월스트리트저널월요일, 19. 8월 2013, 13:01:00 KST

Small Firms Use Security Cameras to Boost Business

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AMY WESTERVELT

Surveillance systems aren't just for keeping track of mischief anymore.

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A handful of new technologies let store owners transform their existing security cameras and digital video recorders into tools for boosting business and sharpening their marketing efforts.

The services can track things like where customers linger in a shop and how the layout of the store blocks the flow of traffic, as well as the demographics of visitors. Owners can then get a breakdown of the data—organized as lists of statistics, graphs or heat maps—to figure out if the store needs to be reorganized or workers' hours need to be moved around. They can also use the systems to tap into cameras remotely and keep an eye on their businesses while they're away.

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Prism

A CLOSE WATCH Security-camera footage can be analyzed to show things like customer traffic (top) or how people navigate the store

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Prism

Using What's There

The idea behind these systems isn't new. But the services launching now—such as Prism, RetailNext and SceneTap—are far more affordable for small businesses, running anywhere from $99 to $999 a month. The big savings: Instead of using specialized monitoring equipment, the new offerings are cloud-based and work with existing security gear.

"I have about 15 cameras installed, and a DVR, but I never really used them," says Ivor Bradley, owner of The Creamery coffee shop and Iron Cactus restaurant in San Francisco. "They were just there really for insurance purposes in case something were to happen."

Today, Mr. Bradley uses Prism to monitor his businesses remotely. He watches where customers are going and what they're buying to get a sense of purchase patterns, and he checks on how many customers he has at various points in the day to see if he needs to rearrange workers' hours.

He also used heat maps to cut his customers' average wait time in half. "We have a line for about three hours each day at lunchtime," Mr. Bradley says. "So, we looked at how fast the line was moving and if there was a good flow to it."

Scrutinizing the video showed him he should move some tables and chairs out of the way, as well as shift a case of grab-and-go items to a more convenient spot. It also made him realize he should switch items around based on the time of day—featuring orange juice more prominently in the morning and Diet Coke in the afternoon.

Mr. Bradley adds that he now has one day off a week, a luxury he's never allowed himself, because he can keep an eye on things from afar.

Still, one issue looms large with these systems: privacy. How will customers react to being scrutinized and tallied by video cameras? Prism, RetailNext and SceneTap all say the systems collect no identity-specific data, such as names, just aggregate numbers. "We don't even give them a report that says at 8:15 a 27-year-old female walked in," says Cole Harper, co-founder of SceneTap. "We'll say from 8 to 8:30, 30% of your flow was male, 70% was female, and the average age was 26.1. We drive home this message over and over."

That level of detail, Mr. Harper says, is far less than what many people share voluntarily. "People already broadcast where they are if they want to, through Foursquare or any of the other check-in apps out there," he says.

But some privacy advocates worry that there's the risk of abuse. "These systems could easily be combined with other services and data systems, so very quickly this seemingly innocuous aggregate data could become individualized," says Nicole Ozer, technology and civil-liberties policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of California.

Potential Backlash?

In at least one case, a related service raised a backlash. SceneTap offers an app aimed at bar customers that lets them click on a venue and see data on how many people are there, as well as their average age and the male-to-female ratio, as determined by facial-detection algorithms. When SceneTap entered the San Francisco market last year, some bar patrons accused the establishments of invading their privacy. They organized boycotts of places that used SceneTap and wrote scathing notices on review sites.

Mr. Harper posted a letter to the city on the company's site and invited critics to email him, and says he has discussed the matter with privacy advocates and government agencies.

But, he says, the furor died down once people got used to the service and realized the app didn't collect data about individuals. "The San Francisco noise calmed down the same week it arose as we educated people on what SceneTap actually was," he says. "We have big plans for the Bay Area later this year, as it remains our second-largest user market to date."

Ms. Ozer of the ACLU argues people are still concerned. "It may be the case that people just don't know a bar is using it and so haven't said anything about it, but if your business model is based on hoping the public doesn't find out what you're doing, that's a problem," she says.

Ms. Westervelt is a writer in Oakland, Calif. She can be reached atreports@wsj.com.

A version of this article appeared August 19, 2013, on page R8 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Lights. Camera. Data..

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