d e t e k t o r i n t e r n a t i o n a l · 3 5
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behind their plans to migrate to IP
surveillance.
"High street stores are still the
origin of most retail transactions
but carry the highest overheads, so
the need to reduce cost and com-
plexity of surveillance systems in
store and, at the same time, `sweat
the assets' further, is vital."
Two-thirds of UK respondents
also expressed a real interest in
using IP camera systems with on-
board storage, to replace cumber-
some analogue systems which
require a local DVR, primarily for
retail stores with smaller camera
counts. "These systems offer an
affordable solution to retailers,
coupled with the advantage of
being able to use HD cameras
which offer a minimum of three
times the image resolution of an
analogue system, providing an
attractive proposition to UK retail
businesses wanting to maximize
the return on their investment and
increase the likelihood of prosecu-
tion."
The research was carried out
by CRR between June and August
2012 and follows a similar Axis-
commissioned survey in 2010.
partly driven by the public using
mobile phone HD footage to
assist the police."
"The current economic climate
is a real issue for store-based
retailers and therefore maximis-
ing ROI on any technological
investment is crucial as consum-
ers become more savvy and price
conscious. However, the quality
of video footage is still an issue
when it comes to successful pros-
ecutions, so it's hardly surprising
that 58% (the highest across the
whole of Northern Europe) of
UK respondent's currently using
analogue CCTV systems had
plans to invest in IP surveillance."
Respondents cited easier inte-
gration with business intelligence
analytics such as people and
queue counting, better remote
access and improving image
quality through the use of HD IP
cameras, as the primary drivers
The CCTV in Retail survey was
commissioned by Axis Communi-
cations and was run in conjunc-
tion with the Centre for Retail
Research in Nottingham, UK. It
surveyed over 2,200 retailers both
large and small from a variety of
sectors and attracted over 700
responses from retailers in the
UK, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden,
Finland and Norway.
For more than 16% of the
retailers cameras reduced the
shrinkage by over 20%. Speak-
ing on the results, Atul from Axis
comments: "It's clear that CCTV
plays a major part in reducing
retail losses but what was really
surprising was how the percep-
tion of CCTV following events
like the 2011 riots have changed
with nearly half of those surveyed
saying that the public had become
more accepting of the need for the
technology, which may have been
From a loss prevention perspective a video surveillance system can help retailers prevent crimes and will improve safety and security.
IPsurveillanceisthekey
toreducingretailshrinkage
According to a recent Centre for Retail Research sur-
vey into current and future use of CCTV by retailers
over 80% of UK's retailers agreed that CCTV has had a
direct reduction on the level of internal and external
losses they had incurred.
Interesting results from the survey: number of cameras per store.
Research Report
CCTV in Retail: 2012 Survey of Users
Centre for Retail Research
12
Part Three
CCTV Configuration and Network IP
Part Three outlines the configurations of the 570 CCTV users that responded to the survey.
The Number of Cameras Per Store
An understanding of the relative sizes of CCTV installation by country is provided in Table
8, which shows the number of cameras by store in each country.
On average 22.2% of systems have between 1 and 4 cameras per store; 25.3% have
between 5 and 8 cameras; 23.2% have between 9 and 16; 19.8% have between 17 and 32;
and 9.5% have more than 32 cameras.
Countries like the UK and Sweden have larger proportions of smaller 1-4 camera CCTV
systems (27.1% and 28.6% respectively), reflecting the number of smaller stores in these
countries equipped with CCTV.
However the average number of cameras per installed system was 12.5 for all retailers,
varying from 11.3 in Norway to 15.2 in Finland.
Table 8
Number of Cameras per Store
cameras/store
GB
DK
FIN
IRL
N
S
Average
1-4
27.1%
14.3%
20.0%
20.4%
22.9%
28.6%
22.2%
5-8
25.4%
18.4%
22.2%
31.5%
35.7%
18.8%
25.3%
9-16
18.3%
36.7%
24.4%
22.2%
14.3%
23.2%
23.2%
17-32
23.8%
20.4%
20.0%
18.5%
17.1%
18.8%
19.8%
32+
5.4%
10.2%
13.3%
7.4%
10.0%
10.7%
9.5%
Totals
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
Average Number of Cameras
Per Installation
11.5
13.4
15.2
10.8
11.3
12.5
12.5
Types of Camera
More than three quarters of the cameras in use (a weighted average of 76.8%) were
analogue cameras, but 10.7% of systems were network IP and a further 11.6% of retailers
were using elements of both systems (Table 9).
benefits of video surveillance
for the retail sector, apart from
security reasons, that can increase
revenues for the end users and
actively contribute to profit. An
example is demographic studies
and in-store buying habits of
target groups, for instance what
types of customers are interested
in certain products.
"Video analytics software on
the footage will provide reports
covering view time in front of a
display, walking patterns within
and around the area, as well as
traffic counts on the number
of people in the area. Thus it is
possible for retail management
to plan staff levels to match
customer traffic. It also will make
sure there is enough staff in store
at peak trading hours. That will
increase customer satisfaction,
improve service and enhance the
performance in terms of sales
revenue and profit," says Robert
Verhulst.
"Cameras can help the store
owner or marketing department
fine tune in store shop concepts,
offers and promotions. This func-
tionality is especially interesting
for supervising the franchise stores
from the franchiser's marketing
commercial department. Verifying
remotely that the campaigns are
being executed as programmed, at
the precise day and with the cor-
rect marketing tools, for example,
allows marketing savings and
assures a better campaign impact,"
says Rodrigo Diaz.
Even if cameras in the retail
sector have many crime saving and
cost cutting functions, an instal-
lation always has to be carefully
evaluated, according to Robert
Verhulst:
"An investment in technol-
ogy requires a solid return on
investment calculation. Besides a
calculation and the outcome of
possible savings there are more
concerns that need to be clarified
upfront. Make sure that your staff
is able to cooperate with new tech-
nology systems and does have time
to use it properly. This can only be
effectuated if security processes are
rightly described and implement-
ed across the organisation. Only
when people and processes are
aligned across the overall security
programme, an investment in
technology will work out in an
optimal way." n
video surveillance / retail