According to the latest global retail theft barometer, the annual cost of shrinkage to the UK retail market is a massive GB pound 4.4 billion.
When coupled with the presently tough economic conditions and fierce competition among retailers, that statistic means store managers need to ensure optimum shopping conditions for their customers and, at the same time, derive a good return on any investment they’ve made in surveillance.
All retailers need to invest in surveillance, of course, and traditionally it has always been analogue CCTV dominating in this sector.
Survey on CCTV in the retail sector
However, our recent survey into the current and future use of CCTV in retail revealed that almost three quarters of retailers (71.2% of those surveyed, in fact) are planning to roll out network cameras throughout their stores in the very near future.
The independent research report entitled: ‘Retail Use and Experience of CCTV in the UK’ and published by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) recognises that IP-based network surveillance is becoming an increasingly attractive proposition for retailers.
Investments in analogue surveillance have primarily been based around loss prevention and security where it’s notoriously difficult to measure a clear ROI. However, retailers are now starting to realise that IP-based video surveillance – when applied in tandem with analytics – can also provide valuable real-time business intelligence while at the same time increasing the value of any investment made in video.
Network video can be used to help improve store layouts, optimise merchandising strategies and increase operational efficiency.
Queue management and heat mapping solutions may be integrated with network video so that in-store activity can be monitored. In turn, retailers are then better placed to fully understand customer shopping patterns.
Barriers to full-scale adoption
However, there still appear to be certain barriers to adoption for some retailers. Our report demonstrated that the main ones appear to be the lack of a clear business case and lack of collaboration with the IT Department.
The business case becomes clear if network video is considered as a cross-functional application, capable of loss prevention monitoring, improving customer service, optimising store layouts and product placement and achieving an increase in overall operational efficiency.
The IT Departments’ reservations about deploying network video cameras on the company network are generally because they believe they’ll use up too much bandwidth. However, in reality file sizes can be easily managed by the adoption of efficient compression techniques.
It’s also possible to control how and when video files move across the company network so that footage isn’t continuously streamed.
Ultimately, the business intelligence and effective surveillance that network-based video can deliver can help retailers meet many of the challenges they face on a daily basis.
As our report suggests, many retail organisations look set to use it to their advantage sooner rather than later.
Phil Doyle is regional director for northern Europe at Axis Communications (UK)
Next time on The Networker: the Network Video Clinic looks back at the last 15 years of network video and forecasts what’s in store for the future
If you have any network video questions you would like to put to Phil, send an e-mail to: axis@insightmkt.com