SenSource Inc., a creator of people counting hardware and reporting software, has announced it recently undertook research into how it can assist members of the bowling industry.
SenSource says that during the IAAPA Expo, its booth staff were approached by a member of the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America (BPAA), who explained how its bowling members could potentially benefit from people-counting technology, leading SenSource to conduct research on the sector.
A representative from SenSource says: “Since inception, the team at SenSource has been on the lookout for new and unique applications that can benefit from people counting technology. Some are quick wins, like state welcome centres, and some are flops, like counting pigs entering a barn at a commercial hog farm – seriously, we tried! We are always up for hearing-out new opportunities that come our way.”
The technology company has seen a growth in interest from FEC prospects, including those specialising in bowling activities. SenSource Inc. wanted to look at how they could improve the data available to venues, but had to look past the stereotype:
“Our big question was, “Don’t bowling alleys just look at their point-of-sale data to analyze how many people visited their venue?” The bowling alley pictured in our minds was of days gone by – of a dingy, dark building housing rows of wooden alleys, visited on Wednesday league nights.”
The state of bowling
As SenSource found out, the bowling entertainment centre has vastly changed from its former state. Whilst bowling is often the centre’s core activity, the majority has expanded to become comprehensive entertainment centres with laser tag, mini-golf, pool tables, arcades, and other attractions. Many venues have replaced generic fast-food hatches with themed restaurants, bars, and lounges to complement the leisure options.
When looking at bowling centres from a modern angle, it makes complete sense why owners are in need of reliable people counting technology. Guests can enter bowling alleys and never actually purchase a game, but use secondary amenities such as drinks in a lounge or a few games in the arcade.
Venue layouts purposefully encourage guests to walk around and experience numerous attractions, which means people-counting technology is an appropriate way to quantify and analyze how guests interact within an FEC environment.
Predicting the good times
Brunswick Bowling often works with centre owners to modernise their facilities and reiterates the importance of meeting consumer trends, explaining:
“Technology is now an integral part of the bowling experience for both proprietors and bowlers. New solutions to innovate gameplay, centre environments, operations management, and safety are changing business owners’ and guests’ in-centre experience.
“Refreshing a bowling centre’s offerings and features is a key indicator for customers of the dedication that proprietors have to their business success, and acts as a predictor of the good times they can expect at the lanes.”
Guest count data helps centres achieve their goal of creating engaging and entertaining environments in a number of ways. Firstly, sensors installed at the entrance provide data to help manage capacity including total occupancy, traffic patterns and peak and non-peak hours. This data can be put to good use for staff management, maintenance scheduling, and promotional programmes.
Sensors installed throughout the interior will find the most visited zones where guests spend the most time, discovering line lengths and visitor journey data. Using this information, owners can tackle issues with the attraction layout and make optimisations to encourage higher spending and avoid bottlenecks.
Looking again at the question, the contemporary bowling entertainment centre cannot rely alone on POS data to gain a full understanding of consumer behaviour. With the global FEC market predicted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.9% until 2030 according to Allied Market Research, people counting systems are a valuable method to enable bowling centres to make data-driven decisions that optimize their modernisation strategies.
Occupancy monitoring can also be used in other environments such as amusement parks, which can help owners maintain various operations objectives such as crowd control and social distancing.
