Description

About Mark Ryski: Mark Ryski is the Founder and CEO of HeadCount Corporation, a pioneering firm in store traffic and conversion analytics since 1994. He is a recognized industry authority and the author of three influential books, including Store Traffic Is a Gift and CONVERSION: The Last Great Retail Metric. Mark’s work has shaped how retailers worldwide measure and improve in-store performance, earning him media coverage in outlets like Forbes, Retail Dive, and The Globe & Mail. As a frequent contributor to RetailWire and other forums, he continues to advocate for smarter, data-informed retail strategies.

In this episode, Ryan and Mark Ryski discuss:

• The evolution and importance of retail store traffic analytics
• Challenges brick-and-mortar retailers face in a changing market
• The relationship between traffic, conversion rates, and sales performance
• Strategies for staffing, marketing, and operational decisions based on data

Key Takeaways:

• Despite store traffic being the lifeblood of brick-and-mortar retail, only about half of retailers measure it, meaning they have no visibility into how many visitors left without buying and therefore no way to quantify missed sales opportunities.
• Tracking store traffic down to the hour exposes patterns—such as specific days and times when conversion rates drop—which allows retailers to adjust staffing and sales strategies to address bottlenecks and capture more revenue.
• Scheduling staff based solely on sales instead of traffic often creates a damaging cycle where high-traffic, low-conversion stores lose labor budget, further hurting performance, morale, and retention, ultimately leading to even lower conversions.
• Store traffic data acts as the “ultimate denominator” for virtually all retail decisions, enabling leaders to measure the real impact of marketing campaigns, staffing plans, and in-store programs against actual footfall rather than just final sales numbers. 

"Only about half of retailers even count traffic in their store… and they don’t even know how many people came in the store." — Mark Ryski

Connect with Mark Ryski: 

Website: https://headcount.com/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Mark-Ryski/author/B0F54MXT75

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-ryski-8826601/

& https://www.linkedin.com/company/headcount-corporation/

Schedule your free 1:1 Profit Breakthrough Session with Ryan here: https://go.oncehub.com/profit

Connect with Ryan Kimler: 

Net Profit CFO Home Page:www.netprofitcfo.com

Email:ryan@netprofitcfo.com

Facebook:www.facebook.com/rkimler

LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/in/ryankfinancialclarityllc/

LinkedIn NPC Company:https://www.linkedin.com/company/netprofitcfo/

LinkedIn FC Company:https://www.linkedin.com/company/financial-clarity-llc/

Show notes by Podcastologist Andy Santiago

Audio production byTurnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.