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What it was doing on traffic information, Google has now gone on to provide similar data w to provide information on the busiest times for a local business near you.
According to Google, the idea is to provide consumers with information that would help them avoid long queues and plan out the best time to go grocery shopping, pick up coffee, or hit the gym, but the benefits can be even more far-reaching.
Clubbed as “popular times” on a mobile device, the section shows when a particular place tends to see a lot of footfall and when it is sparsely occupied.
“Now, you can avoid the wait and see the busiest times of the week at millions of places and businesses around the world directly from Google Search. For example, just search for “Blue Bottle Williamsburg”, tap on the title and see how busy it gets throughout the day,” says Google.
Location history can help you
While the service is still in its infancy and has limited availability, it has the potential to provide some interesting analytics for the businesses themselves. And for free. While there are plenty of tools and metrics to judge how well a business is doing, for Nordic startups, “popular times” can prove to be helpful. The key is that the service uses the location services technology and location history of a mobile phone to churn the data out. Just as Google was able to pinpoint traffic congestion on its maps by gathering data from thousands of Android powered mobile phones, the new “popular times” now does the same with businesses.
For businesses and startups, the service will provide a picture or a trend of how the business is doing. If the waiting time at the business has gone up, it could be a sign that business is picking up. On the flip side, customers waiting longer may also be a sign of inefficiencies. Since waiting customers does not necessarily bode well for your business, “popular times” can help businesses and startups determine if they are falling behind.
“Popular times” is also a good tool to gauge your rising and decreasing popularity and related effects on revenues, and can further give you a picture of competitors in your neighborhood and how they are faring compared to your business.
How many employees are needed
There are other tangible benefits for businesses. For example, “popular times” can also help a startup decide on staffing requirements, since the feature shows the historical data of when a store is at its busiest and during what hours of the day.
Similarly the service can also be used to gauge the time of operations for the business. For example, if you realize that there is a considerable spike in the footfall at your coffee bar late at night, it may prove profitable to stay open later hours. The service also points out which hours of the day are most important for your business. For a Nordic startup, this could mean the founder can personally devote a greater amount of his energy in tackling his customers during peak hours.
While Google has said there would be no specific version catered to the needs of a business owner, this free tool can be another level of analytics for your business.
