Customer flow describes the movement of shoppers through the store as a whole. It answers questions that a heatmap cannot: in which order are categories visited, which direction do shoppers take in each aisle, and which paths do they avoid?
Shoppermotion draws flow maps from the aggregated movement between zones of every anonymous trip, with arrows whose width is proportional to the number of trips. Aisles direction breaks the flow down aisle by aisle, showing the share of shoppers entering from each end, and Store Flow in Shoppermotion AI replays real trips on top of the aggregated flows.
Typical findings include counter-flow (shoppers walking an aisle against the intended direction, which reduces exposure to the first bays), shortcuts that let shoppers skip entire categories, and the dominant loop most trips follow, where secondary displays get the most exposure. See the customer flow article in the Help Center.
Flow is also a way to evaluate promotions. In one study, a promotion that drew less foot traffic than another converted nearly the same sales, and choosing it was estimated at a 15.8% increase in sales. In the main aisle study, moving a category that attracted 15% of the traffic from the entrance to the back of the store brought an average of 7% more traffic to the six surrounding shelves.