Grow Your Business and Increase Profits with Video Analytics

It’s old news to hear about CCTV footage capturing thieves with their hands in a corner shop’s cash drawer, or making a positive ID on a shoplifter at the local mall. Closed-circuit television has been around for decades to monitor anything from employees to traffic intersections, as well as to increase security and help solve crimes.

But now with the recent advent of artificial intelligence (AI), CCTV is growing up and starting to play with the big boys. No longer just a passive form of video surveillance, CCTV can be coupled with AI to help business owners better understand their customers and, ultimately, grow their business and increase profits.

If you’re in the retail or hospitality industry, you know just how valuable this capability can be. Today, analytical benefits can be extracted from video footage, allowing that critical data to not only help your company understand and improve its processes but also to increase your customer loyalty retention rates: the Holy Grail of businesses everywhere.

Artificial intelligence has the potential to completely transform the traditional retail experience, taking it to the next level with automation, personalization, and increased efficiency points out Forbes. The best part is, this technology is already here and being implemented by your competitors. Losing out on this opportunity can take a chunk out of your bottom line.

Here’s how you can grow your business and boost profits by harnessing the power of CCTV and AI.

Case Studies: How Businesses Leverage Data and Unlock Insight With Technology

It’s not just science fiction anymore. AI and CCTV are teaming up to make real progress in the retail and hospitality sectors. Saving money, increasing profits, growing business: these are just a few of the benefits of a form of technology that’s relatively new in the grand scheme of things but that’s taking off at alarming rates. It’s called data collaboration and it’s only getting more and more vital in today’s business landscape.

Take a look at these examples of how businesses like yours are using the power of CCTV and AI to their benefit:

1.   NEIMAN MARCUS: AI FOR VISUAL SEARCH

Luxury department store Neiman Marcus utilizes AI to help its customers find items through the Snap. Find. Shop. App. Users can take pictures of items they see while shopping and the app search Neiman Marcus inventory to find the same or similar item. Rather than rely on vague search terms to locate the desired item, the photos can pinpoint a more accurate match.

2.   WALGREENS: AI TO TRACK FLU SPREAD

It’s no secret that the flu can be downright deadly if not treated properly, especially in kids and the elderly. Armed with the proper information, people can take steps to keep their families safe and healthy. Walgreens utilizes data extracted from the number of anti-viral prescriptions it has filled at its 8,000 global locations in order to track the spread of the flu. This is an online, interactive map that helps customers not only realize just how bad the flu is in their immediate area, but it also helps this retail giant stock more inventory of flu-related products in those highly infected regions.

3.   MACY’S: AI ENHANCES IN-STORE EXPERIENCES

It can be frustrating to walk into a large department store and wander around if you have no idea where to find what you need. Customers can open the Macy’s On Call app while in the store and actually chat with an AI bot to obtain directions to the specific item they need or to check if something they want is even in stock. The bot takes things a step further, with the ability to detect if a customer is getting frustrated and then alert a human employee to aid the customer in person.

4.   AMAZON: ELIMINATING CASHIERS WITH AI

The Amazon Go Store allows customers to walk into the store, select what they need from the shelves and walk out – all without visiting a cashier. Sensors and cameras placed throughout the store can track what the customer’s purchase, then charge their Amazon account when they exit the store. A quick and seamless shopping experience without having to wait in line: the retail experience doesn’t get better than this.

The examples are endless. Click here to read about more revolutionary ways in which AI is increasing customer satisfaction and in return boosting business’ bottom line.

The Technology Behind It

Representing the future of collaborative decision management, AI provides a glimpse into customer activity based on what they want, where they are at any given moment, and the outcome they desire. Sticking with the retail store example, when you combine access control, heat maps, and POS (point of sale) data, a business can gain insight into customer activity in relation to a location’s conversion rates.

RETAIL

If you own a brick and mortar store, this technology is invaluable as you try to keep pace with online giants like Amazon, which can tailor the shopping experience based on a customer’s previous actions. Not only can they track page lingering and browsing, but they can also track the amount of time an item remains sitting in a shopping cart before it’s purchased (or not).

But don’t lose hope. As a brick and mortar store, you can gather your own data and use it to improve the customer experience: an essential component in staying competitive in such a fierce industry.

This need is so powerful that retailers are working with their competition towards a common goal through the sharing of information. Yes, you can generate more impactful insights into your individual business using this technology, but you can also use it to break down traditional siloes of information to understand more than you ever thought possible about your customers. The bottom line is: data collaboration in the retail and hospitality sectors is creating value, driving growth and improving the business.

Collaboration improves outcomes, promotes innovation, and spurs agility. Indeed, the very definition of data collaboration involves the analysis of isolated datasets to gain accumulated insight. It’s not just retailers that are getting in on the game, hotels are too.

HOSPITALITY

AI is playing an increasingly important role in hospitality management, as well, mostly due to its ability to perform traditionally human functions at virtually any time of the day. This means that hotel owners, for example, can save money, eliminate human error, and deliver superior service.

Customer service forms the foundation on which the hospitality industry thrives. It stands to reason that a richer, more impactful customer experience can be created using the power of machine learning of AI software. Hotels can use this technology to capture endless information about:

  • Customer purchases

  • Customer behavior

  • Travel choices

  • Journey patterns and itinerary

  • Location preferences

  • Hotel rating inquiries

  • Payment methods

This data can translate not only into an insightful experience to hotel guests as they travel but also to the hotel owners themselves as they use the information gleaned to make sure their customers are happy. When customers are happy, they spend more. When they spend more at your establishment, you grow profits and thus your business.

Video Meets the Internet of Things

Over the past few years, many vital developments have increased the sophistication and utility of video-analytics applications, converting them into a more important growth driver. These recent advances in video-analytics technology involve:

  • Real-time processing: Today’s applications are able to process a higher volume of video footage in real-time so users can detect evidence of potential problems and take immediate corrective action. This could involve deploying store personnel to monitor shoplifters, for instance.

  • Improved accuracy: Video-analytics applications offer more precise image analysis. Whereby primitive surveillance applications were only capable of basic motion detection, current applications can disregard any motion that had previously triggered a false alarm, such as leaves falling in front of a security camera. On top of that, you can also program surveillance systems to detect specific visual patterns, such as the appearance of flames or movements that signal retail theft.

  • Better business insights: Thanks to advanced image-processing capabilities, AI can consider multiple visual inputs, such as assessing the demographics and behaviors of retail customers. This information can be converted into business insights that assist with product assortment and placement, thereby improving store efficiency, customer conversion, and customer loyalty.

  • Access to large data sets: Software algorithms in advanced applications can gather and analyze video footage from a multitude of sources to generate more detailed insights. For example, retail applications can pull data from several different video feeds to determine the shopping patterns of various demographic groups.

In the end, knowing more about your customers can feel a better understanding of what makes them tick – information you can use to more efficiently grow your business and see increased profits.


Contact scDataCom

To learn more about how you can improve your bottom line, contact scDataCom today at 912-777-5721. We offer full-scale business security solutions including CCTV systems, intrusion detection systems, and access control solutions.

Alaina FordComment