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ShopperTrak Is a Well Known Name in Footfall. Here Is How Vemcount Is Built Differently
Vemco Group has counted people for more than 20 years, with 55,000+ installations in 98+ countries, 60+ million people counted every day and 800+ malls on the platform.
ShopperTrak, a Sensormatic Solutions brand within Johnson Controls, is one of the longest established names in retail traffic counting, and its people counting is built around its own sensors and its own reporting suite. Vemcount was built the other way round. Over twenty years we have integrated sensors from more than 40 hardware vendors, today current 3D and AI models from independent manufacturers such as Xovis, Irisys, Brickstream, Hikvision, Avigilon Alta, Eco-Counter, Axis, Hella Aglaia, Intenta, TDI and VIVOTEK, so the sensor above the door is your choice and the software contract does not depend on it. Counting happens on the device, the dashboard updates in about two seconds, accuracy is written into the contract at a minimum of 96 percent, and the same platform carries sales, tracking, tenant management and facility management as your needs grow. The sections below take the comparison point by point.
Vemcount vs ShopperTrak: Seven Points of Comparison
Hardware and Lock-In
Where Counting Happens and Bandwidth
Offline Data and Health Checking
Real Time and Alerts
From Footfall to a Platform
Reporting and AI
Commercial Model and Ownership
ShopperTrak customers are tied to one hardware brand. The sensors expose no web interface, so no other platform can integrate them, and the sensor is the biggest part of the investment. Having to replace the whole sensor estate after three years because of a support situation or a data protection concern is an expensive journey, and it is the journey a ShopperTrak customer faces whenever they want to change software. Vemcount has integrated more than 40 hardware vendors over the years. ShopperTrak sensors are the exception, because it is not technically possible. There is also a generation difference: ShopperTrak's sensors are older 3D models without AI on the sensor, while Vemcount works with current 3D and AI sensors from independent manufacturers, including Xovis, Irisys, Brickstream, Hikvision, Avigilon Alta, Eco-Counter, Axis, Hella Aglaia, Intenta, TDI and VIVOTEK. You choose the sensor per entrance, mix brands across the estate and keep the software when the hardware changes.
ShopperTrak sensors stream to servers in the USA, where the counting lines are placed and the counting is done. That means a constant stream from every entrance, high bandwidth use per store and a data flow that leaves the building before a single visitor has been counted. Sensors on the Vemcount platform count on the device. The counting lines live on the sensor, the video stays on it, and only the counts are sent. A store network carries a few bytes per visitor instead of a video feed, and your data protection officer can see exactly where the counting happens. Ask both vendors to draw the data flow from door to dashboard during your evaluation; it is one of the clearest differences between the two.
Every sensor estate has blocked lenses, power cuts and network outages. What matters is whether you can see it. When a ShopperTrak sensor is blocked or offline, the platform fills the gap with aggregated, estimated data, and the user cannot tell whether a figure is estimated or real. Conversion rates, staffing decisions and tenant reports are then built on numbers nobody flagged. In Vemcount the sensor health checker reports when data is missing, so the right person knows the same day. Aggregated data is shown as aggregated until the sensor pushes its real counts, and then the estimate disappears automatically. During a pilot, pull one sensor offline for an afternoon and look at how each system presents that afternoon a week later.
ShopperTrak's real time is one minute or more. Vemcount shows a person on the dashboard about two seconds after they pass the sensor, which is what real time needs to mean for occupancy limits, queue triggers and staff calls. Alerts go by SMS, WhatsApp, webhook, on-screen or audio notification, and MQTT lets Vemcount trigger third party devices directly: a siren when a safety limit is reached, a sliding door that closes at capacity, a building management system that adjusts ventilation to the number of people inside. ShopperTrak does not offer this. If your case includes occupancy control or any action that has to happen while the visitor is still in the doorway, test the latency yourself with a stopwatch.
ShopperTrak's software has stayed at footfall. That is fine if footfall is all you will ever need, but most estates want more within two years. With Vemcount you start with counting and grow on the same platform. The sales module connects any POS, with 19 native connectors, and calculates conversion, sales per visitor and average basket against traffic per store and per hour. Tracking and Re-ID show routes, dwell and returning visitors. VemTenant handles property management for shopping centres, with tenant turnover collection and footfall per tenant. VemSpace covers space and facility management, where people counters sit alongside a large portfolio of IoT devices on LoRaWAN, Sigfox and NB-IoT. 3D maps and further modules are live today, and VemIndex, an advanced benchmarking module, is planned for release in November 2026.
ShopperTrak reporting is what you see is what you get: the reports on the screen are the reports you have. Vemcount has a BI layer with two ways in. Snap Reports give you the data in one click, for the store manager who needs Saturday's numbers and nothing else. Advanced reports and dashboards are where you really work with the data: build your own views, combine footfall with sales and staffing, schedule delivery in 8 languages and export to your own BI through the API. AI is built in for companies that want an AI advisor on their data, one that answers questions about trends and anomalies in plain language instead of leaving you to find them in a table.
