Cognimatics

Tally Weijl uses TrueView People Counter™ to optimize store efficiency

Monday, 06 September 2010

“Tally Weijl was founded in 1984 in Lohn, Switzerland, with the aim to offer women "trendy clothes for every situation and budget,” says Anne Talureau, Buyer for Non-Textile products - Marketing & Stores fitting of Tally Weijl. The most active market is Germany with 175 stores and thereafter in order Italy, Switzerland, and Austria. Since January 2009, Tally Weijl has utilized an intelligent visitor statistics method provided by Cognimatics in order to measure individual stores' success rates.

Prior solutions were cumbersome

“In 2009, we were looking for a new tool to support our Sales department and analyze our activities in the stores,” says Talureau. Tally Weijl had already tried two systems that used the same hardware but with different solutions for the data gathering. "One of the systems had issues with accuracy and incorrect counting as well as needed an external computer and had no remote calibration," says Michel Pegeot, Network engineer and in charge of IT Network at Tally Weijl. “The other solution also utilized an external computer, had time-consuming remote calibration and similar accuracy issues as the other. We were not satisfied and learned about the Cognimatics' solution via one of our hardware providers.”

Standard, robust hardware

Cognimatics uses standard Axis cameras and places them in the ceiling above the entry and exit paths of the stores. The cameras point directly downwards and accurately captures when a person enters or leaves a calibrated zone. Due to the high accuracy rate, the use of a standard Axis camera is to prefer over the traditional horizontal beams that cannot distinguish the person count if more than one person crosses the beam at the same time. The technology used in Axis' cameras is also preferred over the more expensive use of infrared technology. Since that technology is more expensive, the resolution of the cameras is often reduced in order to lower the price, but that in turn also causes less accuracy.

Embedded video analytics leads to ease of use

The cameras are solely used to capture visitor statistics through the embedded Cognimatics' software and thus do not store any images of the people entering or leaving the stores. Thanks to the software being embedded in the camera, "we need no external computer which means less maintenance and cost for us," explains Pegeot. As for accuracy, “our goal is to be over 90% and Cognimatics has proven to give us even better data with an accuracy of 95%,” says Pegeot and continues that the solution used is “very simple to work with and offers live view and camera access through the internet where we can do calibration and counting.” He would without hesitation recommend Cognimatics to another company and says that “you simply just have to try the Cognimatics' solution.” The full roll-out involves around 1000 cameras.

Benefits from the solution

• Outstanding counting accuracy
• No external PC necessary since the software is embedded
• Use of a standard Axis Communications' camera
• Power supply from the existing network cable
• Easy-to-use and simple configuration
• Possibility for remote configuration and calibration
• Easy software updates with ever new features