Francesc Tortras
Senior Key Account Manager at Lanaccess
Computer Engineer,
Security Director
13 March 2025
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Table of Contents
Understanding customer behaviour within a store is essential for improving the shopping experience and, ultimately, boosting profits. Heatmaps enable the real-time identification of areas with higher and lower foot traffic.
When integrated with smart video surveillance systems, this technology makes it easier to implement strategic changes in product placement, customer service and operational management.
What are heatmaps?
A heatmap is a graphical representation of data using a colour scale. These colours indicate different levels of activity:
| Colour | Shown | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Red | High-traffic areas and places where customers linger the longest. | |
| Orange | High-traffic areas, but with shorter dwell times. | |
| Yellow | Zones with moderate activity and intermittent movement. | |
| Green | Low activity areas. | |
| Blue | Very low traffic, with little to no interaction. |
A Heatmap Showing Customer Dwell Time in a Supermarket Section
When integrated with business intelligence tools like BI Xplorer, this feature enables store managers to combine data on foot traffic, sales and promotions, helping to optimise business operations.
How Heatmaps Work in Video Surveillance
The video surveillance system captures real-time images through cameras connected to video recorders, and, using artificial intelligence driven by deep learning, it analyses customer movement within the store.
Unlike other technologies that require connecting to customer’s mobile devices, this system provides more accurate and less intrusive analysis. It also respects customer privacy, as it tracks only foot traffic rather than identifying individuals.
The Lanaccess Suite VMS, together with advanced LAVA analytics (Lanaccess Advanced Video Analytics), generates heatmaps that highlight areas of high and low activity using our LAVA Heatmap algorithm. This provides valuable insights to help optimise space management and improve operational efficiency.
Applications and Benefits in Retail Establishments
- Product placement: Identify areas with the highest foot traffic and dwell time to strategically position products, maximising visibility and guiding the customer journey.
- Promotional effectiveness: Evaluate the impact of campaigns by tracking changes in foot traffic in areas with active promotions, allowing for optimisation of their placement.
- Staff management: Identify peak times and high-traffic areas to optimise employee deployment and enhance customer service.
- Energy savings: Identify areas where lighting and climate control can be adjusted based on actual occupancy, helping to reduce costs while maintaining the customer experience.
Other Algorithms for the Retail Sector
Lanaccess offers a suite of algorithms designed to enhance both security and operational efficiency for retail businesses.
- LAVA Count: Tracks foot traffic across different areas, helping to measure customer flow and optimise product placement.
- LAVA Density: Monitors space occupancy to prevent overcrowding, ensuring a better customer experience.
- LAVA Protect: Detects loitering and unusual dwell times in sensitive areas, alerting security staff when needed.
- LAVA Object: Identifies and counts objects, aiding in stock management and inventory replenishment.
- LAVA Appearance: Provides anonymous demographic analysis by gender and age, allowing for more targeted marketing strategies.
- LAVA Covered: Detects covered faces in real-time, helping to bolster security within the establishment.
Conclusion
Heatmaps allow businesses to make data-driven decisions that optimise space usage, improve customer service and enhance security in retail environments.
By integrating the Lanaccess Suite VMS, advanced LAVA analytics and BI Xplorer, retailers gain an advanced solution to boost operational efficiency and profitability.
Contact our experts to learn how we can integrate heatmaps into your video surveillance system.