With ShopperTrak the sensor is the biggest part of the investment and it only works with ShopperTrak software, so the hardware purchase and the software contract are one decision with one exit. Vemcount separates the two. Buy the sensors outright, rent them in a monthly fee per entrance, or connect the sensors you already own where the model is supported, and license the software per location. If you ever change software, the sensors keep working with the next platform, because they were never proprietary. Vemcount is enterprise software built to enterprise security requirements rather than a platform focused on people counting data only, so procurement, IT security and data protection reviews are a normal part of how we sell. Compare both offers over five years, including what happens to your data and your sensors at the end of the term.
How to Run a Side by Side Pilot
Pick two stores with different character, for example a wide main entrance in a shopping centre and a narrow high street door, and run both platforms on them for 30 days. Have each vendor install on the same entrances, then validate against manual counts on at least three trading days including a Saturday peak. Ask for the accuracy clause in writing before the pilot starts. Vemcount's is a contractual minimum of 96 percent, typically 98 to 99 percent, and the manual counts are how you check it.
Then test the things that actually decide the comparison. Stand at the door with a stopwatch and time how long a visitor takes to appear on each dashboard; Vemcount shows them in about two seconds. Pull a sensor offline for an afternoon and look at how each system marks the gap a week later, and whether an estimated figure is visible as an estimate. Connect the POS and check that conversion is calculated the way your finance team expects. Export the data through the API into your own BI tool and time the setup. Finally hand the reporting to the two store managers for a fortnight and ask them one question at the end: which system changed a decision on staffing or opening hours.
Switching Without Disruption: How a Move to Vemcount Works
Sensors: Plan the Replacement Once
ShopperTrak sensors cannot be connected to any other platform, so a move means new sensors above the doors. We plan it door by door, bought or rented, with current 3D and AI models from independent manufacturers. It is the last time a software change will force a sensor change, because every sensor on the Vemcount platform works with open interfaces.
Parallel Running
Both platforms run side by side for an agreed period, typically one to three months. Store teams keep their familiar reports while head office validates the new numbers against the old, and the sensor health checker shows from day one which entrances deliver real data. The cutover date becomes a decision rather than a leap.
Historical Data
Where your current contract allows an export, historical counts are imported into Vemcount so year on year and like for like comparisons continue from day one. Check the data ownership and export terms in your existing agreement before you give notice, and ask how estimated periods are marked in the export so you know which history is real.
Training and Growth
Store, regional and head office users are trained in their own language on the reports they will actually use, with Snap Reports and scheduled reports set up so the right numbers arrive without anyone logging in. Once counting is stable, the sales module, tracking, VemTenant or VemSpace are switched on without a new project.
Vemcount vs ShopperTrak: Feature Comparison at a Glance
Hardware Independence
Vemcount: more than 40 hardware vendors integrated, including current 3D and AI sensors from Xovis, Irisys, Brickstream, Hikvision, Avigilon Alta, Eco-Counter, Axis, Hella Aglaia, Intenta, TDI and VIVOTEK. You choose or keep the sensors.
ShopperTrak: counts with its own sensors only. They expose no web interface, so no other platform can integrate them.
Sensor Generation
Vemcount: current 3D and AI sensors from independent manufacturers, with AI processing on the device.
ShopperTrak: older 3D sensor models without AI on the sensor.
Where Counting Happens
Vemcount: the sensor counts on the device and sends only the counts, so bandwidth per store is minimal and video stays at the door.
ShopperTrak: sensors stream to servers in the USA where the counting lines are placed, so bandwidth use is high.
Offline and Missing Data
Vemcount: the sensor health checker reports missing data; aggregated data is marked as aggregated and replaced automatically when real counts arrive.
ShopperTrak: gaps are filled with aggregated, estimated data, and the user cannot see whether a figure is estimated or real.
Real Time and Alerts
Vemcount: about 2 seconds from sensor to dashboard. Alerts by SMS, WhatsApp, webhook, screen or audio, and MQTT triggers for sirens, sliding doors and building management systems.
ShopperTrak: refresh of one minute or more, and no device triggering of this kind.
Accuracy Commitment
Vemcount: contractual minimum of 96 percent, typically 98 to 99 percent, verified against manual counts.
ShopperTrak: ask for the contractual minimum in writing and check it against manual counts during your pilot.
Software Scope
Vemcount: counting, a sales module with 19 native POS connectors, tracking and Re-ID, VemTenant, VemSpace with LoRaWAN, Sigfox and NB-IoT devices, 3D maps, and VemIndex benchmarking planned for November 2026.
ShopperTrak: software that has stayed at footfall.
Reporting and BI
Vemcount: Snap Reports in one click, advanced reports and dashboards, a built in AI advisor, an open API and 8 languages, on enterprise software built to enterprise security requirements.
ShopperTrak: what you see is what you get reporting, on a platform focused on people counting data.
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