General Information FAQ

Q: Does SMS Storetraffic provide counters which can filter employees?

A: In partnership with our 3D camera manufacturer, a solution will be released in 2023 to offer this capability, knowing its success relies on a good deployment and field discipline so it can bring expected results.

From our market survey, the various ways to do this right now come with great challenges in terms of accuracy. Here is how others do so:

• Piece of fabric worn by employees – video detection through the traffic counting camera, highest possible accuracy since it is only 1 piece of hardware. SMS has been trialing this feature but customer feedback led to dropping this option.
• Badge with particular pattern worn by employees – video recognition through the traffic counting camera, relies on visibility of the badge and its pattern. SMS studied this option but given the even greater limitations VS the first method, SMS doesn't offer it.
• Facial recognition - video recognition through the traffic counting camera (or an L&P one), even more exploratory at this time, yet mid/long term promising - Facial recognition is both not accurate enough yet & nor sure to remain legal (many actions are being taken against this technology by public institutions, consumer groups, brands & organizations getting backlash, etc.). SMS does not offer this option.
• RFID or Wi-Fi / Bluetooth tracking with badges or device – not through people counters - Inaccuracy of exact location, employees needing to have the badge / device on them, signal risking to not be attached to an employee traffic event but rather a valid customer traffic event happening at the same time, yet erasing valid traffic, etc. - technologies which have been out there for 5+ years, and the very reason why other paths are currently being explored. SMS does not offer this option. 

SMS is always comparing options and chose not to offer these unsatisfactory staff filtering solutions. Like for any legitimate request for an added feature, our team is still exploring options which could arise (hence why we'll launch one in 2023), where the application will make sense first and foremost for low customer traffic / high employee traffi location (typically luxury retail).

Q: Does SMS Storetraffic provide Wi-Fi / Bluetooth tracking solutions?

A: SMS has elected not to go down the path of Wi-Fi counting up to this point as our promise is to exclusively deliver reliable and actionable data.

As stated above, these technologies incur great limitations when trying to count directionally (ins & outs), measure pass-by traffic VS walk-in traffic or even provide heat mapping (customers path throughout a space, dwelling time within this space or sub-areas).

Limitations to consider which could lead to inaccurate data :

• Having a phone / device (and only wearing 1)
• Being a smart phone
• Battery not being depleted
• WiFi and/or Bluetooth being actually turned on
• No restrictions on being tracked
• Having opted-in to enable tracking
• Having an App which communicates with the services of the counting provider
• Hoping that the person / device is actually well located since Wi-Fi inaccuracy could be 30’ / 10 meters, Bluetooth 12’ / 4 meters
• Hoping that Apple/Samsung current work on Mac Address randomization won’t bring more complexity (what is getting worst with Apple latest updates...)

Whenever an individual doesn't check all these boxes, he will not be counted, or maybe only once every 5 minutes.

A good video to illustrate Wi-Fi difficulties is here, 2016 but yet still very accurate... Interesting all along but even more at 4.50 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtfnlgTj_-A

Last, nowadays, most organizations have rolled out a Wi-Fi solution, and any good Wi-Fi provider does give Heat Mapping, Dwell Times & all these TRENDS to their customers. Check with your provider!

Q: Does SMS Storetraffic provide people counting options via Security cameras?

A: There is no security system that can compete with dedicated people counting companies at this point.

SMS has tested multiple security cameras in the past and many customers did compare us against these throughout the years. 

Indeed, leveraging existing infrastructures and low cost cameras could sound promising in terms of cost savings… 

However, reality is that accuracy is nowhere near dedicated people counting solutions such as Pearl or 3D cameras.

Security cameras are installed for a completely different use, with a far from ideal view angle towards the entrance. These do not have any embedded software for counting, doing it with an independent video analysis processing system, basing itself on some sort of algorithm at best, otherwise most of the time on very basic programming.

It requires local server(s), implies more processing power and data consumption, and can result in high maintenance too.

Security camera providers also do not have expertise on People Counting Analytics & Derived Metrics, a great risk to get any ROI on a people counting investment.

To understand if a security camera provider is serious about people counting, first thing is to check their website: Is people counting heavily promoted there? What do they say about accuracy, success stories, their Analytics platform?

SMS will keep monitoring these options, just like any other possible evolution.