MRI Springboard’s FAQ’s
General
What is footfall / foot traffic?
Footfall or foot traffic is the number of people that are within a specific location.
What is benchmarking?
Benchmarking is the comparison of a single store or single location or even a group of stores or locations with the average for the market, whether that be national, regional, or typology, or group of locations. MRI Springboard holds the largest benchmarking data set in the UK.
What is "capture rate"?
Capture rate is the proportion of footfall in your location that actually enters the store. It represents the store’s market share and establishes whether the store is performing to the potential of its location. Read more about “Capture Rate – what is it?” in our blog.
How do I know if my capture rate needs to improve?
Every retailer category has a different average capture rate. MRI Springboard tracks capture rates across 11 retail categories for the UK so a store is able to compare its particular capture rate with the average for that category across the UK for any day week or month.
If a capture rate is lower than the average you would regard that as underperforming, if it is higher than the average it is performing strongly.
How does it work?
Using the latest in AI computer vision and machine learning our solutions can measure and classify footfall and vehicle movement within its view.
Do I need special equipment?
MRI Springboard can utilise your existing hardware/security cameras, or we can install our own hardware.
Why should I count how many visitors come into my store / destination
In a sales-driven environment, being able to manage and influence the 4 walls within which a store team has control is crucial. Counting the number of visitors that enter your store, or rather the number of sales opportunities that enter your store is important to influencing conversion and then sales.
How is the data provided?
Our data is primarily provided through three core mechanisms;
- Tailored reports sent directly to your inbox
- Our own online BI system, MRI Springboard’s Analyser; or
- Through an API feed.
Is MRI Springboard compliant with relevant privacy laws?
We are fully compliant with relevant privacy laws. Further information can be found on our privacy policy page. For more information please follow this link.
How do you monitor demographics?
Still, images of individuals approaching the camera are captured and analysed. The data is translated into a numeric algorithm so no individual can be named. Machine learning analyses for biometrics and objects then, once analysed, the images are discarded. This all happens within two seconds
What are the benefits of monitoring visitor demographics?
- Measuring the success of demographically targeted campaigns
- Understand which locations within a store or center are popular with each demographic segment, including differentiating between adults and children
- Customer / visitor sentiment towards new campaigns, products, layouts
- Understanding your actual target audience
App
How do I download the MRI Springboard app?
The MRI Springboard app is available to download on Google Play and the App Store. The buttons below are a direct link to the download site.
How do I change my occupancy threshold?
Once in the app, swipe to the right to access the settings page. Here you can amend your maximum occupancy number.
How do I set the maximum occupancy?
On the Android or IOS app, one swipe to the left from the main dashboard takes you to the settings page of the carousel. Here you can enter the maximum occupancy limit and the threshold percentage at which point you wish to receive alerts.
How do I set or amend the threshold settings?
On the Android or IOS app, one swipe to the left from the main dashboard takes you to the settings page of the carousel. Here you can enter the maximum occupancy limit and the threshold percentage at which point you wish to receive alerts.
What is the manual mode?
The system has the ability to act in a manual mode. Swiping to the left twice brings you to the manual control screen. Switching on Manual mode allows the user to toggle the window screen or display (if one is present) by pressing the green or red button. Manual mode can be switched off at any time, whereby the system reverts back to automatic mode.
PedBox
What is a PedBox?
Our PedBox is a small, self-installed device that makes tracking occupancy simple and immediate, live in real-time.
It displays key occupancy measures through the Springboard app and is suitable for use on phones, tablets, and digital signage. Let your customers know when it’s safe to enter with simple visuals in red/green format:
Red – “Please wait”
Green – “Please enter”
- Suitable for retailers with small to medium-sized stores which require a low-cost solution that can be set up in just a few minutes.
- Simply plug the device in, download our app and register your details to start tracking live occupancy.
- Data is refreshed automatically so the app will always display the current occupancy and how close you are to your maximum threshold.
What are the benefits to you?
Make shoppers and staff feel safe by demonstrating that customer numbers are being managed and social distancing is being adhered to.
- No installation needed, can be set up in minutes by store staff
- One-off PedBox purchase, followed by monthly subscription
- Easy to display “Please enter” screen from the app onto a tablet
- Can be monitored remotely
- Comply with and record social distancing measures
- Avoid overcrowding within different areas
What is the implementation process?
Implementation is simple. Purchase a PedBox from our website, plug it into mains power, and download the app. Data collection made easy.
We recommend purchasing one device per store/building, and shipment usually takes between 3-5 days. For more information, take a look at our technical specifications or our FAQs.
I have more questions about the MRI Springboard PedBox
More details about the MRI Springboard PedBox can be found here FAQ section here
Benchmarks
What is benchmarking?
Benchmarking is the comparison of a single store or single location or even a group of stores or locations with the average for the market, whether that be national, regional, or typology or group of locations. MRI Springboard hold the largest benchmarking data set in the UK.
Why is benchmarking useful?
Benchmarking provides the context required to understand whether a result for a single location is good or bad by identifying the result for the market i.e. the benchmark, it enables the analyst to understand relevant performance. This is crucial is a market that is changing and changing at differential rates.
What is the MRI Springboard Index, and how is it calculated?
