As a retailer, you already understand the significance of footfall in achieving commercial success. But, did you know that it can also be used to make significant improvements to your retail parking operations?
In today’s fast-paced world, providing a seamless parking experience is crucial to drive revenue growth. That’s where human mobility data comes in. Site managers and parking operators can gather valuable insights on visitor behaviour to identify opportunities for development and predict future trends.
In this guide, we’ll discuss how leveraging human mobility data can optimise your retail parking operations and unlock long-term business benefits.
Understand Customer Behaviour
Get to know your visitors by tapping into demographic insights such as social status, age, gender, income level and postcode to determine where they are travelling from. Interactive heatmaps enables you to track people’s movements and identify preferred parking spots, off-peak/ peak hours and whether they are using the parking facility for shopping or other activities. Armed with this information, retailers can adjust parking operations to accommodate customer preferences for a hassle-free parking experience.
Maximise Space Occupancy
Human mobility data not only provides information on the occupancy of each parking spot, but can also detect and record how long a customer stays, as well as how frequently they visit. This enables retail parking managers to understand how efficiently parking spaces are being used, and adjust their operational strategies, pricing, parking space allocation, and staffing schedules accordingly to save time and resources.
Improve Traffic Flow
One of the biggest issues retail parking facilities face is poor traffic flow. With the help of location intelligence, you can identify bottlenecks that cause congestion and develop strategies for reducing them. For example, if you notice that customers tend to roam around the parking lot looking for spots, you can introduce digital signage or an app system that indicates available spaces and directs drivers to them quickly.
Reduce Energy Consumption
Retail parking lots are known for being power consuming, with high costs resulting from the use of lighting, elevators, automatic barriers, security and so on. By analysing human mobility data and peak usage times, car parks can implement technologies such as motion sensors and timers to ensure that energy is not being wasted when the car park is unoccupied or during non-peak times.
Increase Security Measures
Parking facilities are not immune to security breaches. By using car park analytics to collect data on the number of cars and their parking duration, operators can easily pinpoint anomalies and drivers who overstay their welcome on the retail site. This could suggest unusual activity that may signal a security threat, enabling quick and effective responses to help prevent crime and anti-social behaviour.
Gain a Competitive Edge
Retail businesses that integrate human mobility data into their parking operations can improve the customer experience, reduce costs and streamline their processes. This, in turn, provides a competitive edge over other businesses that do not, and with the right plan and execution, you can provide a positive parking experience that enhances your brand and attracts more customers to your site.
Invest in Car Park Analytics
The importance of car park analytics cannot be underestimated. By using human mobility data, retail sites are able to optimise parking operations and stay competitive, while offering new and improved services that benefit visitors and the wider community.
Contact Place Informatics at 0161 706 1343 or schedule a discussion by clicking the booking link below. Our team is ready to provide insights on car park and retail footfall data in your area, so don’t miss out!
