Traditionally, retailers have been sceptical of the effectiveness of store visit reporting accuracy. Now, the footfall technology of shopper marketing platform, ShopFully Australia, has been validated 97.6% accurate by Nielsen.

Nielsen’s comprehensive online measurement methodologies analyse consumer behaviour and trends, advertising effectiveness, efficiency, brand advocacy and more to provide a 360-degree view of how consumers engage with online media.

The third-party validation by Nielsen measured the accuracy of ShopFully’s technology on a sample of 2,764 visits in Australia. ShopFully now has 50 million users worldwide and 650 retailers, empowering shopping in physical stores through digital technologies.

ShopFully, which now has more than 1.5 million Australian shoppers, is ranked in the top 10 of the most downloaded shopping apps together with the likes of Amazon, eBay and Afterpay. The app has seen download growth of more than 300 per cent in the last six months alone.

Ground-breaking technology for store visit reporting

The Australian shopping landscape is made up of many small PoS (point of sale) and multi-level shopping centres, which has traditionally made retailers sceptical of the level of store visit accuracy. But ShopFully’s ground-breaking technology gives this digital marketing platform its competitive edge.

A machine-learning algorithm takes into consideration multiple factors based on behavioural patterns and intent of the shopper. One distinctive metric is an accurate ‘dwell time’ that detects users who enter and exit the store premises, which allows the retailer to track the time in store. The algorithm also cleans the ‘visit’ data by removing users who are likely just passing by or may be employees.

“Our store visit methodology captures a customer’s background location from trusted sources, including our own property and network and our trusted partners to obtain a greater number of data points and verify the store visits we report on,” says ShopFully Australia Country Manager Dean Vocisano. “The goal is to make the conversion from digital to physical store as effective and measurable.”

When it comes to store visit reporting, the industry as a whole is still in infancy, and there is a lack of education when it comes to different types of visit data, explains Mr Vocisano.

“Our core advantage is our platform and artificial intelligence when it comes to providing store visit reports,” says Mr Vocisano.

As customers increase their time online, every interaction leaves a digital footprint and is an opportunity for marketers to better reach, convert and serve them.

“We are constantly refining our methodology by using groundbreaking technology with a team of more than 70 people, focused on product and technological development,” says Mr Vocisano.

“And now we have third-party validation that guarantees our methodology is almost 100 per cent accurate.

More from The Business Conversation:

PayPal: Aussies love the never-ending sales cycle

Add a 'virtual human' chatbot to your website without breaking the bank

Retailers under pressure due to technological change