People Counter solution at Galați Shopping City
A straight-forward, efficient and highly reliable solution.
Mission
A shopping mall’s success depends on increased visitor numbers and marketing departments rely on accurate foot-traffic measurements to plan promotions and attract even more guests. For these reasons, Galați Shopping City sought a solution to accurately count the number of visitors, allowing its marketing team to better optimize activities and promotions.
Solution
Galați Shopping City had an existing analog video surveillance system, but it was not capable of advanced tasks like analysis or statistics. To avoid the need to upgrade the entire surveillance system, MNL Project Security recommended adding on-site IP cameras with an integrated people counting solution at the main entrances of the mall. Because of the original analog system, the IP cameras were not integrated into the larger system, instead they operate in conjunction with the intuitive Axis platform.
Result
The implementation of a people counting solution is of great use for marketing specialists, allowing them precise information on people entering and leaving the mall at certain hours. This way, they can prepare targeted recommendations and make knowledgeable decisions to improve the mall’s efficiency and grow its business.
The entertainment center of the city
Developed by NEPI (New Europe Property Investments) at an estimated cost of 70 million USD, Galați Shopping City is the biggest shopping mall in Galați. It opened in 2013 and was extended in 2017, so its surface area today is close to 50,000 sqm, spanning 30 acres and providing 1,400 parking places. The mall has over 200 shops, contains numerous entertainment areas and a food court making it one of the most important employment sources in the area.
Given its size, the mall’s management needed a solution to evaluate the success of their business and the efficiency of their actions. In order to be able to optimize their marketing activities and grow their business, it was mandatory to know the status, as well as to be able to identify – in real time – the results of its various actions and campaigns. People counting was the ideal solution as it can provide all the necessary numbers, in a very simple and efficient way.
Technical solutions
For this implementation, MNL Project Security chose to use AXIS M3045-V Network Cameras, coupled with AXIS People Counter solution running on the EDGE ACAP platform (AXIS Camera Application Platform), thus using the processing power of the units to gather information. For managing data from video equipment, the cloud-based AXIS Store Reporter solution was chosen, which generates custom reports, but also provides notifications about the state of operation of the equipment.
The camera uses a full HD sensor, with WDR functionality, and is able to monitor regardless of the light conditions. Coupled with the e-licenses, the unit is able to provide complete reports, created in an instant, based on the marketing department’s requirements.
This way, there is no need for complex calculations, which are highly time consuming and are prone to error. The result is an effective, fast and intuitive solution, with almost zero operating costs. The measured data is sent to the cloud in real time, making it highly accessible, but the cameras also integrate their own storage.
This way, they can locally store all the data for up to 90 days – a useful feature in the event of an Internet outage. And when the Internet connection is back, all the stored data is sent to the cloud, where it is processed, ensuring that the marketing team gets all the aspects of the picture, anytime and everywhere. At the end of the day, Galați Shopping City now has a powerful, reliable and intuitive marketing tool that allows it to be more efficient in all its actions.
Saving time and money
Despite its apparent simplicity, the installed Axis solution proved to be a very efficient marketing tool. Now, the marketing team can plan events meant to keep people on the premises for as much as possible at peak hours, or they can prepare campaigns and promotions to attract more people on the premises outside peak hours. Also, they can analyse customer flow and evaluate the impact of running advertising and promotions, allowing them to extend these activities when they are of great success or replace them when the result is not as expected. Overall, they can now better communicate with management and partners, by creating more accurate reports and recommending actions based on real facts and numbers.
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