NEW RESEARCH: Three Key Takeaways from New Retail Security Operations Centres [SOC] Survey

In the past decade, many and increasingly more retailers have invested in Security Operations Centres (SOC's) where remote access to [IP] video data from stores, DC's, FC's and Offices, across multiple geographies, have opened up huge opportunities for improved responses to security incidents, the problem of shrink and new ways to better serve the shopper.

To explore how these SOCS are being used, our survey collected responses from twenty nine retailers, operating on average 1.8 SOC's out of North America, Europe and Australia, that were remotely monitoring over 51,000 stores and circa 1,000 DC's and Depots. We found that 78% of these SOCs were operating 24/7, and on average they employed 28 full time employees.

Here are three key findings from our research:

1) SOC'S remain Safety and Security FIRST

Our survey explored the use of twenty different use cases for SOC's, and learnt that the security and safety use cases were the most frequently deployed, for example, 76% of the retailers shared that providing support, advice and operational direction when serious incidents occur, civil disorder, weather events, serious crime, etc, was a core deliverable from their SOC's.

On the other hand, no retailer claimed that providing to the business regular reports on shopper traffic volume and conversion statistics was a core task. That said, 11% of the retailers shared that they would do this work on an ad hoc basis for their colleagues in marketing / commercial.

One exciting and emerging use case was the use of the SOC to provide in real time, through in-store speakers, the capability to remotely communicate with active perpetrators with the express aim of deterring/de-escalating confrontational /crime-related incidents. For this sample, only 7% of the retailers had deployed this use case as a BAU, however, 21% were looking to trial based off the success being shared by other retailers.

The extent to which retailers SOC's will expand their capability and adopt more use cases beyond just the security use cases will largely be a function of leadership, the ambition of the business, and to a certain extent, the advancements in technology, especially video analytics.

2) Who runs the SOC's? The retailers themselves is the most common answer!

In this sample of retailers, 75% of the SOC's were internally hosted, with the work being undertaken mostly by those FTE on the retailers payroll, with data access the clear benefit Vs third party operators.

3) The Retail Industry is in BUILD mode

The survey asked about retailers priorities for future investment. In this sample, 63% shared that they are seeking to invest in system infrastructure upgrades.

These findings reflect the increased demand for networked and remote video, for efficiency, cost savings and immediacy of response reasons, coupled with the access to improved technology capabilities from vendors, including video analytics.

The ECR working group on video meet online six-eight times a year to share learnings, and once a year in person. At these meetings, the group review the latest academic papers, discuss benchmark data and explore together new ways of using video in retail first in security & safety, but increasingly for shrink reduction, trips and falls claims and marketing.

The group is for retailers, CPG's and academics only.

Our meetings next year can be found in the link below.

LINK TO 2025 Meetings