Retailers are focused on providing the best possible experience for customers and employees—from maximizing merchandise placement to ensuring minimal wait times at the checkout lines to providing a safe and welcoming environment. To achieve those goals, more stores are turning to security and surveillance solutions.
Having “eyes-on” visibility and situational awareness through intelligent advanced video surveillance solutions is more important than ever, helping stores save money, manage assets, reduce risk, increase operational efficiency, and deter crime.
Video surveillance technology has changed dramatically over the last few years with recent breakthroughs in digital imaging technology, new uses for AI, and multi-channel, multi-directional camera models.
In addition to the challenges posed by traditional theft, retailers are increasingly having to deal with the rise of ORC. This is always accompanied by a range of other criminal activities including shoplifting, burglary, fraud, and even assault. The impact of ORC is significant, costing retailers billions of dollars annually and disrupting operations and supply chains.
To combat this growing threat, retailers are turning to partners they can trust and who provide equipment designed specifically to impact this type of crime, such as Hanwha’s PNM-9000QB Coupled with covert door jamb technology, this one camera has been able to capture clear and detailed images of individuals involved in ORC incidents. The camera’s high-quality images provide law enforcement with invaluable evidence for prosecution, enabling them to identify and apprehend suspects more effectively. By leveraging this type of technology, retailers can not only deter potential criminals but also enhance the likelihood of successful prosecution, ultimately helping to mitigate the impact of ORC on their businesses and communities.
Other significant threats to retailers across the country are inventory loss from theft, fraud, or error. The retail industry loses billions of dollars annually to inventory loss, with analysts estimating the annual number to be around $100 billion. Deploying a video surveillance system with built-in data analytics can help retailers identify shoplifters, track what was stolen, and even proactively prevent recurring incidents.
There has been a growing shift in the retail industry away from traditional on-premise servers and NVRs towards cloud-based solutions. Retailers can now deploy self-contained systems while fully realizing the potential of edge storage, multi-camera recording, remote access, and on-premise security system management. It’s important for retailers to easily customize and grow their surveillance systems based on their specific needs. Intelligent video surveillance and AI technology also helps retailers be proactive when it comes to in-store shrinkage. From checkout lines, entrances, exits, and aisles to stock rooms, staff areas, loading docks, and parking lots, retailers can actively deter crime or any suspicious activity by letting everyone entering the store know the entire retail space is being recorded and monitored.
Maximize Store Layouts and Shopper Behaviors
Retail success is based on getting shoppers into the store, keeping them there, and making the most out of their visit, ultimately leading to a purchase. The sales floor must be properly and efficiently laid out, with every inch of that valuable real estate used to guide customers to the prime merchandise.
Operators can use intelligent video surveillance to enhance customer service by comparing traffic patterns against staffing levels, monitor customer service issues, improve employee time management, and analyze customer traffic patterns to ensure merchandise is visible and properly displayed.
If the store becomes too crowded, staff can be alerted to open more registers, which helps reduce the number of people checking out at each station. This reduces long checkout lines or customer service wait times and ensures in-store staff is properly positioned to assist customers—all to create a welcoming public shopping environment designed to increase sales.
Surveillance for Every Application
New surveillance technology allows specialty cameras to be customized for every area within a retail operation: entrances and exits, parking garages, loading zones, or any area where suspicious activity may occur. Public viewing monitors can assist in actively deterring retail crime, and scalable IP video management and NVR solutions let retailers view forensic evidence from anywhere with an internet connection.
Cameras with industry leading low-light performance and wide dynamic range capabilities can monitor and capture large areas. Durable vandal-resistant dome and bullet-style cameras can be equipped with loitering detection analytics, and license plate recognition technology tracks and logs vehicles entering and exiting retail premises. Retailers can view two areas with a single dual‑head, multi‑sensor camera installation, complemented by onboard queue management analytics customized to alert managers and staff to long lines.
New AI technology has added the power to do people counting, body temperature detection, object detection, license plate recognition, behavioral observations, and any number of actionable business functions.
Retailers can easily and discreetly view an entire store floor with a single high-resolution fisheye camera or follow specific areas with micro-PTZ cameras. Compact dome cameras maintain a store’s aesthetics, while license-free video and audio analytics easily monitor activity in multiple areas.
Surveillance solutions that offer people counting and queue monitoring technology can provide valuable information about activity within a particular store. They also help retailers put safety measures in place to help control customer occupancy so there are not too many people in the store at the same time.
The right surveillance solutions are scalable to fit the needs of any operation and easily allow for growth. One sample retail scenario is placing a primary camera over the register in a retail location, with another camera positioned toward the front door. The user can build from there with cameras at various positions that can include the rear entrance, delivery entrance, or employee break area.
Future-Proof Technology for Retailers
Retailers today are challenged to do more with less, and they require more effective loss prevention and asset protection solutions. Intelligent video surveillance options that combine image quality, performance, and analytics will meet retailers’ needs for safety, security, and shrink management while delivering new insights into every aspect of a retail operation. Learn more at hanwhavisionamerica.com.
