Compared with highly precise, complex technology—flying robots, for example—one might guess that counting foot traffic into and out of a place of business would be relatively simple and, therefore, affordable for even small retailers. Guess again. Video cameras powered by facial-recognition software, Wi-Fi access points (collecting MAC addresses from cell phones), pressure-sensitive mats, infrared electronic eyes, heat maps—these are all technologies that retailers rely upon to not only better understand traffic patterns, but also determine which merchandizing displays attract the most shoppers, and how traffic patterns correlate with sales.
Retailers use traffic counters and their companion analytics services to better compete with online sellers. But the way Density CEO Andrew Farah sees it, there are stakeholders that these systems do not directly help: consumers and small businesses (not only retailers, but also café owners and restaurateurs) that can’t afford advanced traffic-tracking systems.
Density, a startup that launched in mid-July, has introduced a traffic-counting system—based on a simple infrared sensor and an accompanying application programming interface (API)—designed to benefit both types of stakeholders.
Workfrom, a Portland-based startup that helps freelance workers or other individuals find coffee shops offering good Wi-Fi and available seating, is piloting the Density system as a means of directing users to locations where they’re likely to find a seat. Requested, a Sacramento-based startup that developed a smartphone app that gives diners a way to request meal discounts, is testing the Density solution as a means of automatically accepting such queries whenever participating restaurants have low traffic. And starting this month, Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) will install Density sensors at UC gyms in order to let students know how busy (high, moderate or low) the gyms are at any given moment. Workfrom, Requested and ASUC are all using Density’s API to add the occupancy data to their existing mobile or Web-based applications.
The Density sensor transmits a pair of parallel infrared beams. “The sensor is mounted at waist-height in a doorway, ” Farah says. “When someone goes past, the waveform is disrupted and it creates a spike in the sensor’s voltage.” The walker’s direction is thus deduced from whichever of the two IR beams is disrupted first.
The sensor is powered by a wall outlet and hardwired to a Wi-Fi modem. Each event is time-stamped and transmitted, via the location’s Wi-Fi network, to Density’s cloud-based software, which continuously determines how packed or empty the location is based on the movements of individuals through the door in either direction. Farah says the sensor’s accuracy has not yet been vetted, so if a group walks in together, the sensor may not account for each person.
The goal is to help drive people to a place of business when it’s quiet, which can benefit both patrons and the business itself. The Density system could also help consumers know when a business is hopping, which may inform their decision to visit or to stay away.
According to Farah, while Density’s sights were originally set on small merchants—as well as the companies that sell them services, such as loyalty programs—he has heard from a number of potential customers well outside that realm, including city governments and transit systems. Understanding real-time ridership on trains or busses, for example. could help transit systems respond to spikes in demand.
“We think it would be interesting to [deploy our sensors] across an entire city,” Farah states. While he could not divulge details, he says Density is currently in discussions with a quick-service restaurant in New York City, as well as a nonprofit organization based there, to test Density’s sensors and API. The firm is also talking to multiple cafés and bars in San Francisco, Calif., and in Austin, Texas.
Density does not plan to charge for its hardware. Rather, customers will pay for access to data related to occupancy levels at the monitored locations.