Video in retail can help in multiple ways – from the store layout to enhancing the customer experience by reducing long queues.
Gone are the days when mentioning ‘video in retail’ evoked flashes of grainy low-resolution footage from security cameras, fixed in the corners of a store for theft prevention.
While security is still one of the key reasons to deploy cameras in retail, today video offers a lot more value and possibilities. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) to boost its title to ‘smart video’ has further enhanced its capabilities. Smart video can play a crucial role in helping retail adapt to the seismic shifts that this sector is undergoing.
Video in Retail
In today’s dynamic and ever-changing world, brick-and-mortar stores can explore newer opportunities and revenue streams by becoming more creative and resourceful with the technology they already own. For example, by collecting data from videos, a tech-savvy retailer can uncover buying behavior and patterns. This data can be analyzed and then deployed to create new services and optimize inventory planning. Video can also help a retailer in analyzing not just the foot traffic but also when the store is likely to have more customers and therefore help to plan better product placement to attract different kinds of customers, depending on their buying behavior.
Thanks to the advancements in smart video technology, today’s even a small retailer can easily deploy, operate, and maintain an AI-enabled smart camera, which is available at varying price points. As a result, taking advantage of smart video is not limited to big retailers or store chains anymore. The evolution of cameras, AI, and innovation in data-storage systems — the backbone supporting it all — are some of the factors driving this change.
Storage is Fundamental to Smart Video
Today, cameras record in full HD and 4K and even deliver multiple video and data streams. The captured video footage is stored on hard-disk drives (HDD), which have grown immensely in capacity and capabilities. For example, the WD Purple™ Pro Surveillance/Smart Video Hard Drive offers up to 22TB* of capacity. Engineered with advanced capabilities, the drive is equipped with AllFrame™ AI technology, which not only improves ATA streaming to help reduce frame loss and improve overall video playback but supports up to 32 AI streams for deep learning analytics within the storage system.
Senior Director – Marketing, India, Middle East & TIA,
Western Digital
Moreover, as the use of AI and 4K video rises in adoption, they are driving the demand for storage solutions to hold increasing amounts of data on cameras at the edge. As CCTV cameras typically enable long, continuous recordings, the storage should be a cost-effective combination of ultra-endurance, high performance, and high capacity, such as Western Digital’s WD Purple™ SC QD101 Ultra Endurance microSD™ card that comes in up to 1TB* of storage capacity and is built especially for smart video. For smart-video capture at the edge, it also becomes critical for backing up camera data to the cloud or a local storage solution in case there is a sudden drop in network availability.
Video in retail can help in multiple ways – from the store layout to enhancing the customer experience by reducing long queues. For example, AI-powered video can help with heat maps to determine customer movement throughout a store; it can help accurately count and register the number of people entering or leaving a store; it can help with better store planning and optimizing displays; and can alert the store manager about empty shelves in a store or a warehouse.
Security and safety will continue to be the primary objective for installing smart video systems, but as new use cases for smart video emerge, an increasing number of retailers will deploy smart video for more reasons to help improve business productivity and ultimately the customer experience.
