There are tremendous benefits to integrating security technologies and communications systems together, including enhancing overall safety and security, reducing shrink, and improving operations.
There are many aspects to consider when developing a retail security strategy, including loss prevention, physical security, asset protection, risk management and IT. All of these areas could be the responsibility of just a few people working to secure a handful of stores or each of these areas could be entirely separate departments, as is often the case for major retailers with locations throughout the country.
Regardless of the size of the retailer, there are many different technologies that can be used within a retail store to improve security and loss prevention, yet none should be used in a silo. There are tremendous benefits to integrating security technologies and communications systems together, including enhancing overall safety and security, reducing shrink, and improving operations.
Serving a dual purpose
While the technology solutions described above positively impact loss prevention in a retail store, they can also extend beyond security to improve health and safety, and enhance customer service as well as customer engagement and sales.
For example, while securing a store’s main entrance with IP cameras featuring on-board video analytics, retailers can use the metadata from the cameras to gather business statistics like counts of people entering the store. This data can help them understand peak days and times when making decisions about staffing. Or while providing surveillance of the cash register area, the camera's video analytics can trigger an alert in case the number of people in a queue exceeds the pre-defined threshold. At this point, the same public address system and loudspeakers used to play background music could be activated to request another cash register to be opened, improving store operations.
For security and loss prevention purposes, video analytics can also be used to trigger an alarm if an emergency exit is blocked by an object.
Metadata generated by the cameras can also be used to gather information that when processed with sophisticated algorithms in the cloud can show trajectories of the paths that shoppers take around a store indicating where they walk, stop and dwell — all while protecting the privacy of individual shoppers in order to evaluate the success of displays and store layouts.
Product selection
Integration is becoming easier through the use of standards and expanding industry partnerships. However, in some cases, choosing systems from a single vendor that are designed to work together can help to speed and simplify installation, while also reducing system costs for both the integrator and the user.
As many retailers already understand, there is no silver bullet to reducing loss. However, a combination of the right technologies working together to prevent shrink and improve investigative capabilities can result in smarter and more effective loss prevention.
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