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Significantly increasing shopper conversion rates has been one of the main motivations for Singapore-based FJ Benjamin Holdings to invest in traffic intelligence.
The retail and distribution leader of luxury and lifestyle brands such as Banana Republic, Celine, Gap, Givenchy, Guess and La Senza deemed it crucial to deploy a technology that enables performance comparisons of its differently-branded stores. The company decided a traffic intelligence solution could provide valuable data to each store’s core KPIs.
In October 2012, following an initial pilot with several stores earlier that year, FJ Benjamin deployed the new Traffic Intelligence Solution in five of its stores, with a plan to possibly upgrade all 23 of its stores in Singapore to the new Traffic Intelligence platform.
Although most of FJ Benjamin’s stores are located in shopping malls, shop sizes are diverse, as is the range of products sold. The average store size ranges from 1,000 – 4,000 square feet; with larger stores going up to more than 9,000 square feet.
Further differences lay in the fact that while some stores only have one entrance/exit, others are fitted with up to four and have to be equipped with significantly more sensors.
FJ Benjamin decided on a device-agnostic solution, which can be combined with any type of sensor technology. Conversion rates are tracked on an hourly basis with store managers receiving updates or alerts.
Having already rolled out an Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) system from Tyco Retail Solutions across its entire store network, FJ Benjamin had the option of integrating EAS with traffic intelligence for added value.
The integration offered numerous benefits. With the combined solution’s ability to distinguish entrance and exit traffic from non-directional traffic of nearby shoppers or store greeters the number of nuisance alarms was significantly reduced.
The system only sounded an alert if a potential culprit walks through the sensors with the express purpose of exiting, rather than when a shopper happens to be standing near the sensors with unpaid for merchandise
FJ Benjamin was also able to significantly reduce energy consumption in its stores. For example, the solution’s directionality feature enables doors to open only if someone wants to walk through, versus opening whenever there is passing human traffic.
FJ Benjamin benefitted from the Traffic Intelligence solution and views the solution as a tool that will help it remain ahead of competition.