People counting for retail

People counting for retail stores

Retail people counting measures how many shoppers enter each store, hour by hour, so you can compare stores, roster to real demand and work out conversion. CountIQ does it with compatible Axis cameras at your entrances and brings every store into one cloud dashboard.

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CountIQ retail footfall dashboard showing daily, weekly and monthly entry counts with period-over-period comparisons and hourly bar charts

Why retailers count footfall

Footfall is the missing half of conversion

Sales figures tell you what was bought. Footfall tells you how many people had the chance to buy. Divide transactions by entries and you have a conversion rate you can compare between stores, days and campaigns.

Rosters built on actual traffic

Hourly entry counts show when each store is busy. Staff those hours on evidence instead of copying last year's roster.

A fair way to compare stores

Two stores with the same sales can have very different traffic. Counting shows whether a store has a traffic problem or a conversion problem, and those need different fixes.

What to measure

Five numbers cover most retail decisions. CountIQ supplies the traffic side; transaction counts come from your point-of-sale reports.

Metric	What it tells you	Decision it supports
Entries per hour	When shoppers arrive	Rosters and opening hours
Footfall by day, week and month	How traffic is trending	Campaign and seasonal planning
Conversion rate (transactions ÷ entries)	How well a store turns visits into sales	Coaching, layout and range
Store-by-store comparison	Which locations are strong or weak on traffic	Marketing spend and lease reviews
Live occupancy	How many people are in store now	Floor cover and capacity limits

How CountIQ counts

Step 1
Count at the entrance
Compatible Axis cameras count people crossing configured entrance and exit lines. Detection and counting run on the camera.
Step 2
Bring every site together
Count data is sent to CountIQ in the cloud, where dashboards show activity and occupancy by site and zone.
Step 3
Alert and report
Set occupancy thresholds, receive alerts and schedule reports so the right people get the numbers without asking.

Read more about how people counting systems work or see the CountIQ people counting software in detail. Planning a purchase? See people counting pricing, Axis camera compatibility and privacy.

How retail teams use it

After a campaign

Compare footfall for the campaign week with the weeks before it, store by store, to see whether the campaign brought people through the door.

Monday reporting

Scheduled reports send last week's traffic to store and area managers, so nobody compiles a spreadsheet to find out how the weekend went.

Moving off AXIS Store Reporter

Axis ended service support for Store Reporter on 31 January 2026. CountIQ provides cloud dashboards and automated reporting for teams moving from it, on the Axis cameras already installed.

See the Axis Store Reporter replacement

What to check before you start

Every public entrance needs a camera that sees the full width of the doorway. An uncounted side door understates traffic.
Cameras need to be compatible Axis models running AXIS People Counter or AXIS Object Analytics. We check your existing cameras and entrance coverage before you commit.
Decide how to treat staff movements. Staff walking in and out inflate footfall unless they use a separate door or you allow for them in your analysis.
Conversion needs transaction counts from your point of sale for the same hours. CountIQ provides the footfall side.

Common questions

What is a retail people counter?

A retail people counter records how many shoppers enter and leave a store. Older counters use an infrared beam across the doorway. Camera-based counters use on-camera analytics, which can tell direction and count several people who walk in together.

Can I use the cameras already in my stores?

If they are compatible Axis cameras positioned to see the entrance, CountIQ can use them for counting without separate people counter sensors. Some stores may need a camera repositioned, extra entrance coverage or network configuration. We assess that with you before rollout.

How do I calculate conversion rate from footfall?

Divide the number of transactions by the number of entries for the same period. A store with 120 transactions from 600 entries converted 20% of its visitors. CountIQ provides the entry counts; transaction counts come from your point-of-sale system.

Does CountIQ work across many stores?

Yes. CountIQ brings retail footfall counts together so you can compare stores, identify peak visitor hours and review daily, weekly and monthly traffic trends in one dashboard.

Where does the counting happen?

Detection and counting run locally on the camera using edge processing. Count data is sent to CountIQ in the cloud, where dashboards and reports are built. You should still cover people counting in your own privacy notice and store signage.