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The retail industry loses billions of dollars per year to employee theft and shoplifting. Investing in IP video surveillance cameras as a solution to your security needs provides numerous long-term benefits such as reduced retail shrinkage, maximized store profits, lowered insurance rates, and ultimately a decrease in the number of theft cases. Security cameras also help instill a safer, more inviting store environment for patrons.
With the number of technologies available on IP cameras today, it’s important to determine the exact security needs of your retail store. Will you need indoor and outdoor cameras for your retial security system? What are your store’s weak spots? Are there any poorly lit sections of your shop? Is there an aisle or section that is harder to see than other areas of your store? These are just some of the questions to consider when shopping for a new retail security system.Where to Place Retail Security Cameras
Every storefront is different in terms of its size and merchandise layout, but each has an exit and entrance, cash register station, and sales floor. Emplacing security cameras near high-trafficked and unguarded areas within your store will help reduce the number of retail crimes. At the same time, properly installed retail security systems ensure that shoplifting and employee theft will be recorded on camera.
Entrances and Exits: Mount your retail security cameras directly above or near your store’s entrance(s) and exit(s) to monitor the flow of customers and employees. This location provides a clear view of each person coming in and out your storefront. With high quality IP video, you can recognize and identify faces to save as evidence if needed.
Cash Register: The cash register is an extremely sensitive area and should be monitored at all times. Dishonest employees will steal directly from the cash register, and as a business owner with a never-ending list of responsibilities, you can’t always be there to make certain that all sales for the day have been accounted for. Retail security cameras should be mounted above the register to monitor and observe all activity taking place at the register, including transactions, refunds, and money counting. To catch employees who you suspect are sweethearting, cameras should be installed directly above the scanner.
Sales Floor: Always outfit your sales floor with at least one security camera. Depending on the size of your business, you may need a considerable number of security cameras to cover the space. Poorly lit aisles or areas that are difficult to see should also be monitored by cameras. Shoplifters tend to migrate towards store locations that lack sufficient customer service or have less visibility.
Warehouse: Thieves will often seek out store warehouses to steal inventory and/or cargo. Over $425 million in cargo was stolen from warehouses, loading trucks, and docks in 2010 according to FreightWatch International. Security cameras should be mounted up on beams, drop ceilings, or main ceilings to oversee the inventory.
Parking Lot: If your store has its own parking lot, consider investing in a video surveillance system to cover this specific area. Vehicle break-ins are common in store parking lots for employees and customers. Installing network video cameras in your parking lot makes license plate recognition possible, which is tremendously helpful in cases where a perpetrator has fled the scene in his or her vehicle.
Video surveillance cameras offer several long-term benefits to you as a store owner. Ultimately, the presence of video surveillance cameras helps strengthen your business.
Insurance Discounts: Your retail store suddenly becomes less of a liability when it is outfitted with security cameras.
Safer Workplace: In addition to forestalling theft, surveillance cameras help build a safer workplace by monitoring employees and scouring the floor for any safety hazards. Slip-and-fall fraud, a crime that happens all too often in the workplace, can be recorded by cameras and later viewed in the event that an employee tries to sue your company for their false injuries.
Reduced Theft and Vandalism: Petty thieves are less likely to steal from your storefront if they know they’re being closely monitored by multiple video surveillance cameras. Take further action by placing cameras in high-theft areas like the cash register and aisles where the lighting and visibility is poor.
Customer Analytics: Many video surveillance cameras come with built-in intelligence such as people counting technology, queue management, loitering functionality, and crowd detection. Leveraging your security camera systems’ intelligence will help you sustain a thriving, successful business.
Remote Access: By switching to network video, you’ll have remote access to your camera system. The competitive advantage is that you don’t have to be at your business storefront to operate your retail security system; remote access facilitates camera viewing and management from any Internet-enabled PC or mobile device.
Scalability: With IP video, you can record, view, and manage all of your cameras at once on the same network without having to worry about managing each unit separately. This allows you to add a camera at any point in time, whether for your current store or a new location.
Superior Performance: Built-in video intelligence, advanced functions, and improved image quality make network video a smart choice. Analog video cameras unfortunately do not feature megapixel resolution, greatly limiting the quality and detail of every image.
