How to strengthen a smart retail market with video surveillance?
by Juan Carlos George*
Physical retail stores are currently facing a major challenge: virtual stores. Amazon, for example, is currently one of the most important players in the online retail market and many other brands are also thriving in this market. So, the question is whether in the near future physical stores will be overtaken by these online competitors.
If physical stores want to survive, they must adapt to the threat posed by online stores. Online retailers know their customers very well. Whenever you shop online, you are inevitably presented with products based on your previous transactions or browsing habits. By contrast, brick-and-mortar stores know very little about their customers. However, this does not have to be the case.
To meet changing customer needs, retailers must focus on bringing the digital experience to the physical store. The future of retail will depend on how brick-and-mortar stores manage to adapt and coexist with their digital counterparts. For many retailers, one of the solutions is right above their heads.
Video surveillance beyond security
IP video surveillance offers retailers a wide range of powerful tools and features to improve loss prevention programs by allowing the capture of video as digital information and thanks to the possibility of accessing it from any point of an IP network. This is how IP video surveillance allows professionals in charge of loss prevention, and other departments, to visualize, analyze and manage video surveillance.
Built-in intelligence also allows cameras and video management software (VMS) to automatically detect and proactively alert staff to potential theft, suspicious behavior, unauthorized access, and other incidents.
However, this same intelligence opens the door to new methods of in-store research beyond security. The technology can be used to determine how effective the physical design of facilities, the design of monitors, customer preferences, and employee behavior are. Thanks to the advantages of using common networks and digital camera technology, stores can achieve everything; from a lower total cost of ownership to higher resolution images that enhance evidence for judicial purposes, the reuse of video material for training, and other uses.
Some functions
Video surveillance technology, combined with artificial intelligence, makes it possible to identify the age, gender and even read the mood of customers when they enter a store. In fact, this technology is already incorporated into some modern video cameras. In an instant, store owners can make recommendations to their customers based on what are the best-selling items among a particular age group.
With the customer's consent, it is even possible to set up a loyalty program, taking advantage of data from facial recognition software. By matching face images — obtained from real-time video — against a database of previously stored face images, sellers can identify and greet the buyer by name, allowing them to connect more closely and create a personalized shopping experience for each person.
Videos can also help track customer behavior through maps that show the areas of highest circulation in stores. This technology tracks the journey customers make through the store and the products they are viewing, highlighting the most important circulation areas, dead areas and areas where crowds form. In this way, retailers can optimize the performance of their stores by modifying the layout of spaces or implementing marketing campaigns for certain products.
It's also possible to track the location of mobile phones to design hyperlocal offers, identify a person's demographic profile, and even use emotion recognition software to read mood.
In conclusion, in addition to the basic functions of monitoring and security recordings, video technology offers endless features that can help retail companies improve their business results.
VMS, the heart of the strategy
Open platform video management software (VMS) is largely responsible for these benefits, as it is responsible for coupling all technologies into a single system. The VMS allows you to customize solutions for operations in a single site or in multiple locations, centrally and locally. The platform allows managers to use these video analytics tools mentioned above to obtain information that makes it possible to provide a better experience to customers.
Similarly, retailers can compare system transactions with video of what is delivered to customers. In case of any problem, you can use the simple search commands to review the video, restrict it to a certain area at a specific time, which prevents us from wasting time looking at tons of raw material.
From Milestone Systems, for example, we have the Milestone XProtect Retail, which integrates with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and performs advanced transactions and employee data analysis that help retailers optimize store operations by identifying fraud situations and reducing inventory loss.
On the other hand, we also have the XProtect Transact that links and displays video streams with the data of receipts and corresponding transactions from the POS system and ATMs.
The benefits of these tools have been amply demonstrated and are being harnessed by retailers large and small around the world. The longer managers wait to migrate to this excellent and affordable technology, the less competitive their business will become.
Due to the rise of theft at the hands of employees, the loss of inventory in retail businesses, and shoplifting, retailers need to have all the advantages they can to stay afloat in the business.
* Juan Carlos George, Milestone's sales director for Latin America.
