CHAMBLY, Quebec, April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Michael Strategies (SMS), a leader in the traffic monitoring industry, announced today a new program to help retailers drive sales in a slow economy by improving the accuracy and reliability of their traffic counting systems.

Over the past 25 years, many chains have installed traffic counting systems. "Some of the early detector technologies are inaccurate and unreliable. Some systems involve heavy annual maintenance costs; others have simply lost their credibility and are no longer used," states David Di Cristo, SMS Director.

To help retailers focus on conversion rate as a means to improve sales, SMS is offering for the month of May a free system evaluation and, if required, an upgrade recommendation. This program is to ensure that appropriate and reliable equipment is in place in every location, and that traffic and related data is available in a timely manner to all levels of the organization. The latest hardware and software technologies make reactivating or upgrading an existing system quick and inexpensive since the basic infrastructure, including cabling, is already in place.

One particularly high maintenance system is CCTV traffic counters where data accuracy is often compromised by poor system configuration, shiny floors, floor mats, dark surfaced areas, air conditioning, air coming in from the outside, shadows, car lights, sunlight, and changes to in store lighting. Thermal imaging devices, or in some cases even infra-red beams, can improve count accuracy and credibility, reduce maintenance costs, and reinvigorate system use.

Better, faster, more action-able reports, especially at store level, are also a key component to optimize the traffic counting system. Recommendations for improved data reporting are part of the SMS May System Evaluation.

For more information about this program, please contact sales@storetraffic.com or call SMS at 1-800-658-5148.

About St. Michael Strategies: SMS pioneered the use of pedestrian traffic data as a Key Performance Indicator over 30 years ago and continues to lead the industry in the development of traffic monitoring technology and interpretive tools. SMS is used in more than 20 countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

CONTACT: Christian Gregoire of TM MC, +1-514-847-2242,
cgregoire@tm-mc.com, for St. Michael Strategies