Counting is easier than recognising
Knowing how many people come in, where they stop and how many leave with something is, for a shop, the same information a webshop gets for free. The technology is not complicated. What makes it complicated is the difference between counting, analysing behaviour and recognising people, and that difference belongs on the table before the purchase.
Three ways to measure, with three different consequences
They look alike in the brochure and differ legally by enough to decide the choice.
- Counting sensors at the entranceA sensor that counts passages and records nothing else. No image, no person, no retention period. This is the simplest form and for staffing and opening hours it is nearly always enough.
- Cameras with analyticsThe same camera that hangs there for security, with software that recognises zones and walking patterns. Now imagery enters the picture and with it the whole GDPR side: lawful basis, retention, signage and who may review footage.
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth trackingTechnically the easiest and legally the hardest: it follows a visitor’s device and therefore a person. Regulators have acted against this sooner than against the other two. We advise against it unless there is a lawful basis somebody with a name has assessed.
What we do in this and what we do not. We supply and install the sensors and cameras, build the network they run on, roll it out across the sites and manage it afterwards. The analytics platform itself is the product of a specialist supplier; we make sure it receives clean and complete data and that the connection can carry it. We do not produce the behavioural analysis.
Three things that differ at ten sites from at one
A trial in the flagship store says little about the rollout that follows.
- Every camera is a streamAnalytics on imagery means data going up continuously per site, or a device on site doing the computation. On a thin connection the second is nearly always the answer, and it is a choice made at purchase.
- The sensors sit on one network with the tillThat is exactly what you do not want. Measurement equipment belongs on its own segment, so a sensor never becomes a route to the point-of-sale system and a fault in the counting does not touch sales.
- The rollout is the cost, not the sensorTwenty sites means twenty times measuring up, mounting, connecting and checking, each with its own ceiling and its own meter cupboard. That is a rollout project and not an order, and it should be budgeted as one.
Where the line sits, and why it sits there
Three questions in this order. Asking them after the sensors are up is asking them too late.
Is a person recorded, or a number?
A counter adding up passages processes no personal data and falls outside most of the discussion. The moment imagery is added or a device is followed, it does, and then lawful basis, retention and the duty to inform apply.
Is there a lawful basis, and is it written down?
For camera surveillance for security, legitimate interest is the usual route, with an assessment on paper. For commercial analysis of behaviour that assessment is a different and a heavier one, because the interest is then revenue and not safety.
Recognition is a separate category
Facial recognition processes biometric data, which falls under special categories of personal data; in a shop that is almost never permitted. It is not something to switch on with a setting in the software and explain afterwards.
What we deliver is the technology and the record, not the legal judgement. We set retention periods, arrange signage, limit who can review footage and record what was configured and why. Whether your assessment holds is a question for your data protection officer or your lawyer; we make sure the setup does what is decided there.
What goes with this
Measuring hangs on the cameras, the network and the sites.
Questions we get about this
The ones that come up most, answered briefly.
Can we use our existing security cameras for this?
Technically often yes, legally it is a different question. Those cameras are there on a basis of security; using them for commercial analysis is a new purpose with a new assessment. That need not be an objection, but it is a decision to write down before the feature is switched on.
What is the simplest way to start?
A counting sensor at the entrance that only adds up passages. No image, no person, no retention period, and for staffing and opening hours that is nearly always enough. Start there and only expand once you have a question it cannot answer.
Do you supply the analytics platform itself?
No. We supply and install the sensors and cameras, build the network, roll it out across the sites and manage it. The platform that turns it into analysis is the product of a specialist supplier; we make sure it receives clean and complete data.
Start with the question of what you want to know
Say what you will do with the figures: rostering staff, testing a layout or measuring a campaign. From that follows which of the three ways of measuring is enough, and it is nearly always the simplest one.
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