CCTV cameras are usually located in a place in the store where they can cover the entire sales area. Customers are constantly in their field of view, so there is huge potential for analyzing customer behavior and using data to increase the average check.

Profit in retail: what it comprises

The profitability and efficiency of a retail outlet are determined by several parameters. The five main ones are:

• conversion;

• average check value;

• sales volume per square meter;

• sales volume in rubles

• the number of returns and salary intensity.

The problem of having low profit often lies precisely in the average check value that cannot be increased.

What is the average check? Average check, or average order value, is the average transaction amount that is calculated by dividing the total number of sales by the total number of guests. Its size is influenced by

• sales, promotions, discounts;

• prices;

• range;

• merchandising;

• marketing communications.

Retail marketers analyze every little detail, calculate all possible risks and build strategies to increase the average check. But in reality, their recommendations are not always implemented, and deviation from the strategy leads to significant losses for the retailer. What can go wrong? The human factor often interferes with the strategy: all employees have different levels of responsibility and diligence.

Promotions, discounts, and sales do not have the expected effect, because store employees do not have time to put the goods and price tags in time. So the customer never sees new advantageous offers. Carefully calculated prices do not become a trigger to make a purchase just because the price tag is absent, so the buyer cannot see them and make a decision.

The assortment and display can not influence the average check if goods are not on the display. This also leads to the expiration of goods. In addition, empty shelves and lack of familiar products reduce customer loyalty. The reason for the lack of a price tag or a product might be a shortage because of an incorrect work schedule.

All these factors lead to the fact that the buyer rarely visits the store or even chooses another place to do the shopping.

Profits could be also lowered for the following reasons:

• theft in the hall;

• fraud at the checkout;

• refusal to make a purchase due to long queues at the checkout;

• impolite staff.

How to use video surveillance?

To ensure that the marketing strategy does not collapse because of the shop employees, it is important to use tracking tools. These can be analytical modules of video surveillance systems.

Possibilities of modern CCTV systems:

• Check the availability and relevance of price tags and promotional items. If they are not present, the employee receives a notification and the reaction time will be accounted for.

• Track the availability of goods on the shelf and the time of their absence. Video analytics tells the employee what product to put on the shelf and when .

• Make forecasts. They are especially relevant for in-store products. For example, in-store mini-bakeries can calculate when and how much bread to put on the shelves.

• Monitor the staff working. You can evaluate different parameters: communication, reaction time, timeliness of customer assistance, etc.

• Eliminate queues.

How to integrate video analytics into a business process?

In our experience, there are several typical situations where analytics modules do not work:

The number of stores in the chain is less than ten. Normally, such chains do not have sufficient staff to process the reports and recommendations received, they need to use other resources. As a result, the CCTV system just brings additional costs.

The area of ​​the retail outlet is less than 100 sq. m., with low attendance. In such stores, employees can manage to track all "weak points" by themselves.

To implement the system, the company shall start with pilot projects. They allow the retailer to set up processes, measure efficiency, and introduce new items into job descriptions and employee KPIs.