Chapter 80
Hourly Customer Traffic
Measurement Need
Retailers seek to measure total customer traffic during a specific period of time.
Solutioni
Where
HCT = hourly customer traffic
Ttrafft = total customer traffic in time period t
Tht = total hours in time period t
If a retailer has 1,000 customers during a ten-hour day, then the hourly customer traffic (HCT) is 100:
Impact
Similar to Chapter 76 (Transactions Per Hour), retailers use HCT information to determine employee scheduling, store hours, and even price promotions. The busiest hours warrant the highest staffing levels and may be an opportune time to run a promotion to maximize sales. HCT is different from transactions per hour in one key respect: HCT measures all customer traffic, not just paying customers. Retailers will need more staff during higher customer traffic periods to answer customer questions and handle point-of-sales cash transactions. Peak customer traffic times are a great opportunity for retailers to focus on improved service since many of those who are merely browsing may return in the future to purchase if their initial service experience was positive.
Data for HCT is tracked through in-store transactions on the payment system software.
iOpentracker.com, Hourly Trends, N.D. Retrieved May 4, 2017 from https://www.opentracker.net/docs/reports/traffic-trends-behavior/hourly-trends; Google Analytics Help, View Hourly, Daily, Weekly, or Monthly Data, N.D. Retrieved May 4, 2017 from https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1010054?hl=en