With the recent rollout of its new flagship store concept in High Wycombe, Next Plc, one of UK’s leading fashion and homeware brands, took its total shopping experience to new heights. For their stores to become the vibrant, successful retail destination they envisaged, every element of the shopping experience was optimised, including the store’s customer car park. In order to improve the parking experience at the retail location, Nedap partner Clearview Traffic Group integrated Nedap's Sensit wireless parking sensors into Clearview’s Insight Parking solution.

From their large portfolio of existing stores, Next recognised that the first and last touch points of the shopping experience for many customers usually involved frustration and wasted time locating an available space or maneuvering their way around a car park. The retailer found that the emotion felt by customers at this time heavily influenced how they shopped and the likelihood of gaining them as a regular long-term customer. Providing a conventional car park with clear bay markings and good lighting would not be sufficient to produce give the transformation in shopper experience they were looking to pioneer.

The solution required coverage of the entire car park, including roadside advice telling motorists whether the car park is full or has spaces. Additionally, dynamic guidance signs should provide guidance to the nearest available designated parking bays (Parent & Child or Disabled bays) within the car park.

Given the granular level of shopper guidance desired, Clearview’s and Nedap’s solutions were an effective choice. Nedap’s Sensit wireless parking sensors provide the real-time occupancy status per parking bay. The in-ground sensors enable individual bay monitoring as well as global monitoring of the entire car park. By swiftly integrating Sensit’s data into Clearview’s Insight Parking, the store can now monitor parking utilisation in real-time, analyse car park use over time, look at patterns of use in particular zones and even individual bays.

The Parking Management Software talks directly to strategically placed Variable Message Signs (VMS) around and outside the car park to inform customers in real-time about the status of the car park areas so that store visitors are guided to the nearest available space as they enter the car park.

Nick Lanigan, Managing Director of Clearview Traffic says “Retail stores are an everyday destination and all too often our shopping experience is tainted from the start because of wasting time inanely driving around the car park searching for a single free space. Giving shoppers a positive experience at this initial touch point is central to inspiring how they perceive the store, how they shop and may ultimately affect the lifetime value of that customer to the store”.