Core Definition
Capture rate is the share of the footfall passing a store that actually enters, calculated as entries divided by passers-by. Footfall is the location's baseline; entries are the demand the store itself creates. A low capture rate points to a store problem — signage, window, entrance — while low footfall itself points to a location problem.
The question capture rate answers
When sales fall short of expectations, the first question is whether the location is bad or the store itself fails to draw people in. POS only records customers who complete a purchase, so it cannot answer this question. Capture rate counts the footfall outside the door together with entries, separating the two problems with data.
If footfall is high but capture rate is low, that is a signal to check the store's frontage: signage, window, entrance openness, and the first product display. Conversely, if capture rate is solid but footfall is low, the response calls for location-level action: marketing and site-selection strategy.
How to read capture rate
The absolute number matters less than the trend and the comparison. A practical basis for judgment comes from three things: how the same store's rate changes by time of day and day of week, how it changes before and after a frontage improvement, and how it compares with nearby stores or other stores in the same brand.
Capture rate is the first stage of the funnel. Tracing it through to the dwell time, pickup, and purchase conversion that follow entry shows where customers drop off, revealing the bottleneck in store operations.
How SAAI Uses It
saai count uses a single camera to count both the footfall passing the store and the entries, providing capture rate (%) by period and by time of day. saai insight then analyzes the traffic flow, dwell time, and conversion that follow entry, linking capture rate and purchase conversion rate into a single funnel.
See it in action