Manchester Bid

Manchester BID looks after over 400 consumer-facing businesses in the area. Formed in 2013, the BID aimed to regenerate the city using footfall as a key performance indicator. After the riots, the BID worked with retailers in Manchester to rebuild the shopping centre and high street, encouraging footfall with seasonal events.

Key Benefits

Footfall
Track footfall both in-store and out of store in real-time at ≥98% accuracy using the latest AI technology.

The Solution
With seven key outdoor events a year and counters located across the BID area, Manchester BID is able to track footfall trends and event popularity.

The BID measures footfall for events such as Chinese New Year, Halloween and the King Street Festival. All events use OnLocation data to show the significant additional footfall in the city centre at the time of these events for the benefit of the BID’s retail-based levy payers.

The Results
MRI Software partnered with Manchester BID in 2011 and was chosen based on reputation, economy of scale, and the ability to add sales indices to footfall data – adding insight and contextualising raw data. Since working together, Manchester’s needs have grown, and MRI has adapted the services to suit – including yearly, monthly, weekly, hourly and comparative reporting.

After the May 2016 terror attack in Manchester, MRI worked closely with the BID to create bespoke reports and run through footfall changes in detail. These reports were provided to the retailers and broadcast on the news to reassure visitors and business owners that vitality in the city largely remained the same.

The ability to monitor footfall and sales conversions through MRI OnLocation counters provides added insight for retailers, landlords and event planning. Focusing on evolving that data, Manchester BID aims to use the data from MRI and correlate with additional information, such as hotel bookings/vacancies and gather a full picture of the Manchester City landscape.