About thermal, video and WiFi people counting sensors

Whether you own a small retail store or a large shopping mall, businesses that rely on footfall traffic require solid people counting technology. Analyzing footfall patterns enables you to understand your customers and their behaviour. This in turn, will allow you to optimize your space accordingly to maximize return. The benefits of a footfall counting system thus include measuring and understating customer behaviour, capturing live and historical data and managing occupancy levels. The key in making smart business decisions is not only to collect footfall data, but to transform this data into actionable insights.  

Thermal people counters

Thermal counters are door counters that are used a lot in retail, offices and other large facilities. People that walk by this sensor will radiate light generated by body heat. The thermal sensor will in turn, detect this body heat. 

Thermal cameras are generally fixed to the ceiling above the area to be measured. They are valued for their unobtrusiveness and their level of accuracy. Thermal imaging technology is used to observe changes in the temperature of individuals compared to the environment. Even in an area with high footfall, heat sensing cameras will detect customer body heat and provide trustworthy data. Complex environments are also not an issue since multiple thermal cameras can be joined to form wider zones. Thermal counters work best in areas with steady flow (think of shopping malls) and they are just as useful in the dark as they don’t use visual light.

3D Stereoscopic counters 

If you want to count people using 3D stereoscopic counters, the sensor will identify people walking through the area. Unlike security cameras, 3D stereoscopic counters concentrate on actively tracking footfall and people movement and this type of people counting is one of the most advanced types. 3D stereoscopic counters come in handy when there is a dense crowd or slowly moving pedestrian traffic. These types of counters are used mostly in (large) brick-and-mortar stores.

WiFi people counters

Smartphones have changed our lives and have given retailers a new way of collecting important data about their customers. These counters detect the Mac Address of visitors with a Wi-Fi / Bluetooth enabled device on them. The strength of the signal can give an approximate location of each person.

You can consider using this counting technique if you have a large space to cover such as a large retail space or a shopping mall. It is very common for these devices to be deployed in a ceiling close to the area in need of measurement.