Retail
How Analytics Software is Helping Retailers and Revolutionising the Customer Experience In a rapidly changing, highly-competitive industry, providing both an effective security operation while optimising the customer experience is a demanding challenge for the modern retailer. In this article we explore how common problems are being overcome with the use of Concept Pro’s fully customisable Deep Learning Analytics.
Aug 16, 2023 • min read
Crime prevention and safety have long played a crucial role in the design and implementation of CCTV systems and strategy, but as industry needs and technology have evolved, the possibilities have become almost endless. From using advanced heat mapping to establish the frequency and density of visited areas on the shop floor, to driving improvements in product placement, analysing staff performance, reducing stock shrinkage and monitoring equipment; taking advantage of modern surveillance systems isn’t just useful for your business, but essential for staying competitive in an increasingly crowded market. Concept Pro’s advanced AI solutions are at the forefront of this science, helping retailers keep pace with a near constant tech evolution in the retail environment.
Managing a large retail floor space is a taxing but crucial element of optimising sales and improving the customer experience. Concept Pro are shining a path for businesses around the world, providing sophisticated mapping algorithms, showing real-time data on footfall, dwell-times, and conversion rates within each product category, informing management of the best areas across their venue, enabling them to improve store layout, boost sales, and empower buyers.
Utilise this technology to measure not just the sales success but also the interest in new product placements by capturing footfall and dwell time in these areas.
Self-checkouts reduce overheads while creating a more frictionless shopping experience, but on the flip side many retailers have witnessed an associated, and unwelcome increase in stock shrinkage. But it needn’t be this way. Concept Pro uses loitering algorithms, set with specific parameters to identify non-interaction with the checkouts or trigger if a person is to walk through the area in a suspiciously low amount of time. Our software integration and people tagging enables security guards to be notified in real-time allowing them to confront individuals before they even leave the store.
Public View Monitors are a great extension to self-checkout areas and provide an excellent visual deterrence to display, in real time, to customers that they are being recorded as they scan their shopping. These monitors can display company logos, advertisements or any other media until a person is identified as approaching the self-checkout. Analytics can be utilised to display bounding boxes round the face of the shopper to further emphasise the visual deterrent.
“At first, I was sceptical about the introduction of analytics data being pushed into our retail portal. How wrong I was! Not only have we improved our customers’ instore experience, but we’ve increased sales and managed our staff so much better!“
"Concept Pro’s Head of Product Development, JP, explains how algorithms are being customized to overcome specific retail challenges
“In all our initial meetings with system integrators and retail end-users, there’s a lightbulb moment when they realize just how sophisticated AI has become, and how easily it can be integrated to overcome even the most complex of challenges. One notable example was when a large national retailer approached us, asking our team to identify the best location for new promotional locations. Despite years of experimenting with various areas instore, they’d struggled to identify the perfect spot for their promotions. But after working with our advanced heat mapping, dwell time, loitering rules and occupancy management tools, we were able to identify those key locations where footprint was at its optimum, allowing them to boost sales while making things easier for the customer. We were also able to deliver real-time data showing when checkouts were at their busiest, notifying management instantly that they needed to open another checkout.”
Deep Learning Plus – Unlock the Power of Video Analytics
With Deep Learning Plus algorithms you can unlock the true potential of a fully-integrated CCTV solution. With features such as face and mask detection, facial recognition, people counting, thermal human detection, PPE safety detection, license plate recognition, enhanced vehicle detection, active privacy masking, fallen persons, behavioural patterns and more. In fact there’s almost nothing Deep Learning Plus can’t do. Concept Pro’s industry-leading software has a comprehensive list of human and vehicle detection algorithms, perfect for false alarm filtering. But it’s designed to solve a multitude of retail challenges that go far beyond just false alarm filtering and human detection, its potential is limited by the imagination alone.
Our advanced suite of algorithms can be fully customized to suit your needs – for more information click here.
Interested in Customizing your rules – here’s how the process works
We caught up with Debbie Carter, Business Development Manager at Concept Pro, to understand how the process works for customizing algorithms for retail solutions.
“Firstly, we hold a consultation meeting with new clients which can be face-to-face at Concept Pro locations across the UK, at your premises, or an end user venue. This is our opportunity to collectively develop a brief, based upon the specific project challenges and our identified solutions. Once we have fully scoped the project, we create a timeline that factors in each key development stage, including regular check-ins, itemized costings, and key stakeholder involvement. After each element of the plan is approved, by both integrator and end user, we move onto the development itself. Then we go through an in-depth testing process, something Concept Pro takes incredibly seriously and does diligently to ensure the very highest standards are met. Testing takes time, but our customers are updated regularly through project update meetings, and is determined by the complexities of the request. Concept Pro’s testing procedure is a carefully selected blend of internal testing at CP headquarters, and once approved by a CP technical expert, moves onto onsite testing, which will always involve a real end-user environment. Or if this isn’t possible, a proof-of-concept environment. Here is where we invite the integrator and end user to witness and sometimes participate in the real environment test. Once all stakeholders are happy we then release to the customer.”
