How to count your store traffic without buying sensors
Your sales tell you what happened at the register. Your traffic tells you what happened at the door. Here is how to count it without new hardware.
Most customers now expect to pay with a card or a phone, and many still pay with cash. A store that accepts all of them smoothly makes the line move and keeps the end-of-day count simple.
Before you open
- Decide which methods you accept and show them at the door and at the counter, so nobody gets to the register and finds out you do not take their card.
- Test a real transaction on every device before the first customer, including a refund.
- Have a backup. A second device or a second way to take payment for the day the internet or a terminal fails.
At the counter
- Teach everyone how to split one sale across two methods, for example part cash and part card. It comes up more often than you think.
- Refund to the original payment method whenever possible. It keeps your records and your customer's statement easy to match.
- Offer a receipt every time.
At the end of the day
- Close each register and count by payment method, not only the total. Cash, card and transfer should each match what the system expected.
- Write down any difference with the reason, the same day, while people still remember.
- Keep receipts and records for card payments. If a customer disputes a charge later, you will need them.
None of this is complicated. It just needs to be the same routine every day, done by everyone who works the register.
