What if the “new normal” in retail was 10x smarter than the old one?

Comply with regulations

These days we are getting an idea of what the "new normality" in retail will look like. You as a retailer must comply with new regulations and implement hygiene concepts to help keeping the spread of COVID-19 under control.

We at Azena want to encourage you to get more out of this situation than just complying with regulations. Take the challenge as an opportunity to make your business more sustainable and successful beyond the crisis. Spoiler: AI technology can help you with this!

As a shop owner, you must ensure that your customers behave according to hygiene concepts. They must keep their distance from other customers and staff and wear masks in your store. But we all know that customers are no robots that are programmed once and then do what they are told. 

Depending on the size of your business, effective surveillance and control of customer behavior requires new processes and structures that you did not need before.

Social distancing in your store

Customers should keep a distance of 1.50 - 2.00 m from other customers and staff, especially in checkout areas. This also applies in peak times, when your shop is crowded and everyone is in a hurry.

What you can do to ensure compliance

• Informing and guiding customers is key. Point out the distance regulations at the entrance and at all critical points in your store. 

• Eye-catching signs and markings on the floor and on shelves help your customers to behave according to regulations. 

• Safety Instructions can also be placed on employees’ clothing, for example, on the back of vests, on cabs and masks. 

• Announcements via loudspeaker can draw additional attention to regulations (of course, without annoying your customers).

Use your creativity and communication skills to inform and guide your customers!

How smart technology can support you

Equip your surveillance cameras with smart video analytics to help your staff monitor customer behavior and guide them in your store.

• Identify critical areas in your store where customers are getting too close using automated path tracking and heat mapping  This allows you to adjust your sales floor so that your customers can keep their distance at all times.

Example: understanding in-store shopper behavior using RetailFlux

• Keep an eye on overcrowding at checkouts in your store at all times by equipping your networked cameras with specialized AI software.

• SAIMOS® Edge Count is used for people counting and occupancy management. Combine it with the SAIMOS C3 Server installation, to connect multiple cameras to monitor multiple entrances and exits and understand overall occupancy. Use also a dedicated kiosk user interface via tablets or screens.

• CVEDIA's Talos Crowd Detector detects and analyzes at-risk areas for physical distancing in corporate or public spaces. It detects people and the distances between them, and provides you with visual analytics that help you improve COVID-19 related practices.

Find the apps featured above and many more in our Application Store.

Get to know more about our smart retail solutions.

Wearing masks in your store

Not every customer or employee is willing to wear masks in your store, others simply forget to put a mask on when entering your store. You as the shop owner are responsible for complying with hygiene regulations.

What you can do to ensure compliance

• Here the same applies as for complying with distance regulations above: Informing and guiding customers is key.

• Let your employees demonstrate how to comply with regulations by wearing masks themselves at all times.

• Always have masks for customers and employees at hand. Use the masks to promote your business by printing your logo or brand name on it.

How smart technology can support you

Networked cameras equipped with the latest video analytics technology automatically detect whether customers are wearing masks or not. Connected to other IoT systems, cameras can alert or inform your staff in time.

Exceed regulations

COVID-19 causes you to rethink and reorganize the way you do business. If you are already changing processes and technologies, why not take the next step? Now is the time to take your business to the next level. Your surveillance cameras can make an enormous contribution to this.

Smart cameras can do much more than just video

Equipped with powerful processors and AI apps, cameras can analyze video data and trigger actions in one go. They can perform important tasks and help you improve not only security but also operations in your store. 

Here are some examples illustrating what smart cameras can do for your business.

• Boost cross-selling: Create an automated sales promotion machine by combining smart video cameras with digital displays on your sales floor. For example, if a customer in a clothing store has just looked at a pair of trousers, the camera system equipped with behavior and object recognition can trigger digital displays to show matching offers to them.

• Ensure availability of goods: Keeping shelves filled with products at all times can be a major challenge for retailers. Conventional inventory management requires a lot of resources and quickly reaches its limits, especially during peak times. Smart cameras can automatically recognize when products are missing and notify the staff in time.

• Reduce waiting times at checkouts: Smart security cameras detect if visitor queues form and initiate appropriate actions; for example, automatically inform employees. Smart video analytics can even predict when queues are about to form and take timely action to prevent it. 

The list of applications that help boost your sales and improve the shopping experience in your store could be continued. It's worth getting creative and taking full advantage of the hidden potential of your surveillance cameras.

Another good read: Turn security cameras into occupancy control systems with a few clicks

Learn more about our powerful computer vision applications bundled for specific use cases. Start using AI cameras to comply to new regulations with a 30 day free trial.

We at Azena help you unleash the power of AI technology for your retail business. In our Application Store, you find lots of inspiration and applications designed to get the most out of your cameras. 

Ask your system integrator or talk to us!