Page 34 - Security Today, April 2022

Optimizing Store Layouts Beyond security – using video analytics in a retail environment
By Will Kelso
Video analytics and AI are hot topics for 2022 as the security industry seeks new ways to take a bite out of crime, even as staffing is light organized retail crime is on the rise. At the same time, brick-and- mortar businesses need to use all the tools available to them to get customers back in the door as the pandemic wanes.
If we’re going to have smarter security cameras protecting these premises, then another question is “what else can these devices do, beyond security, with the in- sights they are gathering through their lenses?” For retail stores, one of the key aspects to success is how a store and its merchandise is laid out and how that ef- fects the customer experience.
Layout refers to how a store sets up product displays, fixtures, and merchan- dise. A well-planned store layout can posi- tively influence customer experience, a critical factor to drive product engagement, sales, and improve customer lifetime value.
Retailers have several tools to gather and analyze data to understand if the store layout is working well and identify problem areas that need optimization. Some of these methods include store au- dits, mystery shopping, and customer sur- veys or shopper feedback.
These results from these methods are usually subject to interpretation, may not be consistent across all locations, and not accessible in real-time. On the other hand, using video analytics to measure store lay- out effectiveness reveals powerful insights almost instantaneously. Here are seven ways retailers can leverage video analytics to optimize store layout.
Streamline customer flow. Video ana- lytics are well suited to map and mea- sure customer flows through the store. Understanding customer flow helps re- tailers evaluate the effectiveness of the store layout, understand the best possible placement of products, measure customer actions at every section or department, measure the impact of specialized dis- plays, in-store promotions, or marketing
“On the other hand, using video analytics to measure store layout effectiveness reveals powerful insights almost instantaneously. Here are seven ways retailers can leverage video analytics to optimize store layout.”
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campaigns, to name a few.
Video analytics, when combined with
POS data, can help retailers conduct a real-time audit of the store layout to iden- tify bottlenecks in the design, and align the layout to help customers successfully accomplish their shopping missions.
Store floor plans dictate customer flow and how customers interact with the products. Irrespective of the type of store layout or floor plan (grid layout, herring- bone, free-flow, geometric, mixed, to name a few), video analytics can play an impor- tant role in uncovering real-time business intelligence on how the layout is perform- ing.
Delight customers with a better check- out experience. The last impression is probably the best impression for retail chains looking to provide a memorable customer experience. A long checkout queue can completely wipe out any posi- tive experience customers might have had at the store before they wanted to check- out. In some cases, customers in a hurry can just abandon their carts and never re-
turn to the store.
Retailers have already implemented an
assortment of improvements to make the checkout process efficient. These include changes in how queues are organized, self- checkout kiosks, app-based self-checkout, shelves near the checkout counters to en- tice impulse purchases, to keep the process predictable and customers engaged as they wait for their turn to pay.
Video analytics can help retailers use real-time data to understand what’s really happening at the checkout area.
Improve product placement. Product placement is probably one of the most im- portant factors that impact retail sales and is closely tied to the store layout.
While planograms offer the template to slot products in the shelf space, real-time data-driven decisions can help retailers maximize sales by aligning shelf space to customer preferences and other factors that drive purchases such as the weather or local events.
Video analytics can be a game-changer in giving retailers instant visibility on po-
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