QUICK ANSWER
The short version
Choose repeatable time slots. Count people passing your storefront and customer entries, then match completed in-store transactions from the same slots. Divide entries by passers for the entry rate, and transactions by entries for the transaction-to-entry rate. Compare like with like before changing a sign, display or staffing plan.
Vanteloq guideA practical way to read this guide
Choose repeatable time slots. Count people passing your storefront and customer entries, then match completed in-store transactions from the same slots. Divide entries by passers for the entry rate, and transactions by entries for the transaction-to-entry rate. Compare like with like before changing a sign, display or staffing plan.
An educational character, not professional accounting or legal advice.1. Set up a count you can repeat
Pick a fixed line on the sidewalk beside your storefront and count people passing it in both directions. At the door, count customer entries separately. Decide up front how you will treat children, repeat entries, staff, deliveries and order pickups. These are counts of events, not a count of unique shoppers.
Use a manual tally or a counter and record only totals. Start with comparable half-hour slots on several days. For example, compare weekday lunch with weekday lunch and Saturday afternoon with Saturday afternoon. Log the door being open or closed, snow or rain, nearby construction and unusual events so you can spot a poor comparison.
| Record | How to keep it consistent |
|---|---|
| Location and time | Use the same doorway and Edmonton local time. Record the start and finish. |
| Passers | Use the same sidewalk line, directions and counting rule. |
| Customer entries | Exclude staff and deliveries if they were excluded in the baseline. |
| In-store purchases | Use completed POS transactions from that location and time slot. Keep online orders and refunds separate. |
| Context | Record signage, staffing, weather and anything that changed access to the store. |
2. Calculate entry and purchase rates separately
In a fictional sample, 200 people pass a shop, 24 enter and six completed purchases are recorded. The entry rate is 12%, and the transaction-to-entry rate is 25%. Six purchases divided by 200 passers gives three purchases per 100 passers. That last measure combines street capture and in-store activity; it does not explain which one changed.
The transaction-to-entry rate is a useful proxy, not the percentage of unique visitors who buy. A group can share one purchase, and one shopper can make two. If a denominator is zero or you missed part of a count, mark that rate unavailable. Combine comparable slots by adding the counts first, then dividing. A quiet slot should not count as much as a busy one just because both have a percentage.
24 ÷ 200 × 100 = 12% in the fictional sample.
3. Use local data for context and your count for the decision
The City of Edmonton Business Census can help you understand the businesses around a location. The University of Alberta's downtown streetfront retail report offers a dated snapshot of downtown storefronts. Neither tells you how many shoppers entered your door this Saturday.
A lunchtime count beside downtown offices and an evening count near restaurants on Whyte Avenue answer different questions. Compare your own trading windows. If a detour or event changes the route past the store, keep the observation but flag it rather than treating it as a normal week.
4. Pick one change and review it in comparable slots
Try one change, such as clearer window messaging, for several matched slots. Record the before and after counts, the change and its owner. If one Saturday looks better but the other slots do not, keep testing before committing to a permanent change.
- Steady passers and fewer entries: check whether a first-time shopper can tell what you sell, when you are open and which door to use.
- Steady entries and fewer transactions: check product availability, price clarity, waiting time and the mix of people coming in.
- Lower passers with steady rates: check opening hours, nearby access changes and when your intended customers actually pass the store.
5. Give the weekly review an owner
Assign one person to match the till report and check for missing slots. Review the raw counts beside the rates. A jump from one to two purchases in a quiet slot can look impressive as a percentage, but two transactions are a weak basis for changing store hours. At the weekly review, record whether to keep, revise or repeat the test and which comparison would change your mind.
Sources and further reading
These sources support the operational, financial, platform or technical boundaries discussed in this guide. They are not endorsements of Vanteloq.
- Edmonton Business CensusCity of Edmonton Open Data
- Edmonton downtown streetfront retail researchUniversity of Alberta School of Business
