Latin America. It is no secret that video surveillance today is one of the pillars of the retail sector. For years, it has been a vital tool that helps business owners in their efforts to prevent losses and improve the safety of their establishments.
But people today know that the value of video is not limited to ordinary security applications, so they are continuously looking for innovative ways to turn video into useful data and information.
According to Janik Arellano, Small Business Accounts Manager at Axis Communications, these efforts are driving the need for more storage capacity. In fact, the storage capacity used for video surveillance applications is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 39.1% between 2015-2019]. If these predictions are correct, more than 221 petabytes (PB) of storage capacity will be sent to the retail sector in 2019.
What are the reasons for this growth? One of them is the proliferation of multisensory digital cameras. The retail sector is the second market in adoption of new technologies and high definition (HD) cameras behind the commercial sector. And digital drives generate larger image files than analog devices, resulting in the need for greater storage capacity to save the files.
Another reason is the constant challenge to reduce the amount of merchandise stolen from stores. In retail, video surveillance plays a vital role in loss prevention efforts. But ant theft still plagues the industry. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) in Latin America, more than 48% of retailers reported having had reductions in their inventories during 2016-2017. Overall, inventory losses cost the Latin American retail economy around $45 billion last year.
Criminals are becoming much more organized and sophisticated, changing the way they behave. Retailers must respond to this growing threat and be prepared not only to invest in technology, but also in the skills of their staff. While the cost pressures on business owners are considerable, there is a risk that retailers will opt for lower-cost video and security solutions, which lowers standards and leaves their stakeholders more vulnerable.
By adopting new technologies and installing high-definition cameras, business owners can reduce those losses or clarify some other questions for their businesses and improve the profitability of their investment in video surveillance systems.
Who are your customers?
Retailers need to know the demographic makeup of their customers to make better decisions about advertising, product placement, and merchandise diversification. By analyzing video streams, video analytics can identify shoppers by age and gender, giving business owners valuable statistical insights about their potential customers.
How many people are in your store and where do they go once inside?
Video analytics can map out traffic patterns to provide data on how many people are in stores, the path they travel once inside, and where they congregate (using video-based "heat maps"). This helps merchants identify popular patterns, periods, and locations, allowing them to make changes to floor, screen, advertising, or staff designs to better serve their customers and increase revenue.
How long do your customers have to wait?
No one likes to be waiting in line. Of all the things that irritate consumers, forming in long lines has to be one of them. Video analytics allow retailers to monitor congestion points to identify "problem" areas (such as checkouts, customer service modules, and tickets) on time, so additional staff can be sent to help.
Permanence, how important is it?
The time customers spend in stores and their journeys — the amount of time shoppers spend interacting with sideboards, screens, or kiosks — are two metrics that provide valuable insights to business owners. However, none of the indicators are frequently monitored (only 23% and 10%, respectively, according to a RIS News study). But, with video analytics, that's changing. Now, retailers can track how much time shoppers spend in their stores, as well as monitor how they respond to display advertising and time-bound offers, so they can measure effectiveness and make adjustments accordingly.
Undoubtedly, the data generated through video surveillance is changing the reality in retail. Today more than ever, merchants are focusing on consumer behaviors and optimizing the in-store experience. Through innovative technologies, high-resolution cameras, and video analytics, retailers can capture and analyze more video-based customer data, which is driving the need for greater storage capacity. But maximizing the value that can be derived from this data requires more than just capacity, it requires a high-performance, multi-tiered storage system, designed specifically for video applications that can grow exponentially and cost-effectively, while business owners ensure that all their files remain accessible.
