are contractually obliged to share their footfall data. This includes a deal with Grosvenor to install Shoppertrak RCT's people counting system in every unit at Liverpool One.

Gowens says: "The mall owner has committed to install cameras in every retail unit, so that we will not only be monitoring the malls, flows and zones around the malls in a traditional approach, but also getting peel off from the mall into each store. This means we can get conversion rate data for each store. That will give Grosvenor a depth of understanding of those retailers on a store-by-store basis, by category - for example comparing footwear stores - or by comparing each store within a particular area of Liverpool One regardless of the mix of retail."

In addition, the information will be available the next day over Honeywell's broadband network. "We're sitting on that network, so from a technical point of view that's quite innovative as well," says Gowens. "Instead of running our own cables, it's integrated with other technologies on the IP network."

Gowens believes that information is the lubricant that will make the relationship between owners and retailers run more smoothly.

"It's all very well that a centre may be critical of a retailer's performance if sales aren't as good as they'd like, but one shopping centre isn't going to change a retailer's whole range of products," he says. "However, what they can do, if they have the conversion rate and traffic data, is tell the retailer when their part of the mall is at its busiest. The retailer can then make sure they're fully staffed at the times when the mall is delivering the most customers to their door.

"Their sales should then move forward and they should have the added benefit of improved customer service. If individual retail stores are recognised as having strong customer service then the perception of customer service for the whole mall will be enhanced."

For town centre-based shopping centres, information is now available to allow them to compare how they're performing against the rest of the town or city in which they're based. Such data can be vital in steering a centre in the right direction. Springboard, which monitors footfall in around 50 UK towns and cities, including all the regional city centres, has been working in partnership with the Association of Town Centre Managers since Spring last year on producing the High Street Index. Similar to the FootFall Index for shopping centres, the monthly High Street Index is a complementary piece of data that tracks the performance of footfall in the high street.

Diane Wherle of Springboard says: "Although the footfall figures are most generally downward, shopping centres are more protected than the high street, so their downward trend is less. This is particularly the case at Christmas and during times of poor weather; however, the high street does tend to do better during the summer months.

"Unless a shopping centre is particularly large, an element that drives trade in itself, a good partnership with the town centre manager is vital. We're finding that there's an appetite in the shopping centre industry to tap into the Index and find out what's happening."

One of the most useful aspects for shopping centres is Springboard's ability to look at the market share of shopping centres in town centres. "We monitor the high street and its entrances as well as the entrances to the shopping centre, so we can compare peel off rates," says Wherle. "How much high street trade is going to the shopping centre? That's really interesting."

For example, in Cheltenham, Springboard has discovered that while footfall at Beechwood shopping centre, which is one of three centres in the town, has gone up, when compared to the rest of the town the market share has declined, with the peel off rate down by 5 per cent.

"Their footfall is good and going up, but they're not tapping into what's happening in Cheltenham," says Wherle. "Our data provides an early warning sign for them. Perhaps they need to do some consumer research to find out why people in the town are not going to Beechwood. The result could be more active marketing, or even something more fundamental such as reviewing car park pricing or access to the centre."

The Index reveals positives as well as negatives. In Cardiff, for example, which is undergoing huge redevelopment, the peel off rate from Queen's Street - where footfall is down - into Queen's Arcade is up by 2.5 per cent.

Bespoke solutions

Provision of accurate data is likely to be top of the agenda when it comes to installing customer counting technology in a shopping centre. And a bad experience can sometimes deter centre managers or owners from investing in more new technology.

However, the problems encountered by shopping centres are often down to the environment rather than the product itself, and the solution is to ensure that the most suitable technology is installed in relation to the surroundings.

PFM Counting Solutions has been providing counting technology to shopping centres for over 22 years, and David Sturdy from PFM points out that while other people-counting companies often have a 'one size fits all' mentality, PFM's systems use a variety of counting solutions within a single installation, including horizontal infra-red, vertical infra-red, laser, CCTV and thermal imaging.

The system infrastucture is flexible and can consist of either hardwire or wireless data transmission options. Sturdy says that, in consultation with each client, PFM decides which technology is right for each individual entrance or hot spot at a shopping centre, after carefully analysing the overall centre environment.

"The environment is always key in terms of which technology is most suitable," says Sturdy. "For example, with CCTV systems, lighting levels are a major issue. If the shopping centre in question has a glass roof, allowing lots of natural light, and bright sunshine at certain times of the day, shadows can be created which reduce the effectiveness of the CCTV footage.

"Thermal technology, on the other hand, uses heat to count customer numbers, so if you have a door heater nearby then the count may vary depending on whether the heater is switched on or not, and also whether it's summer or winter.

"We don't use laser technology that often because it tends to be too expensive to apply to very large projects, but if you need high volume counting, then it's an ideal system.

"With vertical infra-red there are no limits apart from for very wide entrances, where the installation can be quite complex. Narrow entrances are usually best served by horizontal infra-red systems."

Sturdy also points out that another issue that can cause problems for clients is being unaware of system failures that cause one or more counters to stop working. To deal with this, PFM has a data team which constantly monitors the systems in place and is alerted as soon as a counter is down. Sturdy says: "If a fault arises we pick it up, inform the customer and fix it, rather than the customer realising that their system hasn't been working for a while because they haven't checked it."

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