How AI and Video Surveillance Tools Help Retailers Prevent Theft
A wide range of activities make up retail shrink, including shoplifting, employee theft, delivery theft and organized crime. AI-infused video surveillance tools can help retailers address many of these concerns, Harmon says.
Computer vision is a key element of this emerging tech for retailers. Such AI tools let retailers analyze the video their cameras are capturing, including customers’ actions, movements and body language.
With these tools, cameras can identify whether certain people are loitering, or if they’ve come into the store several times without buying anything. “That could be an indicator of future criminal activity — casing the joint for a future crime,” Harmon says. “They can also detect a threatening behavior to store associates, if someone is pounding on the table or throwing things or waving their hand.”
Computer vision software can also detect whether someone has swept a product off a shelf or tried to put an item into a bag they brought from outside, Harmon says. Additionally, it can determine if crowds are forming outside ahead of organized group thefts.
Advanced Theft Tactics That Computer Vision Tools Can Foil
Enhanced video surveillance tools can also detect other types of theft and fraud, including ticket switching, product switching and “sweethearting.”
“Ticket- and product-switching involves retail offenders using the barcode from a less expensive item in place of the barcode for a more expensive item while scanning products,” the NRF report notes. Sweethearting involves store employees giving products to a favored customer for free or at a discount.
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