Jamie Barnfield, Senior Sales Director, IDIS Europe

2021 ended on a high for the retail sector overall compared to the previous year, with various reports suggesting a 21% to 25% increase in footfall. Much of the loss made amid the surge in Omicron was offset by a big bounce back as shoppers headed out to the January sales.

On the downside footfall is still significantly below pre-pandemic levels and in the UK much of the recovery has been centred on London and the historic market towns rather that local highstreets or retail parks. It seems that shoppers were looking for a day out and an enjoyable experience rather than just a functional visit to the shops.

There are positives to take from these statistics and there seems to be a clear light at the end of the long and arduous COVID-19 tunnel that we’ve all been navigating. As momentum gathered for workers to return to offices from January retailers saw a small but steady increase in footfall right across the country not just in those destination shopping locations.

I’ve already written in previous blogs about the pressures bricks -and-mortar retailers face from the growth of e-commerce with all its convenience. But the one thing that most e-commerce retailers struggle with is customer loyalty and engagement. It’s easy to search for an item of clothing online, to get what looks like the right fit, and compare prices. This means consumers are now regularly buying at the cheapest price despite a variety of reward programs and annual delivery subscriptions.

And e-commerce often means just that - buying what you need rather than browsing. This is especially true when it comes to groceries. When customers just have to click on previous orders and check out as quickly as possible, any additional clicks to get past promotions and discounts become a nuisance.

With this in mind, there is so much more that physical retailers can do to improve customer experience and service. Because it’s still the case that in-store experiences, store layouts, attractive displays, and excellent customer service is what builds customer loyalty. Visiting many of our retail customers I see this in action - how customers enjoy interacting and engaging with both merchandise and staff – including grocery, fashion, and variety stores. I see the same thing at our pub, coffee shop and restaurant customers.

That’s why I wasn’t surprised to read in Retail Week that “the era of Covid-forgiveness is over – retail must put service at the top of the agenda”. And more than a third of 10,000 customers surveyed by the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) say they would be willing to pay more for better service, the highest level since the survey began in 2008.

There are few people that haven’t had to put up with poor customer service during the pandemic, with limited stock availability, staff shortages, chaotic store layouts, and stressed check-out teams, even though many employees on the front line have gone above and beyond to make a difference. The there’s no question that, overall, customer experience has been lacklustre. And while most if not all customers were forgiving while the country battled an unprecedented health crisis, now with social distancing and mask wearing restrictions being abandoned, retailers and eating out businesses cannot continue to expect consumer forgiveness.

It's time for to them to up their customer service game.

During lockdowns many retailers had the time to look at what the market had to offer in terms of turning browsing into purchasing and increasing automation and efficiency. Most have been sorely disappointed or discovered much of the hype around AI for retail was just that – hype. Many IT departments in particular have been sold AI video dreams with trials that not only overpromised and under delivered but came at an eye-watering cost.

Yet every week the mainstream press run stories about retailers trialling some sexy sounding AI video tech, that us guys in the security sector know won’t work. We understand the years and vast data sets needed to train deep-learning algorithms and know it is next to impossible to achieve the accuracy and the operational efficiency gains these vendors are promising. In the process these stores are adding further cameras and devices that are not adding value to their surveillance operations yet cluttering ceilings, displays and shelves, walls, and checkouts in a way that can impact on store aesthetics and customer experiences. And what often follows - ironically - is a media storm over privacy rights.

It's no surprise many retailers are now wary of AI-powered video analytics or have expectations that are far beyond what is realistically achievable without a multi-million budget and the operating expenditure to cover corresponding ongoing costs. At the same time, many of the established surveillance players haven’t developed their own deep-learning algorithms and instead have chosen to partner with AI software vendors with their own direct sales models.

These niche vendors often have little regard for security and surveillance operations and don’t realise that security cameras can tackle retailers’ top priorities of shrinkage and the sadly all to common verbal and physical abuse of staff. And it’s focussing on these priorities first that will deliver the fastest return on investment by reducing theft, ‘sweethearting’, and fraud and - by demonstrating that retail bosses are taking duty of care and wellbeing seriously - attracting new talent, reducing absences, and increasing staff retention.

Today security cameras can deliver much higher analysis from more angles, even in challenging light conditions, that ever before. This makes possible highly accurate people counting, occupancy, heatmapping, and queue monitoring with far fewer cameras and without causing false alarms or throwing up misleading data.

This is cost-effective technology that will really help retailers up their customer service game.

It will give them insight to adjust shift patterns to align with peak times; reorganise store layouts, shelving and promotions based on dwell time and people flow; and reduce queues at check outs, returns counters, and changing rooms.

The same technology is equally important in the eating out sector, particularly as office workers go back to town and city centres expecting fast morning and lunch service, and as they also return to enjoying the benefits of office working with after work gatherings in bars and restaurants. Here, they expect not just good customer service but a memorable experience, one that will keep them coming back.

Importantly, while this technology is scalable it’s also affordable. Small branches for example may only need four regular, very affordable security cameras and a compact AI appliance with a built-in power source. Not only does installation involve little disruption, but the upgraded security cameras will also make staff feel safer and more valued and will empower store and regional managers to better train their teams. They’ll be able to make better decisions, based on intelligent insight from simple to understand and cost-free dashboards rather than hunches and intuition.

This is real-world technology that’s proven and one that is addressing the risks and threats that are squeezing margins when we’re also facing a cost-of-living crisis as well as helping ensure that customers are rewarded with a first-class experience every time. And, it’s increasing that all-important loyalty factor.