Video Solutions Boost Business Intelligence for Retailers

OCTOBER 11, 2016 | BY MAUREEN LALLY

Omnichannel retailing is no longer some far flung prediction, or even a trend, it’s the reality that today’s consumers demand. To succeed in the age of this cross-channel business model, retailers must prioritize customer engagement by building positive brand recognition and loyalty and providing experiences tailored to their preferences and behaviors.

 

While video surveillance technology was traditionally used purely for security monitoring and criminal identification, new applications can help retailers accomplish a wide range of business and operations goals. By leveraging and building upon existing systems, retailers can help keep staff, customers and assets safe, all while enhancing customer experiences and driving higher sales. 

 

Protecting Brand Integrity 

A consistent brand experience is paramount to securing customer loyalty, but maintaining this identity across multiple locations can be a daunting undertaking. Video technology offers insight into corporate policy compliance and help reinforce company culture requirements. This can include everything from monitoring the frequency with which coffee pots are refilled at convenience stores to verifying merchandise display guideline adherence. Better insight into weak brand compliance areas can help improve employee training and management, and ultimately consumer brand association and loyalty.

 

Providing Additional Customer Assistance

With retailers trying to do less with more, many are struggling to service customers in a way that is not only fulfilling their needs, but also efficient from a business standpoint. Many retailers are beginning to roll out buy-online pick-up in-stores (BOPIS) or even curbside pick-up options for busy customers on the go. Having video solutions paired with analytics can help notify staff when a customer is waiting in a designated area and needs assistance. It can also help retailers testing out new service options determine whether or not there is a large enough return on investment to roll out across multiple locations.

 

Learning from Traffic Patterns

Capturing and measuring shopper traffic is critical for retailers trying to estimate sales opportunities and the store’s ability to convert shoppers into customers. These two aspects are the basis for shopper conversion rates and help retailers find weak links in their store flows and customer service programs. When businesses combine existing video surveillance with a traffic analytics solution, they can enhance operational awareness through additional insights like heat mapping, dwell times and traffic flow patterns. Appliance-based traffic visibility solutions, for example, leverage existing video infrastructure to produce count and shopper movement-based metrics. 

 

Boosting Business Intelligence

The information gained from current video surveillance can help retailer make smarter business decisions. This can include helping departments better understand customer behaviors, like engagement with store promotions and store flow for optimal message and product exposure. Additionally, retailers can use these integrated technologies to evaluate staffing needs across seasons of varying demands from slower weekday patterns to the highly trafficked holidays.

 

With the analytics and insight capabilities from integrated video, retailers can gain greater visibility into current customer and operational trends, as well as more accurately plan for the future.