The latest generation of AI-driven video technology is changing the way retailers view surveillance systems. Moving beyond their traditional role in loss prevention, these solutions are delivering measurable business value across sales, marketing, and finance functions, according to IDIS in its latest market analysis.
In its new eBook, Designing compelling retail video solutions to increase efficiency and boost profits, IDIS outlines how video is now a tool for both security and business optimisation. The company notes that although the market for AI video is fragmented – and at times confusing for buyers – systems integrators can create strong value propositions by drawing on proven deployments in retail chains, franchises, supermarkets, and luxury boutiques.
The publication draws from IDIS’s international projects and demonstrates how integrators can design and implement AI-powered systems that are quick to deploy and cost-effective. Beyond reducing shrinkage, the solutions enhance operational efficiency and provide insights that support revenue growth.
Recent advances in edge AI cameras and plug-in AI boxes are central to this shift. They allow retailers to access accurate intelligence on footfall, customer capture and conversion rates, dwell times, demographics, and longer-term buying trends. These capabilities, once the preserve of specialist retail analytics platforms, are now available through video infrastructure that is familiar to security teams.
For centralised retail management teams overseeing multiple sites, granular and reliable data is becoming a necessity. Koray Ozyildirim (pictured), IDIS Türkiye Country Manager, explains that such insights help decision-makers determine where to expand or consolidate store networks, negotiate rents, and evaluate staff and branch performance in relation to regional and national benchmarks. With this intelligence, head offices can align stock, promotions, displays, and staffing with local conditions more effectively.
“The guide makes clear how AI video is generating new value for retailers – showing what is being measured and, more importantly, what those measurements reveal,” says Ozyildirim. “It is an essential resource for systems integrators looking to support retail customers in a rapidly evolving marketplace.”
The IDIS eBook is available for free download and aims to equip integrators with practical knowledge on deploying AI solutions that increase efficiency and drive profitability in the retail sector.