Foot Traffic Forecasting App Corrals Public for Businesses
Media release: May 28, 2014
Forecasting foot traffic for hospitality venues to better manage their businesses and make the most of the crowds is the
vision of digital startup Floc.
Founded in startup accelerator Lightning Lab, Floc CEO Tim Grunshaw says that one of the biggest problems with running a
restaurant or storefront is the guessing game of who is going to show up, and when.
Floc is a smartphone app that anonymously tracks urban cellphone data to build predictive models around how operators
will be affected by pedestrian traffic over a given timeframe such as the next few hours, or days.
With Floc, managers can make smarter business decisions about staffing, stock and sales as well as raise profit margins.
“When your business lives and dies by the people who walk through the door, you have to adapt your whole operation to
the fluctuations in foot traffic,” says Grunshaw.
“We’ve created a way to have an idea of your numbers ahead of time, so you’re always ready for the rush before it hits.”
In the three months at Lightning Lab, which concludes with a Demo Day this week, Floc has fine-tuned their business
model, further developed the technology and targeted its first customers.
Floc is finalising a trial version of the product that will allow it to run trials across New Zealand in the coming
months and plans to begin testing international markets later this year.
“It is like the weather forecast, except instead of predicting sunshine and cloud we are predicting foot traffic and
customers,” says Grunshaw.