The MRI Springboard Index is a weighted index comprising footfall in high streets, shopping centres and retail parks, it is calculated by taking into account the volumes of footfall that are attracted to each of the three types of destination and using those to derive an overall average for the UK for all three destination types.
How do you provide your benchmark data?
Footfall benchmarks are available as weekly and monthly reports, bespoke data feeds, and topical reports, delivered by email or via an API, in excel or CSV file formats.
Vacancy Rate
What is a Vacancy Rate Survey?
MRI Springboard’s quarterly vacancy rate survey is completed by high streets for high streets and creates context to the health of your town/city.
What is MRI Springboard’s definition of an independent unit?
An independent retailer is defined in the survey as having less than five branches nationally.
If a unit is undergoing work prior to opening, do they still count as vacant?
Any unit that is not trading at the time of the survey is vacant – our definition of vacant is that it is not currently trading. However, a view needs to be taken by the respondent as to the imminence of opening – if the unit is just about to open (e.g. tomorrow, next week) it could be classed as occupied. If works are ongoing with no fixed imminent date for opening it should be classed as vacant.
Are bars and restaurants classed as a unit?
Bars are classed as a unit – we need total number of ground floor units – retail or not.
How often does the survey run?
The survey runs on a quarterly basis throughout the year. We look to collect figures during January, April, July and October.
What do I get in return for participating?
The survey is completely free and we offer regional and national benchmarks for each participant. The results are released in an easy-to-read report where you can compare your results to the UK as a whole and your specific region. Historical data for the previous quarter and year are also available on the report.
Do I include a retailer who is closed due to COVID-19?
If the unit has closed due to COVID-19 but is still a business that are planning on reopening, then they should not be classed as a vacant unit.
Use cases:
How many visitors come to my store(s)?
In a sales-driven environment, being able to manage and influence the 4 walls within which a store team has control of is crucial. Counting the number of visitors that enter your store, or rather the number of sales opportunities that enter your store is important to influencing conversion and then sales. You can measure the number of visitors to your store using MRI Springboard’s footfall counting services.
How well has my promotional offer worked? How can I tell it’s been successful at increasing footfall and sales conversions?
The success of promotional offers is contingent on two things:
1. An increase in the number of customers visiting a store; and
2. The degree to which a store converts those customers into sales.
MRI Springboard’s footfall counting service enables you to understand the number of visitors to your store and whether that increases as a result of your promotion. By also tracking the number of people walking outside the store helps you to understand if the increase inside the store is due to that promotion or simply due to an increase in footfall outside of the store.
And then by comparing the number of units sold with the number of people entering the store (your capture rate) you can then understand the gain in conversion.
How can I make sure my store isn’t understaffed, or overstaffed?
Understanding whether a store has the appropriate level of staff is achieved by understanding the number of customers that enter the store and the variances in conversion throughout the day and week.
Other key elements are the capture rate so a store can understand whether it is maintaining its market share, i.e. the percentage of potential footfall from the street that is entering the store. If that share is declining, it suggests that the store is less attractive, and the staffing levels need to allow for that.
To compare stores across a network you need consistent metrics and these can be derived from Springboard’s services
How can I maximise the sales potential of the centre?
Sales potential is closely linked to footfall, there is a strong correlation between the number of people that visit a shopping centre and the sales that are achieved by retailers within that shopping centre. So in order to maximise sales potential, it is important to maximise footfall.
What shopping mall analytics do you provide?
MRI Springboard’s service delivers measurement and insight upon every part of the customer mall journey. Cars counted as they enter the location, visitors as they enter the mall, flow counts throughout to understand the relative performance of different areas and for each retailer in the mall, how many people walk past the unit and how many walk-in (capture rate). Overlaid onto this information is the daily sales of each retailer as well as rental information to get a true picture of the performance of every aspect of the mall.
How can I determine the sales potential of a location?
Footfall helps understand the sales potential of a location as it identifies the volume of customer activity in a place. Customer activity is vital for a business as it will attract a proportion of the total of activity in that location. Once you identify the volume of footfall and the change in that footfall, a business can then monetise that by attributing a conversion rate and average transaction value to that potential footfall.
What is my retailer(s) market share in a particular location?
A retailers market share in a particular location, is derived from a stores capture rate. The capture rate is the proportion of footfall in a street of mall that enters a store.
How are my sales and footfall statistics compared with other locations?
Comparing sales and footfall statistics is achieved by benchmarking, and benchmarking is the comparison of a single store or single location or even a group of stores or locations with the average for the market, whether that be national, regional, or typology or group of locations.
How can benchmarking help me understand trends in high street footfall?
Understanding trends in high street footfall is possible by comparing a single high street or even a number of high streets with an average for their region and for the UK. That wider context of what is happening across the country or within a region enables you to understand whether the changes witnessed in a high street or group of high streets are aligned to the average or is underperforming or overperforming.
Join our upcoming webinar as Diane Wehrle, Marketing & Insights Director, takes a deep dive into footfall performance across UK retail destinations throughout the first half of 2023. In this insightful session Diane will analyse the continuing effect on footfall and spend in retail destinations from hybrid working and the key economic challenge from rising interest rates and inflation.