If you set foot in Maidstone town centre in the run up to Christmas, there’s a good chance your movements were monitored.

Sensors were planted in spots around the shopping area and – using mobile phone information – were able to tell where you were, how long you were there and what websites you were browsing.

The digital experiment, which is the first of its kind in the South East, was carried out between Wednesday, November 25 and Tuesday, December 8, to track shoppers’ habits during the Black Friday period.

Start-up company Scout, based at Maidstone council’s Business Terrace in King Street, planted a number of nodes in strategic locations around Maidstone town centre.

Researchers were able to identify how many unique people passed one of the devices and how long the journey took.

The nodes could also determine whether shoppers were on their phones and what app they were using.

During the trial, 3,135 unique people were clocked, with the busiest times around midday and between 4pm and 7pm. Researchers suggest children leaving school and late night Christmas shopping explained the rise later in the day.

Scout’s nodes were planted at seven locations including Jubilee Square, Week Street, King Street, Earl Street and the High Street.

The data revealed the busiest pedestrian route was between the junction with Gabriel’s Hill on the High Street and the entrance to The Mall in King Street. Research also suggested there was a high amount of mobile internet activity spiking on the Black Friday weekend – Friday, November 27 to Sunday, November 29.

While looking around town, shoppers were visiting Google, Facebook, Amazon and Twitter. Research by retailers suggests almost half of shoppers use price comparison sites to find cheaper products online.

Scout’s director, Ahmed Nuaman, of East Farleigh, said the footfall counters not only track where people go, but how long they spend in a particular location and what they’re doing there.

He added: “This technology opens up a whole new world of digital intelligence that can be made available to forward thinking retailers. It provides significantly more information than traditional cameras that only count how many people pass by.

“We can’t access any of your private details, the data will tell us if you’re on Amazon or on Facebook, but it won’t tell us what you’re doing. We can’t even find out your name.”

Town centre change co-ordinator Ilsa Butler added: “We have been really pleased to work with Scout and have been interested to see how this new and innovative approach to monitoring footfall and customer behaviour can be applied to measuring the dynamics of the town centre.

“The team at Scout have developed something that we’ve not used before so we’ve been really keen to learn from them.”

Research has also been carried out in Topman and The Mall, Maidstone. Details can be seen online at go.scouti.ng