Forget clipboards and clickers – a shopping centre in Huddersfield has become one of the first in the UK to use wi-fi to track visitor numbers and movements around the complex.

Kingsgate has adopted the new technology to build a profile of the people who come into the centre via their mobile phones – and enable retailers to target marketing efforts more effectively as a result.

Visitors to the centre who have their phone’s wi-fi turned on are picked by the system, which logs the unique ID of the phone. It means the centre can track whether a shopper’s phone has visited before, how long it stays and how far into the centre it goes. It also tracks the phones of people who may be window shopping on the pavement outside.

In addition, the centre invites people to sign up to its free wi-fi by “liking” Kingsgate on Facebook or Twitter or by completing a registration form. In return, users agree to provide the shopping centre with details about themselves, including email address, which can be used to send the users offers and information likely to be of interest to them.

The system was installed by Purple Wi-Fi, based in Ashton-under-Lyne. The firm is led by managing director Gavin Wheeldon, who was previously managing director of translation services firm Applied Language Solutions, which he set up in Armitage Bridge in 2003.

Purple Wi-Fi said the system had “transformed” the data available to Kingsgate staff. Previously, the centre measured footfall by infra-red beams to track how many people were passing through the entrances. However, high volume traffic cannot be detected, which means that system lacks accuracy.

The new technology means that Kingsgate can assess how often a mobile device returns and how long each device stays in a location. The reports that can be generated provide invaluable data on footfall, repeat customers and new customers as well as the average number and duration of visits.

Kingsgate centre manager Jonathan Hardy said the system enabled the centre to make more of social media. He said: “It is an opportunity for us to offer our customers free wi-fi and in return we collect data from willing participants.”

Mr Hardy said the practice was becoming more commonplace – Purple Wi-Fi has installed systems in more than 50 countries – and the system was “very benign” in terms of the uses to which the information gleaned was put.

“It gives us email addresses, names and ages, gender and location,” said Mr Hardy. “It means we can tell where people are coming from to visit the centre – which is useful to us – how long they stay and which parts of the shopping centre they visit. What we can get is a more realistic idea of numbers and where we have email addresses we can direct offers and information to the pertinent people.”

Click here to take you back to more Huddersfield news.

Want to read, watch and hear more? You can download the FREE Examiner Apple App here, the FREE Examiner Android App here or you can view the paper as an e-edition on your Apple, Android or Kindle device by clicking here

To follow us on Twitter click here