Retail Consultants – About Us

A brief history

It all started in 1989 when as SPSL, we discovered the need for people counters in retail. Then store managers did not have access to any footfall data, relying on guesswork and hunches they couldn’t tell suppliers how a new product redesign was selling or what their conversion rates were. The solution was born out of missile guidance technology and we developed the first ever infrared customer counting system.

By emitting an infrared beam at points of entry, retailers could measure footfall by counting how many people were coming in through the door every time the beam was broken.

We refined and developed this technology, adding increasingly advanced filters, algorithms and refinements to edit out prams, children and even balloons – before developing our state-of-the-art thermal and video camera people counting solutions.

Our team of retail experts review this data to provide in-depth analytics to help retailers identify consumer trends, patterns and retail insights to improve the whole customer experience.

In December 2007, SPSL became part of Synovate Retail Performance – the market research arm of Aegis Group plc. In 2011 Synovate Retail Performance was acquired by Ipsos and is now part of the world’s third largest market research providers and offers an unparalleled portfolio of solutions for retailers.

Monitoring over 3.1 billion visits per year, Ipsos Retail Performance works with the world’s biggest brands, monitoring and analyzing data across 50 countries. We continue to be at the forefront of retail consultancy, continually evolving and innovating to help our clients understand how consumers use their stores and providing the in-depth analytics they need to improve the customer journey, increase brand loyalty and ultimately optimize sales.

“We offer all types of counting technologies: infrared, thermal and stereo camera as well as facial profiling,” says Tim Denison, Director of Intelligence at Ipsos Retail Performance.”

“Each system has its strengths and weaknesses. It is not a case of one type of technology fits all – we are committed to getting the right system in place for our clients whatever the size of their estates or stores. The combination of common goals and our longstanding track record as customer experience consultants through technological innovation, keeps us very busy.”