Frequently Asked Questions

Bellwether is a retail performance system that combines people-counting cameras, live trading data and expert support to show where customers are underspending - and how to turn those missed opportunities into sales. It gives you clear visibility over footfall, conversion, ATV and staff performance across all your stores.

Bellwether is built for growth-focused bricks-and-mortar retailers with multiple stores who want better visibility, tighter control and more profit from their network. Typical customers run between 3-50 stores across New Zealand and the eastern seaboard of Australia and hate leaving money on the table.

No. The hard analytics happens behind the scenes. You and your managers get simple dashboards, clear metrics and plain-English recommendations that make it obvious what to do next in each store.

Once cameras and integrations are live, you start seeing meaningful patterns within days and clear trends within a few weeks. Most customers spot obvious underspend, staffing gaps or process issues surprisingly quickly once they can see the data clearly.

No. The software is one part; our retail experts are the other. Bellwether comes with hands-on support, training and coaching so your team can use the insight to actually change behaviour on the shop floor.

Bellwether combines accurate people‑counting data with your POS and trading information to track footfall, conversion, ATV, WOP and other key retail metrics. It can also ingest historical store data so you’re not starting from scratch.

By comparing footfall, conversion and ATV, Bellwether highlights times and locations where visitor numbers were solid but sales lagged what’s realistically achievable. Weighted Opportunities Lost (WOP) metrics show where poor staff ratios or weak engagement meant money walked out the door.

Yes. Bellwether lets you slice performance by store, region, time period, department and more - and benchmark your numbers against aggregated market datasets. You can see whether you’re leading or chasing the market on key metrics like ATV, conversion and footfall.

Store traffic and trading data update roughly every 5–15 minutes, depending on configuration. That means you can check in during the day, see what’s happening now, and make quick adjustments instead of waiting for end‑of‑month reports.

No. Bellwether is hardware‑agnostic and can work with many existing camera and sensor setups. If you prefer, you can use Bellwether’s 3D lens hardware, which has been tested for high accuracy in busy retail environments.

Bellwether’s 3D sensors are calibrated to each store and monitored to maintain accuracy rates consistently above 95%. Overhead mounting and directional counting help distinguish ins and outs, even when groups walk together.

Yes. Bellwether lets you slice performance by store, region, time period, department and more - and benchmark your numbers against aggregated market datasets. You can see whether you’re leading or chasing the market on key metrics like ATV, conversion and footfall.

Yes. The system can be configured to separate adult and child counts to give you more precise customer metrics and better benchmarking. This helps avoid inflated “visitor” numbers in family‑heavy locations.

Installation is designed to be quick and minimally invasive, usually completed outside core trading hours where possible. Once cameras are mounted and calibrated, ongoing operation is automatic

Bellwether offers a structured coaching framework focused on Greeting, Meeting, Closing and Upselling (GMCU). This includes one‑on‑one sessions, floor‑team workshops, video modules and practical scripts that help staff turn browsers into buyers.

Bellwether gives managers tools to observe and score how staff greet, meet, close and upsell in store. Combined with store data, this reveals who needs support, what to coach on, and which behaviours correlate with stronger ATV and conversion.

Support is ongoing. Bellwether’s Customer Success team stays engaged, helping you interpret the data, refine store tactics and deliver training as your needs evolve. You’re not left with a dashboard and a “good luck”.

Yes. Bellwether is designed to complement and strengthen your existing playbooks. Insights from the system plug neatly into your current SOPs and coaching frameworks so you’re building on what already works.

Bellwether integrates smoothly with a wide range of retail platforms including Vend, Retail Express, Kudos, Microsoft Dynamics, Lightspeed, Cin7, Shopify and Dexibi, among others. New integrations are added regularly as part of ongoing product development.

Bellwether is built to minimise IT friction. It runs independently over 4G/5G, uses proven APIs, and doesn’t require you to open extra ports or compromise security on core systems.

You pay per entrance, not per user, so you can give as many people as you like access to the dashboards. Single sign-on and role-based permissions keep things secure and straightforward for head office and store teams.

Bellwether’s support team offers complimentary integration support, ongoing data auditing and 24/7 technical assistance when issues arise. You get real humans who know retail, not just a ticketing system

Bellwether is typically priced per entrance plus any hardware requirements, with no additional per-user licence fees. This keeps the model simple and makes it affordable to give floor teams full access to the insight. ​

While every retailer is different, Bellwether is specifically designed to uncover missed spending opportunities and prevent revenue leakage. Many customers see gains through better rostering, improved conversion and higher ATV once they act on the insights.

Getting started usually involves a short discovery call, scoping your sites and tech stack, then scheduling installation and configuration. Once live, you receive onboarding support, dashboard training and a plan for staff coaching and optimisation.

Use the “Request a demo” form or contact button on this site, and one of Bellwether’s retail specialists will arrange a tailored walk-through for your business. You’ll see your kind of stores and scenarios reflected in the examples