As many retailers face challenges like shrink, organized retail crime, and staffing shortages, the same technologies that support traditional surveillance systems can also provide a powerful operational boost.
Your security systems can go beyond traditional security applications to help your team do more with less. By leveraging smarter security systems, you can streamline operations and improve efficiency, acting as a force multiplier.
Here are three key ways a smart, unified security system can drive greater efficiency and enhance the customer experience:
1. Understand Your Customer Flow
Using machine learning, data from in-store cameras can help you understand foot traffic patterns and how they vary on different days and times. This makes it easier to establish data-driven benchmarks for customer wait times at protected products and points of sale (POS) and identify potential queuing challenges or cart abandonment triggers. You can more effectively redistribute staff where they’re needed most, improving both the shopping experience and sales.
Having an accurate foot traffic count can also provide insight into factors that encourage or discourage people from visiting your store. Is a new marketing campaign bringing more customers in? How much does nearby construction or roadwork impact foot traffic? Answers to these questions can inform future projects and tactics to optimize customer flow.
2. Boost Sales by Rethinking Displays
Ever wonder why some displays stop shoppers in their tracks while others don’t? People counting and movement direction analytics can help you assess the effectiveness of your store’s displays. You can use security system analytics to calculate the number of people who look at a display and compare that with POS data on the number of products sold.
Could moving a display, adding a sign, or pairing products differently boost sales? Calculating the conversion rate of your display gives concrete feedback to evaluate which approach works best.
3. Prioritize Restocking and Cleaning
Retailers are getting creative with video data to optimize operations. Video data can track empty shelves to make restocking and reordering processes more efficient.
It can even monitor store cleanliness and notify staff if there are signs of disorder, such as a toppled display or stock blocking an aisle or exit. Cameras are now more affordable, allowing some stores to deploy cameras specifically to monitor shelves and key areas of the store.
Get Started (With Minimal Investment)
The ease of leveraging data from video surveillance to improve retail operations depends on the type of system you have in place. Gather your security, operations, and marketing teams to assess the data you already have—it might surprise you.
Before making any new purchases, start by identifying what you want to achieve, why it matters, and the expected return on investment. You likely already have much of the hardware you need. However, you may want to adjust the placement of your cameras or add devices to cover specific areas of the store. You might also need to incorporate video analytics or invest in cameras with built-in analytics that suit your needs.
Work with your team and other internal or external security experts to understand what’s possible with your current setup. Simple upgrades may take your system to the next level. The cost savings from reducing travel expenses for operational audits and observations can help justify the investment.
A smarter security system doesn’t just keep things safe; it can also make life easier for your team and your customers. With advancing technology and decreasing costs, now is the time to explore the untapped potential of a unified security system to drive greater efficiency in your store.
Scott Thomas is the national director of sales for signature brands in the United States at Genetec. Scott and his team are responsible for sales to the retail, financial, hospitality, gaming, and cannabis vertical markets via the company’s network of system integration partners.
