How retailers are leveraging video in the fight against shrink

As retailers continue to adapt in COVID-19 world, they’re also noticing a rise in shrink. Opportunistic theft in particular is growing, as criminals seem to be taking advantage of retailers being distracted by the pressures of running stores under strict safety guidelines.

New advances in video technology are helping retailers up their ante in the fight against shrink while providing a safe, secure shopping environment in a COVID-19 world. Today, retailers can leverage their existing video equipment for even more value with insights to help manage shrink, improve safety and streamline operations.

In the UK, grocery chain Asda is already taking advantage of this integration. Its alarm data is reported through Sensormatic Shrink Management as a Service, uncovering insights about Organized Retail Crime (ORC). According to Andrew Rees, Asda’s senior manager for asset protection, “we wanted to see if we could track a pattern of these organized crimes. We have an intelligence centre in our department where we can look at closed-circuit monitors of each store and see what’s happening with each alarm.”

Below are five ways that video technology from Sensormatic Solutions can help manage shrink, safeguard stores and improve customer experience.

1. Integrate Public View Monitors (PVMs) into your secure ecosystem. PVMs are a powerful shrink deterrent due to their visibility to potential thieves and can be used in multiple areas throughout the store. PVMs connected to other devices take this a step further, potentially boosting sales by allowing retailers to feature custom text and video to communicate things like holiday sales or safety messaging.
2. Integrate video and alarms within a single management system. Sensormatic Shrink Management as a System has an electronic article surveillance (EAS) capability. When integrated with video, retailers can see what happens during an EAS alarm event, all from a single dashboard.
3. Monitor social distancing to detect non-compliance. Retailers can promote social distancing in their stores with our VisionWorks mask detection feature. This allows retailers to detect use of facial coverings and alert staff of violations as they occur.
4. Use Thermal Imaging for a safer shopping environment. As part of its COVID-19 toolkit, Sensormatic offers thermal imaging products from our partners to help detect elevated body temperatures of both staff and shoppers and help retailers maintain a safe and healthy shopping environment.
5. Monitor queues to improve customer experience. Sensormatic queue monitoring helps improve the shopping experience by alerting staff when checkout lines reach a predetermined limit and directing staff to areas in need of customer service.

Learn more about how advances in video technology can help your retail business here.