Background and Context
Within retailing, the use of a range of video technologies is not only longstanding, but also increasingly ubiquitous – it is hard these days to find a segment of retail space that is not under the gaze of some form of video system. However, use does not always translate into tangible benefits, indeed, early studies found little evidence that these systems had much of a lasting impact on levels of retail loss and invariably it was almost impossible to achieve a favourable Return on Investment (ROI) on purely retail loss reductions alone. It is therefore important to look very carefully at how current and future video systems can/might contribute to the retail environment – what benefits can they bring, how might these benefits be achieved and in what ways can this investment be maximised to have the greatest effect?
Purpose of Research
The purpose of this research is twofold:
- Understand how retail companies are now using particular video technologies in their businesses.
- Develop a video technologies implementation maturity model that captures both the development of use cases and the approaches adopted in their application and use.
It is proposed to focus upon approximately 10 use cases, selected from the following:
|
Body Worn Cameras |
Supply Chain – Pick Accuracy Monitoring |
|
Identifying/Responding to Suspicious In-store Behaviour |
Linking Types of EPOS Transactions to Video Recording |
|
Number Plate Recognition Technologies |
Delivering Business Intelligence |
|
Feature/Facial Recognition Technologies |
Virtual Store Visits |
|
Controlling Self-scan Related Risks |
Managing On-shelf Availability |
|
Managing Health & Safety |
Responding to attempted/actual store burglaries |
|
Managing/Responding to In-store Violence |
Responding to alarms |
|
Managing Refund Frauds |
Customer counting/flow |
|
Managing Product Waste Recording |
Access control |
|
Delivery Vehicle/Staff Monitoring |
CCTV Hubs: alarm monitoring, store-based incident monitoring, incident analysis |
Methodology
The study will start with an online survey of the top 100 retailers in the US and Europe to identify the extent to which retailers are utilising some of these video technologies. This will then be followed up with detailed interviews with representatives from retailers prepared to share their experiences and outcomes of using them.
Outcomes
The study will generate the following: a detailed research report (in electronic form); a webinar summarising the key results from the study; a one-day interactive workshop based upon the findings from the study.
Timetable
The study will be carried out in 2019 with the results presented at an ECR event in January 2020.
Call for Retailers
If you would like to participate in the research, there will be no cost, and have data to share, then please contact ECR @ colinmpeacock@ecr-shrink-group.com