The Rebirth Of Video Analytics In Retail

November 2012 Integrated Solutions For Retailers

By Steve Carney, director of product management, Tyco Security Products

Video analytics were the next big thing in retail 10 years ago, but it took the maturation of the technology for the industry to finally jump on board.

There was a time, just a few years ago, when many people thought video analytics for the retail market would give the end users all the information they could possibly need by simply plugging in a camera and pressing “record.” The promises did not live up to the hype, and video analytics never saw the rapid adoption by the retail market that was anticipated at the time. Today, however, as expectations have been reset and video analytics systems have become more sophisticated and technologically advanced, retail settings are quickly becoming ideal for deployments that can meet the needs of both loss prevention and merchandising/ sales departments with all kinds of capabilities.

Though it is still not a plug-and-play world, video analytics can empower retailers when they invest in video analytics infrastructure and, perhaps more importantly, save time.