Supermarket: Parking outside opening hours

Parking at the supermarket at night

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With digital parking management from Peter Park, retailers keep control of their car park while drivers use the supermarket site outside business hours. The technology is straightforward: vehicle licence plates are captured in a data protection compliant way on entry and exit via a licence plate scanner. Retailers manage the parking area in the connected software.

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Turning empty spaces into revenue where parking is scarce

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City centre at night: supermarket car parks stand empty while there is barely a gap left at the kerbside. Frustrated residents circle ever wider in search of a free space. Shared use of parking areas, for example at supermarkets or DIY stores, can provide relief. 

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Drivers, retailers and residents all benefit from this arrangement: motorists are spared the search for a space, which avoids unnecessary emissions. That takes the pressure off residents. And supermarket operators open up an additional source of income. 

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The next morning the space is available to customers again. Thanks to modern parking apps and the Peter Park System, supermarket operators can introduce night-time parking with minimal effort, and drivers book a free space spontaneously whenever they need one.

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How it works: modern licence plate scanners instead of barriers, sensors and parking discs

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Using scanners at the entrance and exit, the Peter Park System captures the licence plates of passing vehicles in a data protection compliant way and calculates their parking duration from this. The company works with well-known parking app providers. Drivers who want to use a free supermarket space at night or on a Sunday can therefore simply buy their parking authorisation in an app by entering their licence plate.

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Licence plate recognition matches the vehicles actually parked against the parking authorisations issued. In this way the Peter Park System checks that only vehicles whose drivers have paid are on the car park. It also monitors that vehicles do not exceed the permitted parking period, for instance that they only park outside the opening hours of the adjacent supermarket. This function can of course also be used during the day to enforce maximum parking durations without parking discs.

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Additional income without the effort: app-based parking at the supermarket

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When supermarket operators make their parking areas available to paying drivers at night, they not only help residents – who are potential customers at the same time – find a space, they also generate additional income. This is particularly worthwhile for local food retailers in densely populated city centres, where empty parking areas are especially costly given high prices per square metre. Around these shops there is often a shortage of spaces for a steadily growing number of vehicles. So the demand for this kind of parking should be there.

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With solutions such as the digital, barrier-free parking management system from Peter Park, retailers open up this new revenue stream without major investment, because very little hardware is needed on site. All it takes is cameras at the entrances and exits. Maintenance and servicing costs are correspondingly low. A clearly structured software is available for managing the parking area, and it also gives operators access to analyses such as the occupancy of their car park.

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How does night-time parking for residents work?

For residents, parking at the supermarket car park is as easy as parking at the kerbside, just without a long search:

1. Entering: After the shop closes, residents drive onto the car park. A camera at the entrance captures the licence plate.
2. Buying a parking authorisation: Via app or online, they book a parking authorisation for the night by entering their licence plate.
3. Parking: The vehicle stays overnight. A parking ticket behind the windscreen is not needed, as the authorisation is linked to the licence plate.
4. Leaving: In the morning, they leave the car park before the store opens. The camera at the exit captures the licence plate, and the system checks the parking duration.

Anyone who parks at night without a valid authorisation or stays too long in the morning is followed up like any other rule violation on the site. This keeps the car park free for customers during opening hours.

What do retailers decide before launch?

To make night-time parking work for everyone involved, retailers should clarify a few rules in advance:

• Time window: From when may residents park, and by when must they leave the site? The time window depends on the store's opening hours.
• Tariffs: Digital systems allow individual tariffs per user group, for example for a single night or for regular users.
• Customer parking during the day: During the day, the rules for customers continue to apply, such as a free maximum parking period without a parking disc.
• Exceptions: Employees and delivery traffic are registered as authorised so that the rules for residents do not apply to them.
• Signage and communication: Signs at the entrance explain the rules. A notice in the store or a message to the neighbourhood makes the offer known.

Is it worth it? How to estimate the additional revenue

Whether night-time parking pays off depends mainly on demand in the surrounding area. A simple calculation helps for an initial estimate:

Additional revenue per year = spaces for residents × average occupancy × nights per year × tariff per night

The costs of the parking system are deducted from this. Because hardly any hardware is needed apart from cameras at the entrance and exit, these costs remain low. The savings calculator works out how much you can save and earn overall with a digital parking system, based on just a few details.

Which locations is the model suitable for?

Night-time parking is a particularly good fit for stores whose surroundings are under parking pressure at night:

• Supermarkets and discounters in densely built-up residential areas and city centres
• DIY stores and furniture stores with large sites that close early in the evening
• Sites with clearly defined entrances and exits where every vehicle passes a camera

The article Relief for shopping centres shows how retailers keep their car parks under control at peak times too. You will find more solutions for retail on the page for wholesale and retail.

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Night-time supermarket parking benefits residents and retailers alike

Free parking spaces are in short supply at night and at weekends, above all in inner-city residential areas. Operators of supermarkets in these areas can help remove that shortage with little effort by making their parking areas available to drivers at night. With a digital, barrier-free parking management system like the one from Peter Park, they always keep an overview of their site and can operate it with minimal investment while generating additional income.

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