Pedestrian frequency
The pedestrian frequency ( English footfall (UK), foot traffic (US) ) indicates the number of pedestrians who enter a definable retail location in a certain period of time as a key figure in the sales and real estate industry .
General
Among other things, key figures serve as a basis for decision-making . The frequency of pedestrians is important in the sales industry because it determines the number of potential walk-in customers in retail and is a location factor. The real estate industry uses this key figure as one of the parameters for determining the market value and rental prices of commercial real estate . The higher the footfall, the more attractive a particular location with regard to customers to be classified and the higher tend to be market values and rental rates of commercial properties.
calculation
Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) is one of the most important investigators of the key figure . The calculation method shows an example of how statistics are generated. It is a total survey in which the number of people (without children in prams) within a certain survey period (20 minutes, 1 hour to 3 hours; JLL) on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Saturday (JLL) between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. (JLL ) enter a certain street ( shopping street , pedestrian zone ). Within a survey period of one hour, JLL has four counting intervals of 15 minutes each, which in turn are divided into three five-minute counting units. In the first 5 minutes of an interval, all passers-by are counted with a counter , who pass the counter over an imaginary line from left to right; in the following 5 minutes, passers-by are counted in the opposite direction. There is a break in the last 5 minutes of an interval to compensate for any frequency fluctuations caused by local public transport or longer traffic light phases near the location. This method effectively counts 40 minutes. Each counting interval is subject to the following extrapolation:
The counting result of the first five-minute counting unit per interval is the counting result of the second five-minute counting unit per interval
The counting results of all counting intervals are added and summarized to the pedestrian frequency. The higher the pedestrian frequency, the greater the number of potential customers for the adjacent shops. The majority of the passers-by are casual customers , while only a few regular customers are among them .
The selection of the counting period, the time and the data parameters of the weather conditions play a decisive role in determining the frequency of pedestrians. Evaluations of the last 10 years have shown that there can be strong fluctuations, which means that the rankings of important shopping areas are constantly changing. This was due both to the fact that the pedestrian flows are subject to strong random fluctuations and because a specific counting time is set regardless of the prevailing weather conditions.
purpose
The pedestrian frequency is an indicator of the attraction of a location. At the same time, it is an important location factor both for choosing a business location and for determining the property value and commercial rents. Your measurement is not carried out on low-frequency days (Sundays) because then no shops are open anyway. An increase in frequency indicates the increasing popularity with customers. Due to the technical accessibility of certain locations ( local public transport , parking garages ) the pedestrian frequency is improved. In addition to rent level, branch mix, location and purchasing power, pedestrian frequency is a key figure in the property rating of commercial properties.
criticism
Due to its methodological weaknesses, pedestrian frequency cannot be used as the sole indicator of the attractiveness of a location.
Influencing variables such as weather , time of year or seasonal fluctuations have an impact on the number of passers-by that is difficult to calculate and make it difficult to compare the data collected . If, for example, it rains in Berlin and the sun is shining in Munich at the same time, it is very likely that one shopping street will be busier than the other. The same applies to events . It is also difficult to compare popular metropolises with major cities that are less touristy, since tourists show a completely different buying behavior than local residents.
A measurement is only made numerically (quantitative), qualitative statements about a location can only be made from the analysis of a large number of different key figures . On the one hand, this includes passer-by-related data such as gender, age, origin, purchasing power or motivation, and on the other hand, the geographical, demographic and economic framework conditions of the entire location. The willingness to buy as a decisive factor can only be determined through a survey . There is also the risk that passers-by will be recorded multiple times, no distinction is made between “runners” and “buyers”.
In shopping centers , instead of pedestrian frequencies, visitor numbers are given more frequently. All people entering are recorded, whereby the sum of all entrances results in the number of visitors. The larger the sales area of a shopping center, the greater the difference between footfall and visitor numbers.
Depending on the source of the survey, there may also be different pedestrian frequencies. In 2008, a count by Engel & Völkers International showed Bahnhofstrasse in Hanover to be the street with the highest footfall (15,119 on a Saturday in May between 12 and 1 p.m.); Jones Lang LaSalle, however, attested the highest frequency of pedestrians in Cologne's Schildergasse between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. in the same May (12,585, Bahnhofstrasse landed here in 19th place). The only street that made it into the top five in both counts was the Frankfurter Zeil .
Current approaches
Automated pedestrian frequency counts: Pedestrian frequency counts in shopping streets are increasingly not just randomly carried out by hand, but by automated counting systems.
There are currently various techniques for automated pedestrian frequency counting in shopping streets, for example Bluetooth trackers, WiFi trackers, infrared scanners, camera systems and laser scanners. The systems mentioned differ in technology, purchase price and counting accuracy. In contrast to the previously widespread manual counting, automated counting systems enable the continuous recording of pedestrian frequencies (24 hours a day; 365 days a year) in real time.
meaning
The frequency of pedestrians has a decisive influence on the location analysis of companies; in particular, casual customer-oriented branch systems are based on highly frequented hot spots. These include shopping centers , shopping streets , pedestrian zones , ports , airports and train stations . While passers-by are measured per hour in Germany, rents count internationally and lead to the following ranking - based on monthly rent in euros / m² - Upper Fifth Avenue ( New York City ; 2,485 euros / m²), Yee Wo Street ( Causeway Bay , Hong Kong ; 1,942), Avenue des Champs-Élysées ( Paris ; 1,104), New Bond Street ( London ; 863), Pitt Street Mall ( Sydney ; 721), Via Montenapoleone ( Milan , 708) or Ginza ( Tokyo ; 677). In the Kaufingerstrasse in Munich , the average rent / m² 350 euro.
Literature and web links
- Claus Heidemann: Laws of Urban Pedestrian Traffic. Dissertation at the Technical University of Braunschweig 1966.
- Dirk Lührmann: The factor of chance. How meaningful are the annual pedestrian frequency counts in pedestrian zones, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, September 11, 2009.
- Ranking of the most popular shopping streets in Germany, on Handelsdaten.de
- Overview of results for March 2015
Individual evidence
- ^ André Eberhard: Germany: pedestrian frequency - Hanover and Stuttgart clear winners, Leipzig in the top 10 . In: gewerbeimmobilien24.de. July 19, 2008, archived from the original on August 1, 2008 ; accessed on September 20, 2016 .
- ↑ Christoph Burmann, Space and Personnel Intensity as Success Factors in Retail , 1995, p. 154
- ↑ Oliver Everling / Olaf Jahn / Elisabeth Kammermeier, Rating of Retail Real Estate , 2009, p. 512
- ↑ https://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/inhalt.einzelhandel-in-stuttgart-besucher-der-koenigstrasse-haben-mit-lasern-erfasst.1286f3fc-533e-40f8-9e43-f80a8926d789.html
- ↑ Cushman & Wakefield of November 19, 2014, Most expensive shopping street in the world: New York displaces Hong Kong, accessed on September 15, 2016