Video surveillance is often viewed as a means of establishing a sense of security across premises from internal and external threats. While this view is nothing but true, this definition’s limitations restrict customers from utilizing the mechanism to its greatest extent. Along with establishing an environment free from crime, video surveillance helps retailers build a smarter unit of operations.
Retailers worldwide have found great benefits in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) based solutions for their stores. By allowing retailers to build a business based on real-time analytics, these intelligent solutions have bridged the gap towards better credibility and improved services.
Present-day surveillance solutions allow users to deduce actionable insights when it comes to the operations of their premises. The system enables users to know their customers better, from recording the store’s total footfall to gathering data on sales and customer behavior.
RETAIL ANALYTICS: THE WHAT AND THE WHY
Retailers these days have given up on the idea of guessing what their customers want. Knowing the people’s current trends and demands have been made easier with advances on the digital front. Retailers today can keep track of what their visitors need by simply focusing on what they buy, browse online, or via surveys.
The most common of these solutions currently being utilized by retailers is the Point of Sale (POS) system. The POS system keeps track of every transaction taking place in the store, allowing retailers to understand their customers better. This can give them insights on what products are higher up on the scale, who buys these products, and at what time is the transactional frequency higher.
NOW LET’S TAKE A MOMENT AND THINK, WHERE DOES A SURVEILLANCE SOLUTION FIT INTO ALL OF THIS?
Removing the limitations of what we think a surveillance solution can do, let us dive deeper into the vastness of its expertise. Present-day security solutions are more than just that. They provide organizations with more profound insights with multiple metrics, allowing them to make sense of the big data collected. Big data refers to all the data collected by retailers, whether related to the customers, employees, inventory, or store temperature setting.
While a POS system provides essential information to retailers about their customers, their limitations are evident. These POS solutions, as a part of an integrated surveillance solution, have a broader scope of application.
FOOTFALL ANALYTICS
For a walk-in brick-and-mortar establishment, keeping regular track of how many people enter the store is crucial. A surveillance mechanism keeps a record of how many people enter the premises and who enters the premises. With IP cameras equipped with edge analytics, retailers can deduce a general gender distinction between the customers. This insight allows retailers to understand which customers find utility in their stores, allowing them to dig deeper.
Retailers can also receive insights into the peak hours when the footfall is highest. With a mechanism that does all the analyzing for its users, retailers can easily identify the time slots when the foot traffic is the greatest, making sure that every employee station is occupied and functioning.
DIVING INTO HISTORICAL DATA
The big data collected via surveillance solutions gets stored on the cloud for extended periods (as per the package). This data can be retrieved at any point in time, from anywhere, by an authorized user.
When it comes to finding seasonal favorites, analyzing historical data becomes useful. The intelligent surveillance solutions with integrated POS systems give retailers similar insights, allowing them to stock up before customer demands rise exponentially.
This historical data also provides users with information about their regular and loyal customers. Tracking their purchases over some time can enlighten retailers about their customers’ demands and preferences.
MULTIPLE METRICS
To gather large amounts of data and make sense of it is not easy, especially when assigned for manual analysis. Making the transition from manual dissection to automation takes off a significant load from personnel and adds greater value to the data, especially in terms of accuracy.
Analyzing separate sects of data based on segregated metrics can cause data silos, allowing users to partake in limited insights into their business. The footfall analytics only tell the owner about the total number of visitors entering the premises daily. On the other hand, the transaction count only tells them the number of people who bought something from the store. However, to add real value to this data, a combined analysis is more important. Rather than analyzing these metrics separately, transaction counts and total footfall data need to be merged.
When a store with hundreds of walk-ins’ everyday experiences only a few purchases occasionally, owners have to dig deeper into the cause of such instances.
MULTI-CHANNEL DATA INTEGRATION
When it comes to buying expensive commodities or requiring some human assistance, customers prefer going to the stores in person. But does that mean they do not browse the retail site online in advance?
The digital age has kicked off an online + onsite shopping era, where buyers can find similar products via both channels. However, this necessitates an integration between all channels of contact. With many customers browsing products online only to buy them in person, receiving continuous advertisements of the same product can be annoying. This also shows that all channels have their own decentralized algorithms to follow, disabling retailers from establishing solid relationships with their customers.
With their unified platforms, cloud solutions provide users with a single point of control, giving them insights into customer behavior throughout all channels.
COMBINING ONSITE AND ONLINE ANALYTICS FOR THE PERFECT BALANCE
Even though surveillance solutions and POS software give enterprises greater visibility into customer behavior and employee performance, the software alone cannot transform the overall performance. For an enterprise, especially one based on constant interactions between employees and customers, like retail, an integrated solution is essential.
Retailers can gather a significant part of a customer’s information via in-person conversations and consultations with employees. Good customer relations can be formed with customers feeling a sort of affinity towards employees who invite conversations.
Tons of customer data are also gathered via customer purchase history, browsing history, product reviews, and other ways.
Following up on these interactions with personalized emails, discount coupons, and various offers can enable retailers to build loyal customers. Integrating onsite and online algorithms can give retailers much better insights into what their customers truly need.
VIDEO SURVEILLANCE ANALYTICS FOR SUPERIOR BUSINESS EFFICIENCY
Video surveillance solutions establish a security net around your retail premises while improving your business’s overall productivity and efficiency. With their edge analytics, these solutions enable users to understand their customers better and transform their business practices accordingly.
With multiple communication channels between the enterprise and the customers, cloud-based platforms provide a single integration platform. This solution offers deep insights into customer behavior by enabling users to retrieve historical and real-time data, both in-store and onsite.
AI and ML-based cloud solutions accentuate retail stores’ overall performance, establishing an integrated solution to fortify business operations.