Genetec: support for retailer Food City. In 1955, K-VA-T Food Stores opened their first store in Grundy, VA, USA. Since then, Food City has grown to nearly 100 locations with operations in Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. K-VA-T ranks consistently in Progressive Grocer‘s list of America‘s Largest Supermarket Chains, Supermarket News „Top Food Retailers“ and in Forbes Magazine‘s „List of the largest privately-held companies.“ The company has grown steadily by staying on the cutting edge of technology, product selection and consumer demand. Food City recognised their customer’s need for one-stop shopping and consequently added 67 pharmacies and 49 fuel stations to their full-service supermarkets.

CCTV as a Valuable Tool to Protect

Along with this growth comes the challenge of protecting customers, employees and company assets. “CCTV has always been one of the primary tools of our department” says Joe Fryar, Director of Loss Prevention. Video provides a myriad of benefits, including the deterrence of robbery, shoplifting and employee theft. It provides crucial forensic evidence to identify register fraud, vendor theft and fraudulent “slip-and-fall” cases.

“Getting the best image quality possible is our goal”, added Fryar. “We need to see what really happened.” To reach this goal Food City recently began utilising the Omnicast Video Management System (VMS) by Genetec in their stores and distribution centres. “We determined that IP video and megapixel cameras provided the ability to see critical detail that analogue couldn’t provide”, Fryar stated. Food City is now installing dual-stream, megapixel cameras both inside and outside their locations. Omnicast was selected as Food City’s VMS after an extensive evaluation of multiple competitors.

“Megapixel cameras provide the best video available, but you have to be able to manage a tremendous amount of data”, stated Fryar. “Omnicast was the most robust product we tested and offered the most settings and configurations for viewing and storage.”

Robbery, Shoplifting and Employee Theft

Food City deploys IP cameras with public view monitors at various points throughout the store to deter armed robbery and shoplifting. These include the entry/exits, and high theft areas including meat cases, health and beauty care products and the infant formula aisle. Potential thieves are far less likely to attempt their crime when the chance of apprehension is increased. Video surveillance increases those chances exponentially. “Video recording is a strong theft deterrent, Fryar stated.

“It also let our customers know their safety is a top priority”. Employee theft is another concern. According to retail surveys, apprehended employees confess to stealing over US$1,100 in cash and/or merchandise. Currency theft occurs primarily at the point of sale (POS) and in the cash office. Some thefts are brazen; an employee stealing a bank bag or simply taking money from a till. More commonly, the theft is attempted as a fraudulent register transaction. Examples include voiding transactions or fictitious cash refunds.

To identify these attempts Food City strategically places over megapixel cameras over each register. The company also uses POS exception reporting to flag suspicious transactions. At Food City, the first Omnicast integration will be with the company’s new data mining application. “We want our agents to have immediate video access to any suspicious POS activity,” Fryar added. When completed, Food City Loss Prevention will have “one click” access to view any flagged transaction. Merchandise theft by employees and vendor fraud are also major causes of shrinkage. Food City places cameras on their receiving doors so activities in this area can be monitored.

“We need to see who and what are coming in and going out”, Fryar noted. Food City, like many grocers, receives deliveries and restocks their shelves late at night. Without video recording, the potential for theft during off hours is elevated.

IP Cameras against Fraudulent Liability Claims

Fraudulent liability claims are another challenge facing retail loss prevention. The most common scam is the faked “slip and fall”. In this method of attempted extortion, a fraudster will find an area where no witnesses are present, then lay down on the floor and claiming they slipped. At Food city, cameras monitor the dairy and produce sections of the store just for this purpose. “One of the most important uses of our system is addressing fraudulent claims”, Fryar added. “Once we show them the video, they just go away.”

The capacity for IP video to help retailers isn’t limited just to loss prevention. Visibility to the store can assist in areas like operations, where visibility during peak hours can determine if staffing levels are appropriate. It can also provide the merchandising department with insight into their customer’s reactions to displays or promotions. One of the biggest benefits of Omnicast is the ability to view any store remotely. Food City stores are spread out over hundreds of miles. Without remote access, staff would spend hours driving to locations in review live and recorded video.

This remote access saves Food City time and travel expense. The video management system is the foundation of any IP video network. It integrates the IP cameras to the video storage and manages remote accessibility to authorised personnel on the network. It has the ability to integrate access control, intrusion and fire alarms, EAS, POS exception reporting and data mining and video analytics. Simply put, the VMS is the operating system of all IP video and data feeds.

The video management system by Genetec is an open architecture VMS that offers retailers the freedom to build a video system that matches their needs. Omnicast provides the flexibility to access and manage thousands of cameras and locations from a single workstation. The intuitive user interface ensures that security professionals can quickly and easily respond to events. It has proven to be the solution of choice for homeland, public, educational and retail security.

So What Else Is on the Roadmap for Food City?

“Another reason we chose Genetec is they offer a full suite of security solutions”, Fryar said. “Their Synergis access control product provides us with a potential solution to better manage key areas such as receiving doors. This will give us video verification of alarm events and even the potential for a keyless store,” he added.

Food City has joined the growing trend of retailers that monitor their own stores for intrusion and panic alarms. Synergis is an enterprise-class alarm and access control solution designed with end-to-end IP connectivity. “Synergis will save our field people countless hours of alarm report management”, Fryar added. Synergis can categorise and associate Omnicast video to each incident within the reports.

The daily reports are then sent to designated agents for review. Their determinations can be documented within the system for review by upper management.

Contact:

Scott Thomas
Genetec,
Saint-Laurent, Canada
Tel.: +1 514 332 4000
Fax: +1 514 332 1692
sthomas@genetec.com
www.genetec.com