CCTV Systems Help Manage Your Business

As CCTV systems move into the home market, many businesses are wondering if they still provide the best security and surveillance for their business uses. CCTV camera systems are still among the most economical and best tools to help small business owners manage their businesses and prevent loss. If you’re not sure whether a security camera and CCTV system could help your business, consider these points.

Shrinkage – the amount of your profit lost to theft – equals approximately 2% of retail sales, according to leading industry experts. That means if you’re doing $100,000 a month in retail sales, you’re losing about $2,000 a month of your inventory to theft.

The recession has caused a spike in theft, including employee theft. In 2009, the Centre for Retail Research noted that retail theft had risen around the world by an average of 5.5% -- but in North America, shrinkage rose 8.8% to its highest rate in history.

Shrinkage takes a $114.8 billion bite out of the world’s markets. That’s probably a lot less significant to you than the few thousand dollars a month you could be losing to employee theft, inefficiency, shoplifting and other preventable losses.

Despite the alarming rise in retail loss due to theft, as a whole the retail industry is spending less on security camera systems and other CCTV systems for security. A bit counter-intuitive, isn’t it?

A single CCTV camera can help you cut down or virtually eliminate a major source of retail loss – point of sale loss. There are many different ways that you can lose money at the point of sale, and many of them can be foiled by a security camera at the register. They include under-ringing, where clerks simply don’t scan everything in an order, usually for friends. While it may sound like a relatively small loss, industry experts estimate that it costs retailers between $8 and $10 billion a year. A CCTV system can let you keep your registers under surveillance, and if you make it known that sales are being recorded, a CCTV system serves as a deterrent as well.

A well-placed security camera can make it easier to catch shoplifters, but placing more than one CCTV camera to capture trouble spots from different angles can be more successful. Organized retail shoplifting is becoming more and more common, and a typical trick is for one person to block the view of the camera while a second person lifts the item. By having more than one angle on the most common trouble spots, you make it more difficult for a team to pull off their theft.

CCTV systems have fallen in price just as retail theft and shrinkage is rising. Don’t take a chance with your store’s bottom line. Invest in a good security surveillance system and watch it pay for itself.

CCTV Systems Help Manage Your Business

As CCTV systems move into the home market, many businesses are wondering if they still provide the best security and surveillance for their business uses. CCTV camera systems are still among the most economical and best tools to help small business owners manage their businesses and prevent loss. If you’re not sure whether a security camera and CCTV system could help your business, consider these points.

Shrinkage – the amount of your profit lost to theft – equals approximately 2% of retail sales, according to leading industry experts. That means if you’re doing $100,000 a month in retail sales, you’re losing about $2,000 a month of your inventory to theft.

The recession has caused a spike in theft, including employee theft. In 2009, the Centre for Retail Research noted that retail theft had risen around the world by an average of 5.5% -- but in North America, shrinkage rose 8.8% to its highest rate in history.

Shrinkage takes a $114.8 billion bite out of the world’s markets. That’s probably a lot less significant to you than the few thousand dollars a month you could be losing to employee theft, inefficiency, shoplifting and other preventable losses.

Despite the alarming rise in retail loss due to theft, as a whole the retail industry is spending less on security camera systems and other CCTV systems for security. A bit counter-intuitive, isn’t it?

A single CCTV camera can help you cut down or virtually eliminate a major source of retail loss – point of sale loss. There are many different ways that you can lose money at the point of sale, and many of them can be foiled by a security camera at the register. They include under-ringing, where clerks simply don’t scan everything in an order, usually for friends. While it may sound like a relatively small loss, industry experts estimate that it costs retailers between $8 and $10 billion a year. A CCTV system can let you keep your registers under surveillance, and if you make it known that sales are being recorded, a CCTV system serves as a deterrent as well.

A well-placed security camera can make it easier to catch shoplifters, but placing more than one CCTV camera to capture trouble spots from different angles can be more successful. Organized retail shoplifting is becoming more and more common, and a typical trick is for one person to block the view of the camera while a second person lifts the item. By having more than one angle on the most common trouble spots, you make it more difficult for a team to pull off their theft.

CCTV systems have fallen in price just as retail theft and shrinkage is rising. Don’t take a chance with your store’s bottom line. Invest in a good security surveillance system and watch it pay for itself.

Advantages of CCTV Systems for Small Retail Stores

Small retail stores face high shrinkage rates for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the smaller staff and the difficulty of keeping an eye on the stock at all times. If you own a small store that’s usually only manned by one, or at most two, employees, you know how difficult it is to provide security for your space. CCTV systems offer a number of excellent advantages for small retail stores.

