What is Footfall?

Footfall is the number of people who visit a retail store during a specific period of time.

Footfall is also referred to as foot traffic

Importance of The Footfall Metric

The footfall metric is important in retail, because high foot traffic usually translates into high sales. The business tracks it to be able to plan its budgets and retail scheduling in advance, based on foot traffic trends in the past.

Retail businesses also base very important decisions, such as whether or not to open a store at a certain location, based on the expected traffic this store will get. A high foot traffic means the location has a good potential to generate high sales.

Footfall is also included in some calculations in retail, such as The Sales Equation and the conversion KPI, which is an important performance indicator for any retail business to help it assess the customer service level and shopping experience at the store.

Foot traffic is also the first metric to be checked if sales are low at the store, to be able to understand if the reason for low sales is external or internal.

How Do Retail Businesses Track Foot Traffic?

Retail businesses track footfall or foot traffic by installing a foot traffic counter at the store entrance. These counters detect any inward movement and record it, and then report it through the analytics system of the business on a regular basis.

Usually when such a device is first installed it needs to be calibrated and checked to ensure it is counting correctly, and the business also needs to designate an area for the staff to enter and exit the store without being counted as visitors.

Online businesses also use analytics software, such as Google Analytics, to track traffic, and then use this metric to calculate other KPIs such as conversion rate.

More Resources

Thank you for reading this article on footfall. We believe you might also find the following free resources useful:

• How to drive more traffic to a retail store?
• Conversion Rate
• Learn Retail Sales Management