Visual AI: A game-changer for retail chains amid challenging times

The retail sector in the UK is facing an unprecedented storm. Recent reports highlight a sharp dip in sales across the industry. This, coupled with rising instances of retail theft and violence, presents a combination of challenges that threaten profitability and stability.

These issues stem from a mix of dampened customer sentiments, external economic pressures, and unchecked criminal activities within stores. While retail chains have little control over macroeconomic factors, they can leverage innovative technologies to curb theft and improve their bottom line.

The retail industry’s predicament

Retail chains in the UK have been hit hard by a number of challenges:

• Plummeting sales: Inflation and economic uncertainty have eroded consumer spending power, resulting in a significant dip in sales figures.
• Record-high retail theft: Theft has surged to alarming levels, costing the industry billions annually. Retailers are struggling to address the growing instances of shoplifting and organised crime targeting their assets.
• Increasing violence: Rising cases of violence in stores are placing employees and customers at risk, further exacerbating the challenges faced by retail chains.
• Fragility of supply chain: Supply chains of retail chains are crippled because of a wave of recent cyberattacks, which have led to frozen systems and uncertain stock levels.

In such a precarious situation, businesses cannot afford to overlook the role of technologies such as Visual AI platforms in creating safer and more secure environments–for their customers as well as their staff.

Understanding visual AI

Visual AI refers to artificial intelligence systems equipped with advanced image/video recognition and analytics capabilities. These systems use live CCTV feeds to monitor, interpret, and respond to visual data in real time. By recognising patterns, objects, and behaviours, visual AI can perform tasks to identify shoplifting incidents with remarkable efficiency.

How visual AI platforms can address retail challenges

Adopting a visual AI platform offers retail chains a multitude of benefits that directly impact their bottom line:

• Reducing Retail Theft: Retail theft costs UK businesses billions every year—a figure that continues to grow. Visual AI platforms can mitigate these losses through effective surveillance and proactive crime deterrence. These systems:
  • Identify suspicious behaviours, such as repeated visits to specific aisles, concealment of items, and send alerts to the devices of store personnel in real time.
  • Track shoplifting hotspots, enabling targeted measures to secure vulnerable zones.
  • Integrate security protocols to capture evidence and assist law enforcement in apprehending offenders.
• By curbing theft, visual AI reduces inventory loss and safeguards profits.
• Enhancing Safety for Staff and Customers: Violence in retail stores poses not only ethical concerns but also financial risks. Injuries and incidents can lead to lawsuits, increased insurance premiums, and reputational damage. Visual AI platforms can:
  • Detect aggressive behaviours or escalating confrontations and immediately notify security personnel.
  • Monitor entrances, exits, and parking lots to ensure safety even beyond the store premises.
  • Create a safer environment that boosts customer confidence and improves employee retention.

SAI Group's visual AI platform

SAI Group’s visual AI platform currently assists store networks of 3 of the top 5 retail chains in the UK. Here are some of the key benefits offered by SAI Group’s visual AI platform:

• Instant detection of aisle theft: Instantly detect when customers conceal items in their clothing or bags.
• Seamless Self-Checkout (SCO) integration: Compatible with a range of self-checkout systems for straightforward multi-vendor integration.
• Subtle but powerful: Delivers real-time prompts to the SCO monitor, enabling customers to correct errors on their own, without the involvement of the store staff.
• Instant non-payment detection: Instantly identify when customers avoid payments at the SCO.
• Empowered store staff: Keeps the store staff informed by sending notifications on the store’s hand-held terminals.
• Violence detection: Utilizes AI to detect incidents of violence within the store and sends alerts directly to the security operations centre so that resources can be mobilized appropriately.
• Legally admissible evidence: Automatically extracts and stores the video footage of incidents detected, thus enabling the store staff to report theft more easily and efficiently.

The path forward

In a time of economic uncertainty and growing security threats, retail chains must embrace innovation to operate with stability. Visual AI platforms offer a powerful solution to combat theft and enhance safety, and at the same time improve the bottom line. By investing in this technology, retailers can safeguard their assets, build trust with customers, and ensure operational stability.

The future of retail lies in the smart integration of technology, and visual AI is poised to lead the way. It’s time for UK retail chains to act swiftly and secure their operations before it is too late.

About SAI

As a leader in computer vision technology, SAI Group delivers cutting-edge, multi-modal AI solutions into retail environments. Using a unique platform approach, its technology uses existing camera systems to target losses, increase store safety, and underpin operational efficiencies.

All solutions are built from the ground up to ensure the highest levels of security and data protection, respecting the privacy expectations of the public and operating to stringent ethical standards while delivering substantial value to our clients. Globally, SAI monitors millions of transactions per day, protecting the revenues from tens of millions of product sales and hundreds of millions of customer interactions. Its models also accurately identify anti-social behaviour, aggression and violence, helping to de-escalate situations with real-time interfaces to security officers and operations centres.