Cost

While you can spend thousands of dollars on a security system, a small store can easily install a decent CCTV system with more than one security camera for just a couple hundred dollars. The price point on CCTV cameras and systems has come down considerably in the past few years, thanks to advances in technology. You can recover the cost of installing a CCTV security camera in just a few months of reduced inventory shrinkage.

Employee Security

Most security experts recommend obvious, visible security cameras in small retail stores because they discourage robberies. When you have a small convenience or retail store, armed robberies are a constant fear. A security camera can help deter robbers from striking your store, which keeps your employees safer.

Discourage Shoplifters

For the same reason, obvious security camera installations tend to discourage shoplifters. People are less likely to attempt to steal from you if they know that you’re recording them in action. And if you are robbed, the recordings and footage from your CCTV system can help convict the thieves and help you get restitution.

Monitor Employees

No one likes to confront the fact that some employees steal, but it’s a reality of retail life. A CCTV camera can help keep employees honest – they’re far less likely to give “discounts” to their friends if all transactions are being recorded. And if you are dealing with a dishonest employee, a concealed surveillance camera can help you discover the thief and give you the evidence you need to confront him.

Help Resolve Customer Complaints

Customer complaints about employees are among the most difficult situations faced by small retail business owners. Do you believe your employee and support him – or go with the old adage that the customer is always right? A security camera capturing point of sale transactions and other encounters in the store can allow you to review the situation and find out the truth, then deal with it appropriately.

You’ll find CCTV systems of all sizes and types for sale at many online security stores. Research the best ones for your use and add some security to your store for your sake, and that of your employees.

How to Choose CCTV Systems

Home and business owners who are concerned about safety often opt for CCTV systems as part of an overall security strategy. CCTV systems consist of one or more security cameras linked to a monitoring system. Some may also include a recorder that saves the images to a tape, DVD or other recording device for later playback.

Advances in manufacturing and technology have lowered the prices on good security cameras and security systems, bringing them well within the budgets of most homeowners, but choosing the right CCTV security camera and recorder can be confusing. A step-by-step process can help ensure that you get the right type of CCTV security system for your needs.

Evaluate Your Needs

Before you can start making decisions about wired or wireless CCTV systems, indoor or outdoor security cameras or whether you should choose an IP camera, you need to understand exactly what you intend to accomplish. How many areas do you want to cover? Will you need a separate surveillance camera for each area? Will the cameras be indoors or outside? Do you need low light capability? Do you want to be able to view your security feed from a remote location (an IP security system) or do you simply want to record and review surveillance tapes? Finally, what’s your budget for your security system? The answers to all of those questions will help you make decisions about the security system specs as you start shopping.

Choose the Type of Camera You Need

There are many types and styles of cameras, but your biggest decisions will be whether you want a wired, wireless or IP security camera. They each have advantages and drawbacks.

A wired security camera is less prone to interruptions and distortions in the feed, but you’ll have to run wire from the camera to the monitor or recording equipment. Most wired security cameras are indoor/outdoor and have an infrared filter for night recording.  A wired surveillance camera is harder to install and less flexible than a wireless system.

Wireless security cameras used to have a reputation of being “wonky” – very prone to interference from household devices and interruptions in delivering picture and sound to the recorder. Today, even an inexpensive wireless security camera can deliver crystal clear video and audio. The cost and the ease of setup have made wireless CCTV systems the most popular for DIY security system setup.

An IP security camera connects to your computer’s router like any other computer or networkable device, and allows you to access the camera feed from anywhere that has an internet connection. They can be set up to record directly to your computer, eliminating the need for a DVR or other recording or monitoring device.

Image quality is another important factor in the cost and usefulness of the CCTV camera you choose. Cheaper security cameras use CMOS chips, which produce poor quality video and don’t work well in very bright or very dim light conditions. CCD chips are someone more expensive, but the quality difference makes the price difference worthwhile. In general, the larger the CCD chip, the higher the quality of the image it produces – but even a ¼” CCD chip produces good quality video for most uses.

A color surveillance camera may seem like a good idea, but a black and white security camera will capture better detail in low light conditions, such as night-time monitoring. Some more expensive CCTV camera systems will switch between color mode and infrared black and white mode for night-time monitoring.

Once you’ve determined the basics of your needs, a dealer of CCTV systems can help you make the right decision about the best CCTV system for your use.