First the gloom. As America and probably the world heads to a double dip of economic malaise, retailers aren’t expecting over-heated cash registers. With high unemployment and dipping morale of sales associates, there is the expectation of more shrinkage — retail’s term for losses due primarily to shoplifting and employee theft. Then there is the growing threat of organized retail crime; gangs fine focused and able to steal more and turn the goods into cash more quickly.
Across the store aisle from these gloomy goods, and of interest to today’s system integrators, retailers are more accustomed to the use of effective security technology since, unlike other industries, retailers, especially the biggest ones, track and compare shrinkage as a percent of sales. Use of technology also continues to seep down to smaller chains and even mom-and-pops. And organizations are more quickly discovering applications of technology, specifically security video, which can help increase sales through marketing and merchandising know-how.