$121.6 billion was lost in 2023 to retail theft—also known as shrinkage or shrink. When we say that Black Friday is a busy shopping day, shrinkage is the elephant in the room. It’s not just busy for employees and customers—it’s peak season for loss prevention personnel who investigate the many theft incidents that happen amidst the Black Friday chaos and the weeks that follow.
Most, if not all, retail stores have some sort of physical security solution. But it’s not always as simple as it may seem to investigate theft.
How a shift to cloud simplifies physical security
Traditionally, conversations around physical security often include the term CCTV or closed-circuit television. Think: someone in a room full of black-and-white monitors. That is what we call legacy physical security or on-premises security. Solutions that rely on on-prem network video recorders can make it difficult to get an overview of the camera network’s health or even ensure their cameras really are recording.
These systems often require a massive amount of space beyond the cameras themselves. To run an on-premises legacy security system, you need servers, video recorders, and software—and all of this is difficult to install. Plus, keeping the entire system up to date with security upgrades and patches is incredibly cumbersome for IT.
The cloud, in recent years, has not only revolutionized the way we communicate, store files, and conduct software development but it has also affected the way we do physical security. Cloud-based physical security brings centralized management and real-time alerts of multiple cameras through a single platform. This approach offers easier upgrades so you can take advantage of advanced functionality. It also enables you to view camera footage remotely.
Now, imagine that the person in that room with the black-and-white monitors received a call from a store manager about a critical incident that occurred the evening prior. No additional details were given, only that the manager thought the perpetrator had worn a green shirt. Having to go through all that black-and-white footage of the past day would be tedious, manual, and tiring. Without advanced search capabilities or variable playback speeds, it would require hours of viewing. Poor footage quality could make details difficult to discern. System storage capacity restrictions could even mean that the relevant footage would have been overwritten by the time the investigation took place.
Cloud-based security systems, on the other hand, allow you to have full visibility into your space while analyzing footage in real time from anywhere. Advanced functionality in these cameras drastically reduces the amount of time required for analysis. With Cisco Meraki MV cameras, for example, motion detected by the cameras is categorized into events. Through the help of edge computing and software features like motion search and attribute search, these events can be filtered out to ensure you find the footage you are looking for quickly and easily share it with law enforcement.
Building a solution that works for you
Selecting the right solution for your specific business needs can be a challenge. That’s why the Meraki MV portfolio encompasses cameras of all types—indoor, outdoor, fixed, fisheye, bullet, and varifocal lens. This allows you to pick a camera according to what works for your space to ensure maximum coverage. Likewise, the Meraki Marketplace is designed to facilitate your ability to use application programming interfaces (APIs) to solve business needs regarding physical security beyond just recording video.
No matter where you deploy MV cameras, you’ll be able to have all eyes on your space without needing to be present. Whether you’re viewing a large parking lot with our bullet camera or need an adjustable field of view for your store that our newest varifocal lens cameras offer, you can easily get coverage for every angle. Worried about estimating how much footage your MV cameras will retain? We make storage even simpler now with smart retention that allows you to choose your camera according to the days of retention you need rather than capacity.
Protecting your valuable assets is a year-round battle—but it’s important that you address this cost-effectively—and without taking attention away from your customers. From season to season, a cloud-based approach to physical security is the easiest way to reduce shrinkage, enhance safety, and focus on providing a delightful shopping environment.
To learn more about Meraki MV solutions for retail, explore our physical security hub or join us at the National Retail Foundation (NRF) in January 2025!
Sources
https://capitaloneshopping.com/research/shoplifting-statistics/
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