People counting is a growing industry.
According to Reportbuyer, an industry intelligence firm, the global people counting system market is expected to grow to US$1,139.3 million by 2022. This is a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 14% between 2016 and 2022.
MarketsandMarkets puts the current global market at US$694.7 million. The market research firm projects that the market will reach US$1,150.2 million by 2023, at a CAGR of 10.6% between 2018 and 2023.
People counting systems count and monitor the number and behaviour of people visiting public spaces like airports, train stations, tourist venues, leisure centres, shopping centres, concert halls, museums and sport arenas or attending large-scale events. They gather data by counting the number of people entering and exiting these spaces and by measuring their actions, sizes and movement.
The main factors driving the industry’s growth, said MarketsandMarkets, are the growing retail sector, the increased adoption rate of people counting technologies, the availability of low-cost, easy-to-setup people counting solutions and the increasing need for people counting solutions in the transportation sector. The rising accuracy of people counter systems is another reason for its growing popularity; the best performing systems score above 98% in accuracy rate.
Embattled retail stores trying to push back against ecommerce players are also driving the growth of people counting systems, according to Reportbuyer. Retails stores are trying to beat their online competitors by applying digital analytics to their people counting systems to pin down their weaknesses against their disruptive competitors.
In the security domain, people counting has become an important tool for risk prevention in buildings and at events.
Types Of People Counters
People counting systems come in many shapes and sizes. They include CCTV (using ceiling mounted cameras), thermal systems (where heat sensing cameras uses thermal imaging technology to detect customers’ body heat), infrared people counters (which use infrared rays to detect visitors and their movement), video-based counters (where ceiling-mounted video cameras provide moving images of customer traffic), wired (where cables connect sensors to the system) and wireless (which utilises radio frequency or Wi-Fi).
Video-based Counter Systems Lead The Market
Video-based people counting technology is expected to continue to enjoy the biggest slice of the market because of the accuracy and advanced features offered by the technology.
“The market for the video-based technology is growing because of its advanced features, such as the ability to differentiate between a child and an adult and between a person and an object, allowing more accuracy in high-volume traffic, and the ability to withstand changing environmental conditions,” reported MarketsandMarkets.
North America Will Remain Biggest Spender
From 2018 to 2023, North America will be the major buyer for people counting systems, propelled by the need to monitor its busy airports and the increasing adoption of people counting solutions by the transportation market in the continent. As a result, major companies, such as RetailNext, ShopperTrak, and Axis Communications, are focussing on launching their products in this region.
The second largest market will be Europe, said Reportbuyer. The fastest growing market, however, is the Asia Pacific region.
What Can People Counter Systems Do For You?
Accurately counting traffic that enters your store or facility empowers organisations to make smarter decisions.
Accurate counting enables organisations to optimise staffing and energy demands. In this way, it helps the organisation maximise profits and improve operational efficiency.
With people count data, businesses can make more informed decisions about marketing, facilities management, staffing, security, and more.
In the area of security, people count data is used for crowd management purpose and to monitor high-traffic areas. For safety and security departments, for instance, being able to accurately track and determine the exact number of people present in a building or moving through a high-footfall areas at any given time will help the departments improve safety and security and prevent losses. When a fire occurs, accurate people counting would support evacuation by counting the number of people leaving a building in an emergency evacuation situation. Alerts can also be set when maximum visitor numbers are reached.
Who’s Benefiting From This Boom
The major players in the people counting system market include Axis Communications AB (Sweden), HELLA Aglaia Mobile Vision GmbH (Germany), InfraRed Integrated Systems Ltd. (UK), RetailNext, Inc. (US), ShopperTrak (US), Eurotech S.p.A. (Italy), Axiomatic Technology Limited (UK), Countwise LLC (US), DILAX Intelcom GmbH (Germany), IEE S.A. (Luxembourg), Iris-GmbH (Germany), V-Count (Turkey), and Xovis AG (Switzerland).
