The retail industry has grown more competitive than ever before, and with the rise of online retailers the pressure is on for traditional brick-and-mortar companies to incentivize customers to shop in-store. In these times, business owners are looking to take advantage of all possible opportunities that will grow their revenue, provide valuable insights, and address common security challenges. The retail industry has grown more competitive than ever before, and with the rise of online retailers the pressure is on for traditional brick-and-mortar companies to incentivize customers to shop in-store.
In these times, business owners are looking to take advantage of all possible opportunities that will grow their revenue, provide valuable insights, and address common security challenges.
With new technology on the market that is able to count customers as they enter your store, others that can provide you with analytics on shopper flow, and more still that can reduce loss, it is high time that retailers adapt. Using a powerful combination of new technologies and traditional surveillance tactics business owners have unlimited possibilities at their fingertips.
1. Gain Insight and Adjust Business Functions
The ability to accurately count the flow of visitors allows a retailer to efficiently tailor their business operations. People counting analytics, featured in advanced cameras, provide details about foot traffic that retailers need in order to adjust staffing levels, and improve inefficiencies.
For more insights, retailers can turn to cameras with corridor mode functionality that can be used to monitor a store’s aisles, and pair with advanced heat mapping analytics. This feature takes data from the video it records and generates a visual demonstration of how visitors move throughout the store. These cameras display “hot” and “cold” regions all based on customer flow, which says a lot more about a store than you might think.
By combining these tools, retailers can recognize shoppers’ patterns and improve the store’s layout to reduce crowding and drive sales by placing high-value items in “hot” areas.
2. Improve Customer Satisfaction
It’s a common fact that customers hate lines, and when they find themselves waiting for extended periods of time there is an increased likelihood that they will abandon their purchase. By utilizing people counting and heat mapping analytics, storeowners are able to better understand when they will likely need to have more registers open to reduce wait times.
On a grander scale, these insights can be used to determine the appropriate staffing levels based off of busiest days and hours, something many retail managers often struggle with. Video alleviates this challenge by providing accurate data to show when more employees are needed, and what particular areas of the store they will be needed in. By having the appropriate level of associates available on busy days, retailers can not only grow their sales numbers but also improve their overall customer satisfaction.
3. Reduce Loss
Shoplifting is certainly a contributing factor to inventory loss in a retail environment, but one that can easily be caught with properly placed cameras. Internal theft on the other hand can be more difficult to catch, but with advancements in infrared (IR) illumination owners are able to keep watch over store rooms no matter what the lighting conditions may be. The addition of a motion detector in off-limits areas, and removed object analytics for high value items ensure the effectiveness of the solution.<
No talk about securing a facility is complete without discussing perimeter security. While many retailers are hyper-focusing their efforts inside the store, maintaining a secure environment outside is vital to both security and customer satisfaction.
In these applications, a 180-degree multi-sensor camera is most effective, ideally when mounted in a corner so that the single camera can monitor multiple angles. For larger areas PTZ cameras can be programmed to automatically track and create alerts for abnormal activity immediately.
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