The Belfry Shopping Centre

The Belfry shopping centre has always had a forward-thinking strategy and has created a number of innovative experiential opportunities for shoppers, as well as unique outlets, pop-up stores and events spaces, alongside the major retailers, helping to attract greater numbers of visitors and enhancing their enjoyment over the years. The ability to track footfall helped The Belfry to understand trends and allowed them to track the success of their experiential ideas.

MRI Software’s footfall services have proved invaluable in helping the centre to provide ongoing insight into customer behaviour and accurately monitor the performance of its retail offer.

With the recent events surrounding Covid-19, The Belfry needed to change its focus to ensure the safety of customers and staff whilst also trying to encourage footfall into the centre.

MRI was able to utilise the existing footfall counters in place to provide The Belfry with a live feed of the centre’s occupancy, allowing them to understand visitor counts in real time. The centre is now able to keep within government guidelines regarding safe numbers and social distancing. The Belfry wants to reassure customers that it is safe to enter the centre to help drive footfall; using the occupancy data provided they have created a live feed on their website and TV screens at the entrances.

The MRI Software solution monitors activity and is able to share that information with customers, providing a further service in letting visitors know when the busiest shopping times have been during the previous week.

The data has not only helped in providing customers with reassurance but also with staff management.
“The system allows for efficient allocation of management and security staff when needed if the centre is nearing capacity, and means that operational planning can be carried out in advance to ensure that resources meet demand according to levels of expected activity in the centre, so freeing up staff during quieter periods.”